The Role of Promotional Strategies at Marks and Spencer

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Added on  2023/01/06

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This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Marks and Spencer's promotional strategies and their impact on business growth. It begins with an introduction to Marks and Spencer, including its size, store operations, turnover, and history. The report then outlines the project overview, research aims, objectives, and questions, followed by a literature review exploring various promotional strategies. The methodology section details the research philosophy, approach, strategy, and data collection methods, including ethical considerations and limitations. The findings section presents the results, including frequency tables and key insights. The report concludes with recommendations for Marks and Spencer to enhance its promotional strategies and drive further business growth, supported by a detailed list of references.
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Business
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Management
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
About Marks and Spencer ...............................................................................................................4
Size of Marks and Spencer .............................................................................................................4
Store of Marks and Spencer ............................................................................................................4
Turnover of Marks and Spencer .....................................................................................................5
History and Data of Marks and Spencer .........................................................................................5
Project Overview ............................................................................................................................5
Promotion strategies of Marks and Spencer ...................................................................................6
CSR activities of Marks and Spencer .............................................................................................6
Research aim..........................................................................................................................6
Research objectives................................................................................................................6
Research questions.................................................................................................................7
Rationale of research..............................................................................................................7
Literature Review ............................................................................................................................7
Methodology and data collection...................................................................................................14
Research Objectives.............................................................................................................14
Research Philosophy............................................................................................................14
Research Approach...............................................................................................................15
Research Strategy.................................................................................................................15
Research Choice...................................................................................................................15
Time horizon........................................................................................................................16
Research design....................................................................................................................16
Data Collection Method.......................................................................................................16
Data Analysis........................................................................................................................16
Research ethics.....................................................................................................................17
Sampling method..................................................................................................................17
Limitations............................................................................................................................17
Frequency table....................................................................................................................20
Results/ Findings..................................................................................................................23
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Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................32
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................33
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................35
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Introduction
Promotional strategy is considered as plan as well as tactics used by a company in
marketing plans or strategies in order to enhance the demand of products and services at the
marketplace (John, 2020). It is mainly designed or developed to persuade, inform or remind
target audiences related to the products and services so that they encourage to purchase it
(Parihar and Dawra, 2020). There are several types of promotional strategies that a company
manager may adopt for promoting their products and services such as personal selling, sales
promotion, direct marketing, advertising, publicity and many more (Tsao and Lee, 2020). It is
essential for company management develop appropriate promotional strategy so that they can
attract more and more customers at potential market (Chung, 2020).
About Marks and Spencer
Organization selected for respective research is Marks and Spencer which is launched by
Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in year 1884 (Waral, 2020). The business of respective
company is nested at the worldwide level as well as they offer wide variety of clothing products
through numbers of brand such as per Una, Autograph, Blue Harbous, Limited, Rosie, M&S
energy, M&S collection and many more (Anghelcev and et.al., 2020). The respective report is
based on determining the role of promotional strategies in order to enhance growth of business
organization. In respect of this researcher adopt different methods so that they gather
authenticate and reliable information.
Size of Marks and Spencer
Marks and Spencer is one of the largest multinational retailer across the world which is
headquartered in London. It has wide range of products with large product portfolio and different
brands. It deals in clothing, food and home products with specialisation in fashion clothing.
Currently, it has employed 80,000 employees operating in various stores worldwide.
Store of Marks and Spencer
Company has large number of stores in UK within food & beverages, clothing and
consumer durable industries. It has been serving customers with the help of large supermarket
retail chains. Currently, it has 959 stores across UK with including 615 stores which only serves
food and beverages (Ciesla, 2019). It also provides online food delivery services which helps in
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increasing customer satisfaction. This leads to increase turnover and market share in industry.
Company has been serving customers with online stores leading to increase in reaching target
customers.
Turnover of Marks and Spencer
Marks and Spencer has been performing excellent financially in last five years with an
increase growth rate. It has been growing with a steady increased rate except in last year due to
occurrence of pandemic disease (Kuang et. and al, 2017). This has led to fall in profits with a
large number resulting in losses and drastic change in the operation of company.
History and Data of Marks and Spencer
Company has been growing at a good pace since its establishment. It has become one of
the largest luxury brand worldwide which has strong value system. It has been uncompromising
with product quality and customer satisfaction with the help of tapping all the customer needs.
This has helped company in maintaining and building strong customer relations leading to
enhanced goodwill among target customers (Kuang, Jiang, Cui and Yang, 2016). Its financial
performance has been increasing exponentially with increasing earning per shares and dividend.
Company has high turnover with a increasing pace leading to £10,182 million currently.
Project Overview
Promotion is one of the vital part in marketing strategy of a company. It is the process of
customer communication which helps in spreading awareness and information about companies
products. It helps in attracting, inducing and engaging customers which leads to influencing
consumer behaviour. It is one of the essential tool for building marketing strategies and helps in
communicating products to its target audience. It includes personal selling, advertising, sales
promotion and public relations which helps in promoting companies product. Company utilises
various promotional strategies including digital marketing and in store marketing strategies. It
uses different channel of promotion such as print media, TV ads, mobile ads and other social
media campaigns (Nadda, Dadwal and Rahimi, 2017). It utilises company website for promoting
brands, clothes for men, women and kids. This helps in reaching potential customers at a large
scale and providing critical information require to purchase the product. It also provide blogs and
articles relevant to fashion trends and preferences. Company provides season sale for its loyal
customers with the help of discounting and special offers. It has been providing reward points to
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customer's account on the purchase of products. It is done under its loyalty program 'Sparks'
which helps in keeping customer for long term.
Promotion strategies of Marks and Spencer
These are the strategies which helps in communicating information among its target
customers. Promotion strategies of company helps in persuading customers to buy its products
with delivering information on various channels (Donthu, Kumar and Pattnaik, 2020). Company
has been promoting its CSR practices which encourages customers to conserve natural resources.
It includes both above the line and below the line marketing strategies for making larger impact.
It highly believes in marketing strategies and has utilised all the possible tools for spreading
awareness.
CSR activities of Marks and Spencer
Corporate social responsibility is the implementation of rules and regulations in business
activities which aims to contribute in supporting and developing society growth. These are
ethically oriented practices with a purpose to give back to the community. Marks and Spencer
has been incorporating various CSR campaigns such as “Look Behind the Label” in which it
promotes various ethical and environmental friendly aspects utilise in production and sourcing
methods for sustainable growth of environment and society (Kuang et. and al, 2017). It is consist
of five commitments such as climate change, sustainable raw materials, fair partnership and
health, waste management. Thus, company has been very active in social work and provides
charity on several events and occasions.
Research aim
“To investigate about the role of promotional strategies in enhancing growth of business
organisation”. A case study on Marks and Spencer.
Research objectives
To understand the use of promotional strategies within the organisation.
To determine several challenges faced by Marks and Spencer while implementing
promotional strategies at workplace.
To find out several ways through which Marks and Spencer could overcome challenges
related to the implementation of promotional strategies at workplace.
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To evaluate the relationship between promotional strategies and enhancing business
growth of Marks and Spencer.
Research questions
Explain the use of promotional strategies within the organisation?
What are the several challenges faced by Marks and Spencer while implementing
promotional strategies at workplace?
What are the several ways through which Marks and Spencer could overcome challenges
related to the implementation of promotional strategies at workplace?
What is the relationship between promotional strategies and enhancing business growth
of Marks and Spencer?
Rationale of research
The rationale of conducting this research is to evaluate about the importance of
promotional strategies for a company so that they attract more and more customer at the potential
market (Izquierdo and Blanco, 2020). By conducting this research, researcher able to understand
several challenges faced by an organization while implementing promotional strategies at
workplace as well as they also able to determine ways through which they could overcome
challenges related to the implementation of promotional strategies (Mintzes and et.al., 2020).
Moreover they also able to understand relationship between promotional strategies and
enhancing business growth (Yu and et.al., 2020). By this researcher able to understand whole
concept properly which provide them capabilities to conduct next research on same topic in more
effective manner.
Literature Review
It is also considered as narrative review which is a type of reviewing article. A literature
review is generally a scholar paper or document which present the present knowledge including
the substantive finding as well as it also include theoretical and methodological contribution to
specific topic (Williamson and Hassanli, 2020). In respect of respective research which is based
on the topic i.e. “To investigate about the role of promotional strategies in enhancing growth of
business organisation”. For this research researcher conduct literature review which is part of
secondary research method in which researcher gather information from the existing sources
which are reliable, authenticate and appropriate for the research. The researcher of respective
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research conduct literature review through answering research questions, which are explained
below:-
Explain the use of promotional strategies within the organisation?
As per the view point of Mishra, A., (2015), promotion strategy is considered as
strategies which is develop and maintain by a company management in order to promote their
products and services in the potential marketplace. There are several methods which a company
management adopt as their promotional strategies for attracting more and more customers from
the potential marketplace (Why Is Promotion Important for a Business, 2015). A company
generally adopt promotional strategies because through that they able to attract more customers
in the potential marketplace which leads to increase in sales and profitability ratio. The different
promotional strategies which a company may adopt for the business growth are social media,
television, billboards, shopping outlets, magazines, and radio and many others. The selection of
promotional strategies of a company is mainly based on their business operations and function.
Moreover while selecting the promotional strategies it is necessary for the company manager to
understand their business as well as product and then select promotional strategies accordingly.
There are several benefits which are gain by a company through implementation of effective
promotional strategies such as they able to enhance their brand image or brand awareness which
directly leads to increase in sales, profit and customer's base. This will also help in aware
customers about the product and services which are provided by a company in the potential
marketplace. In current time the best promotional strategy which is selected by a company is
considered as social media and digital media which include channels like Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter and many more. There are numbers of promotional strategies which a company may
adopt in order to attract more and more customer toward the products or services. From which
some of the main promotional strategies are mentioned below that may adopted by Marks and
Spencer:-
These are strategies build for promoting products of a company which is vital for
channelising sales and growth. It helps in building strong position in the market which leads to
favourable image and interactive communication between seller and buyer. Following are some
of the promotional strategies:
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Social media promotion- This is one of the vital method in promoting products of
company. It helps in connecting to large number of potential people via social networking
sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social medium.
Samples- In this company promotes launch of new products via sampling or product
giveaways. Companies promotes their new launch products in-store to entice customers
and attract their attention for buying new products (Ciesla, 2019).
Mail order marketing- In this strategy customers are consider as valuable and helps in
retrieving personal information. This leads to storing valuable data which is required in
building marketing strategies. Also, it helps in covering all the needs of customers
leading to provide better services.
Contests- These are frequently used strategy which helps in promoting brand in front of
large public. In this sponsorship is used for promoting brand logo and name also
combines with product hampers to winners (Kuang, Jiang, Cui and Yang, 2016). This is
one of the common method which helps in gaining attention of large number of people.
Customer referral incentive program- These are the referral programs in which various
kind of incentives are provided on the reference of a customer. It is used by companies to
encourage existing customers to refer new customers in store. It includes various
incentives such as gifts, free products, big discounts and cash rewards etc. This strategy
helps in leveraging current customer base into sales force for company (Nadda, Dadwal
and Rahimi, 2017).
These are the some effective promotional strategies that may adopted by Marks and
Spencer for attracting more and more customers towards their products at the potential market.
What are the several challenges faced by Marks and Spencer while implementing
promotional strategies at workplace?
As per the views of Lindsay Kolowich Cox (2020), it has been identified that there are
different challenges and issues that is faced by respective company by implementing and
executing promotional strategies. It is important for Marks and Spencer company analyse and
evaluate various challenges and issues that will lead to affect over business practices and
performance. It is essential for organisation to analyse and determine different challenges of
business which will influence over business practices as well as affect its growth and
development.
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Mapping customer journey – Mapping customer journey is very complex process and it
will lead to have major impact on promotional strategies of organisation. It is essential
for Marks and Spencer company to determine and create effective customers journey so
that company can develop accurate strategies for promoting and enhancing business
practices (8 of the Top Marketing Challenges Faced Globally, 2020). Marks and Spencer
company will face major issues in mapping accurate customer journey that will lead to
accomplish desired goals and objectives.
Identification of customers across channels – Marks and Spencer company face issues
in identification of customers across channels while conducting marketing practices as
well creating promotional strategies. Respective company is considering different
promotional tools and techniques for successfully or effectively performing marketing
task. This company face major issue in identifying correct and accurate customers which
needs to be target by company across different channels for promoting its products and
services.
Maintaining privacy – It is one of the major issue for company to maintain privacy of
information and data with in business. Marks and Spencer company will face major
issues of maintaining privacy of business information form other rival companies as
promotion practices includes the risk of leaking important information and data. It is
challenging for company to take different measure with the motive of maintaining
privacy of business information (Park, 2020). It is mainly take place because when a
company conduct promotional activities or practices there is increase in traffic on the
sites that provide opportunity to hackers to hack personal information of customer, clients
or employees and further use it for inappropriate activities.
Consistent customer Experience – It is crucial for organisation to develop and enhance
customer experience with business by successfully promoting products and services.
Marks and Spencer company face issue or challenge in order to maintain consistent
customer experience. This will lead to have negative impact on overall performance of
business as well as impact on customer base of business. Marks and Spencer company
promotional strategies will affect over customer experience of business as well as impact
over capabilities of organisation to attain its goals.
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Generating traffic and leads Marks and Spencer company will face issue in
generating traffic and leads for business. It is essential that respective company take
correct action and develop effective plan in order to attract more and more customers
towards business (Elsafty and Ragheb, 2020). Generation of traffic and lead is the major
issues or challenge for organisation and it will have direct impact on capabilities and
potential of business. It is generally happen because while selecting a promotional
strategy it is very difficult to select most appropriate. It is so because there are numbers
of strategies and selection of most appropriate is difficult for management. It is also
challenging to generate the traffic because for that it is essential for firm to adopt
innovative and creative strategy.
Lack of resources – It is another major challenge which is experienced by a company
when they have limited resources that hamper in implementing the most appropriate
strategy for the promotion of products and services. The lack of resources is related to
funds, experts, sources, market and many more. In respect of the Marks and Spencer they
may experienced respective challenges while implementing innovation promotional
strategy. This may related with the lack of funds, experts, sources, target market and
many more.
These are some of the common challenges faced by Marks and Spencer while
implementing promotional strategies at workplace. It is essential for the management to
understand these challenges as well as develop strategies accordingly as that leads to attainment
of desire goal and objective successfully.
What are the several ways through which Marks and Spencer could overcome challenges
related to the implementation of promotional strategies at workplace?
As per the view of Dan Shewan (2020), it has been analysed it is crucial for organisation
to overcome with the challenges in order to successfully and effective implement marketing
practices. There are different elements and factors that could create challenges for business while
implementing and executing business practices in correct way. It is important for Marks and
Spencer company to identify and determine different issues and challenges of business in order
to take correct actions as well as analyse correct strategies which will lead to overcome the issues
and improve capabilities of business (11 Big Content Marketing Challenges, 2020). There are
various ways and methods that help Marks and Spencer company to successfully overcome with
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the issues and deal with the problems of promotional strategies with in organisation. Different
ways and methods are mention below - Create proper marking plan It is important for organisation develop effective
marketing plan that will assist organisation to successfully and effectively carry out
practices as well as overcome with the challenges and issues of business (Cortez,
Gilliland and Johnston, 2020). Marks and Spencer company will be able to successfully
deal with the issues that occur while implementation of promotional strategies as well as
attain desired goals. By creating proper marketing plan respective company is able to set
path which is provide guidance and direction to conduct marking practices and task
successfully. Marketing plan is effective way to deal with promotional strategies. Define target market – Marks and Spencer company needs to define target market with
the motive of overcoming challenges or issues of promotional strategies. Respective
company is deal with large customer base and it is important for company to define target
market as well as successfully deal with the issues of business. By defining target market
respective organisation will be able to determine it customer base along with their needs
and wants. It is important for organisation to define market area and customer to which
company is providing its products and services. This is helpful in successfully
implementing and conducting promotional practices along with this attracting more
customers towards business. Use social media – This is one of the most useful approaches for performing marketing
practices as well as carry out business task in effective way. Social media is a platform
through which company can promote and advertise its products and services. This is
consider as the cost effective approach in order to promote and advertise it is products
and services (Moşteanu, Faccia and Cavaliere, 2020). Through social media approach
Marks and Spencer company will be able to enhance its performance and successfully
promote products and services in large market area.
Resources planning – It is crucial for organisation to develop effective and accurate plan
in order to determine various resources for successfully implement marketing practices.
Through successful resource planning Marks and Spencer company will be able to take
correct action plan and gather accurate amount of resources with the motive of
accomplishing desired goals. This way will assist respective company to overcome with
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