Research Proposal: Marketing Strategy's Impact on Customer Attraction

This research proposal explores the impact of effective marketing strategies on customer attraction in the fashion industry, using H&M as a case study. It identifies the core marketing concepts used by H&M, the types of marketing strategies they adopt, and the challenges they face while designing these strategies. The proposal includes a literature review covering marketing concepts, H&M's marketing strategies (such as social media and SEO), and the challenges in identifying customers, mapping customer journeys, and maintaining consistent customer experiences. The research methodology outlines the research design, data collection, and data analysis methods to be employed. The aim is to understand how effective marketing strategies can attract customers and improve business performance in the competitive fashion retail market.

Research Proposal
(Impact of effective marketing strategy
for attracting the customer in fashion
industry)

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
Problem statement .................................................................................................................3
Relevance of the Proposed Research to Business Research ..................................................3
Place the proposed study in context.......................................................................................4
Justification of the chosen topic.............................................................................................4
Value of this research.............................................................................................................4
RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND OBJECTIVE.............................................................................4
Research topic........................................................................................................................4
Research aim..........................................................................................................................4
Research objectives................................................................................................................4
Research Questions................................................................................................................5
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................6
What is the core concept of marketing used within the organisation?...................................6
What are the types of marketing strategy adopted by H&M in attracting target customers? 7
What are the major challenges faced by H&M while designing the marketing strategy for their
Brand?.....................................................................................................................................7
What is the effective marketing strategy towards attracting the customer by H&M?...........8
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK....................................................................................................9
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................11
1. Research design................................................................................................................11
2. Data collection and data analysis.....................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Marketing strategies are defined as the methods which are opted by the business in order
to attract customers and to react out to huge customers so that to increase market prominence.
With the help of well-defined marketing strategies sales and profits of the organisation can be
increased. This is directly linked with generating market image in such a manner that more
people can reach out to the business. This is analysed that marketing direct linkage can be
established within the business so that overall sales can be developed. Good marketing helps in
reaching out to targets of the business in appropriate manner and in the same manner using
advertising customers can be attracted towards business offerings. There are different methods
that can be used by the business in order to market their products and services in front of their
customers. Better relationships can be made by the organisation using appropriate marketing
strategies and using the same loyal customers can be maintained. The research is going to
discuss the reasons for which organisations are needed to develop effective marketing strategies.
The organisation taken within the current research is H&M which is one of the biggest retailers
dealing in clothing and accessories.
Problem statement
The major problem within the research is to manage effective marketing strategies by the
organisation. This is analysed that for an organisation adding different dimensions within the
strategies are needed to be included so that appropriate manner. The research problem is that
within current businesses due to existence of number of competitors’ organisation are needed to
develop proficient marketing strategies so that competitive edge can be attained in respect of
rivals.
Relevance of the Proposed Research to Business Research
The current research is having higher importance within industry as this research will
enable the retailers to understand that what type of constraints are be required to be added in the
marketing strategies. Customer is one of the major tasks which is required to be performed by
employees of the organisation. So with the help of appropriate marketing strategies this would be
easier for their organisation to manage and increase their customer base.

Place the proposed study in context
The current research is based on H&M which is Swedish multinational coding company
and headquartered in Stockholm. The company is highly fast fashion clothing of men women
teenager so that in current time the company is having present in more than 74 countries with
their 5000 stores. H&M has huge numbers competitors such as Zara, Marks and Spencer and so
many others. Digital world the organisation is focused on making their marketing strategy highly
efficient so that they can get significant competitive edge into the market.
Justification of the chosen topic
The current research topic is chosen for the objective of developing such efficient
strategies by the organisation in context of marketing so that business objectives can be attained
of increasing customer base. Selection of this topic was based on dual criteria such as personal
and professional. In terms of personal prospective the current research will assist the research
into developing different skills such as communication skills, research skills, analytical skills and
many others. So that the same can be used by researcher in order to sharpen their career. On the
other hand, in respect of professional skills the current research would provide assistance to the
researcher in order to manage further researches in appropriate manner and judgement.
Value of this research
The current research is based on the methods adopted by the organisation to attract their
customers and lead their target market. So with the help of the research and the information
within the research retailers main examine regarding their actual market position and the
strategies which are needed by the organisation to sharpen their marketing methods.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND OBJECTIVE
Research topic
Impact of effective marketing strategy for attracting the customer in fashion industry.
Research aim
To identify the impact of effective marketing strategy in attracting the customer: A study
on H&M.
Research objectives
 To understand the core concept of marketing used within the organisation

 To identify the types of marketing strategy adopted by H&M in attracting target
customers
 To discuss the challenges faced by H&M while designing the marketing strategy for their
Brand.
 To examine the impact of effective marketing strategy towards attracting the customer by
H&M.
Research Questions
 What is the core concept of marketing used within the organisation?
 What are the types of marketing strategy adopted by H&M in attracting target customers?
 What are the major challenges faced by H&M while designing the marketing strategy for
their Brand?
 What are the effective marketing strategies towards attracting the customer by H&M?

LITERATURE REVIEW
What is the core concept of marketing used within the organisation?
As per the viewpoint of Paley (2021), marketing is an activity of getting right goods and
services to right people at right time and place by using right promotional techniques. It is a
procedure of developing, executing and maintaining the relationship with customers. Marketing
helps in attracting maximum number of people towards the brand by offering them attractive
content. The concept of marketing generally includes the plan and strategies which is
implemented to maximize the profit and sales of business. The main goal of marketing is to
devise the situation that serves customer and company. Marketing concept helps in predicting
and fulfilling the needs and expectation of customers in order to create strong customer base and
gain competitive advantage in market. The concept of marketing starts from understanding the
need and demand of customers in effective and efficient manner.
There are few basic concepts of marketing such as production concept, selling concept,
product concept, marketing concept and societal marketing concept. The product concept of
marketing focuses on producing cheaper goods for customers in order to attract them and
increase the sale of business. The reason behind for selling cheaper goods is that customers will
not pay high price for the products and services. If company focuses on product concept of
marketing, they have to manufacture the goods on large scale in order to attain profitability. The
production concept of marketing was the earliest concept which focuses on ability of its
production process. The production concept focuses on the quantity of product rather than
quality. Selling concept is another concept of marketing in which company sells their products at
large scale in order to generate revenue. Thus, the marketing concept increases the engagement
level of customers by reaching to wide range of people. Marketing is one of the functions of
business that allows competing with competitors by promoting brand to target audience and also
it increases the sale of business by deeper understanding the customers (Ranjan and Kushwaha,
2017). In an organistaion, marketing plays an important role as it transmits the information to
customers in order to improve the sale of business. It helps company to sell the products and
services and make money by reaching to goal. The few principles of marketing are product,
price, place and promotion.

What are the types of marketing strategy adopted by H&M in attracting target customers?
As per the perspective of Parkin (2016), marketing strategy includes the plans for
reaching to consumers and making them loyal towards the brand. It mainly includes company’s
value proposition, data on target customer demographics and key brand messaging. The
marketing strategy helps in achieving the business goals and reaching to ideal customers. It
generally provides a blueprint related to the marketing activity which helps in growing the
performance of business. There are different types of marketing strategy which is adopted by
H&M for attracting their target customers such as paid advertising, relationship marketing,
internet marketing, social media and search engine optimization. These are the few types of
marketing strategy which are used by company in order to attract customer and improve the
profitability of business. H&M uses social media marketing strategy for reaching to wider
potential customers, Social media marketing strategy is one of the effective strategy which helps
in increasing the visibility and website traffic. It generally shares the videos, content and images
in order to increase the engagement level of customers. Social media marketing is effective as it
reduces the marketing spend while increasing the lead generation. The other type of marketing
strategy which is sued by H&M for improving the customer base is search engine optimization.
It is an activity of increasing awareness among customers by appearing on the top results on
search engine like Google and Yahoo. The search engine optimization visibility is important for
an organistaion as it is the primary way for navigating the internet. Search engine optimization is
effective for company as it continues to evolve to keep pace with local search engine and also
keep brand competitive. Relationship marketing is another type of marketing strategy which
focuses on building strong relationship with customers in order to improve the performance and
growth of business. It is important for an organisation to focus on building positive relationship
with customers by offering them product according to the taste and preference. H&M also uses
internet marketing for attracting customers. This marketing strategy helps in promoting the
products and services on different platforms through internet.
What are the major challenges faced by H&M while designing the marketing strategy for their
Brand?
According to Kaur, Arora and Bali (2020), there are various challenges which are faced
by H&M while designing the marketing strategy for their brand such as identifying customer
across channels, mapping customer journey, maintaining consistent customer experience,

maintain privacy and identifying new potential customers. These are the few challenges which
are faced by marketing while designing marketing strategy for their brand. It becomes
challenging for the marketers to collect the data of customers from market. Organistaion have to
focus on understanding the target market and their needs. If marketer misses any information
related to customers it can influence the performance of business. It is important for the
marketing department of H&M to identify customer across different channels. They must focus
on identifying the right target market that helps in improving the profitability and sale of
business. The other challenge which is faced by marketers while developing marketing strategy
is mapping the customer journey. They have to focus on mapping the customer journey by
interacting with them and forecasting the device and channel which they use. It becomes
challenging for an organisation to identify the new and potential customers in order to improve
the sale and profitability of business. In order to grow the business performance, it is important
for company to attract more and more customers toward the brand. The customers can be
attracted by offering them product according to their expectation which satisfies their need and
demand. The marketers of H&M use different marketing strategies in order to reach to wider
number of customers. Another challenge which is faced by marketing department of H&M while
creating marketing strategy is maintaining consistent customer experience. The marketer has to
focus on maintaining consistent customer experience by understanding their problems and
offering them coupons and discounts. The coupons and discount strategy helps in grabbing the
attention of customers.
What is the effective marketing strategy towards attracting the customer by H&M?
According to Ackerstein and Lemon (2017), the effective marketing strategy which can
be used by organisation for attracting the customers is social media marketing. It is one of the
effective marketing strategy which helps in increasing the profitability and productivity of
business by reaching to large number of people. It is a marketing strategy which helps in
promoting the products and services in wider market. Social media marketing includes various
platforms which help in engaging customers such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and
many others. The platform provides a way to company for engaging with existing customers and
reaching to new customers. One of the benefits which can be availed by H&M by using social
media marketing is that it helps in creating awareness among the audience related to the products
and services. It is a marketing strategy which spreads the word easily about the products and

services. Social media marketing also gives chance to company to follow the activities of their
customers or potential buyers. It helps in building connection with customers by interacting and
engaging with them. The strong relationship with customers helps in creating strong customer
base and also company can gain loyalty of consumers. Social media marketing helps in
increasing the brand awareness and also satisfies the customers in better manner. Thus, H&M
must focus on using social media marketing strategy in order to attract customers as it helps in
communicating and interacting with customers on continue basis due to which the sale of
business gets improved (Hussain, 2019). Through this marketing strategy, H&M can also attract
their customers by offering them high quality of products and services which makes them
satisfied. While using social media platforms, it is necessary to give better quality of services to
customers and respond to their issues in effective and efficient manner.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Figure 1: (The conceptual framework of Marketing strategies, 2020)
The conceptual framework of marketing strategies is focused on attracting customers,
engaging customers, measuring the effectiveness of strategies and identifying the future trends. It
is important for an organisation to attract customers by offering them products and services
according to their need and demand. The customers can be attracted when the products are of
high quality at affordable price. Organisation must also focus on boosting the engagement level
of customers in order to improve the profitability and growth of business. The engagement level
of consumers can be increased by offering them discount, coupons, offers and attractive content.
It is the responsibility of company to measure the effectiveness of strategies which is adopted in

order to understand the level of progress. Organisation must also focus on understanding the
future trends in industry in order to attract more and more customers towards the brand.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology is defined as such methods which are used within the research for
the purpose to manage the research in proper manner. There are different methods which are
used under the current research are elaborated as under:
1. Research design
Research philosophy: Research philosophy is regarded as the set of principles which are
used for the purpose of knowing the type of data used within the research. There are three types
of research philosophies such as epistemology, ontology and axiology. Further epistemology is
categorised into three types such as positivism, interpretivism and realism. In the current
research epistemology research philosophy will be used in which positivism aspects will be
undertaken (O’Gorman and MacIntosh, 2016). The major reason of selecting positivism is that
this will assist the researcher in collecting quantitative data in systematic manner.
Research approach: Research approach is such set of theories which are used within
the research in order to execute the research. There are two types of research approaches such as
inductive and deductive. In the current research deductive research approach will be selected so
that quantitative theories can be applied within the research and research objectives can be
attained in lesser period of time (Mohr, Riper and Schueller, 2018).
Research strategy: Research strategy is defined as the methods in which information can
be gathered for attaining defined research objectives. Some of the research strategies are
literature review, grouped study, case study, survey, action research and many others (Oliva,
2019). For the current research, survey research strategies will be used so that quantitative
research analysis can be made. This is related with gathering such research information which is
helpful in managing the research in such manner that overall research objectives can be attained.
Research choice: Research choice is selection of such methods which are made within
the research. There are two types of research choice such as quantitative and qualitative. The
current research is based on quantitative research choice so that numerical information can be
gathered within the research (Jain, Kothari and Kumar, 2016). Quantitative research choice is
related with managing statistical information within the research so that appropriate analysis can
be made within the research. The reason for selecting quantitative research choice is that this will
collect number and value which is going to assist the process of information evaluation easier.

Time horizon: Time horizon is defined as the time framework which is needed by the
researcher in order to execute all the activities within the research. Time horizon is divided into
two types cross-sectional and longitudinal (Kim and et. al., 2017). The current research will
undertake cross-sectional time horizon so that to manage the research with inhaling different
dimensions within the research. This time horizon will assist the researcher to manage different
activities in a single slot of time.
2. Data collection and data analysis
Data collection: The process of data collection is holding higher degree of importance
within research as this assists the researcher to collect data using different methods. There are
two types of data collection methods such as primary and secondary (Xie, Yan, Yao and
Atiquzzaman, 2018). In the reference to the current research primary and secondary both
methods will be used so that to acquire prominence within the research. In terms of primary data
collection methods questionnaire will be used and for secondary books and journals will be used.
Data analysis: Data analysis is regarded as the process in which collected data is
measured using different techniques. There are two major methods of data analysis such as
frequency distribution table and thematic analysis. For the current research, the researcher will
choose frequency distribution table in order to measure the data in quick manner by applying
lesser cost (Heeringa, West and Berglund, 2017).