Competitive Marketing: SWOT, Ansoff & Digital Strategies - M&S

This report provides an overview of marketing strategies employed by Marks and Spencer, a British multinational company dealing in food, clothing, and home products. It defines marketing and explores the 7Ps of the marketing mix in the context of Marks and Spencer, detailing product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence. The report also examines how Marks and Spencer uses SWOT analysis to remain competitive, identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Furthermore, it discusses the application of the Ansoff Growth Matrix for analyzing growth opportunities and the role of digital marketing in improving the organization's performance and growth, particularly in response to challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis concludes that effective marketing strategies are essential for enhancing revenue and profitability.

Introduction to
marketing

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK...............................................................................................................................................2
Define Marketing....................................................................................................................2
7P’s of Marketing Mix...........................................................................................................2
how marketing is use by organisations in remain competitive using SWOT analysis...........3
Ansoff Growth Matrix............................................................................................................4
Use of digital marketing in improving growth and success...................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is defined as the sum total or combination of all those activities which have been
performed by the business organisation in order to present their products and services in front of
customers. These activities are majorly performed for the purpose of improving revenue and
profitability of organisation. Under marketing, several of strategies have been developed by the
organisation for developing their product in the market. The chosen organisation for this report is
Marks and Spencer which is a British multinational company dealing in food products, clothing
and footwear having headquarter in London, England United Kingdom. Marks and Spencer is a
well-known brand in the international market. Hence, the Marketing department of Marks and
Spencer well and developing several new strategies for the purpose of generating revenue. This
report include the meaning of marketing, marketing mix along with the functions of marketing
which help the business organisation in remaining competitive. In addition to this, it also cover
ansoff growth matrix along with its uses in the organisation and the use of digital marketing in
improving the performance and growth of organisation.
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TASK
Define Marketing
Marketing refers to the practices performed by business organisation in presenting their
products and service infront of customers in a more effective and influencing manner so that the
customers attract towards the products and services and buy them which leads to the
improvement in profitability of organisation. Marketing department Marks and Spencer perform
all the activities related to the marketing which result in the enhancement of sales and revenue.
7P’s of Marketing Mix
Marketing mix is defined as a combination of several elements of marketing which helps the
business organisation in taking effective decisions related to the product price place and many
more. All these elements help for business organisation in performing their operations in an
effective and efficient manner. Below mentioned are the several elements of marketing in the
context of Marks and Spencer:
 Product: It refers to the product and service which are being offered by business
organisation. Marks and Spencer is dealing with food products, home products and
clothing. All these offerings by Marks and Spencer are considered as the product.
 Price: it refers to the cost which are being charged by the business organisations from
their customers for offering products. These costs are decided by the marketers of
organisation by adding the real value along with the supply cost. Marks and Spencer is
providing their products premium prices because of their high and positive brand image.
 Place: Another element of marketing mix is a place which refers to the geographical
location of the organisation through which the customers can buy the products. Marks
and Spencer is performing their business operations in several countries with several
locations.
 Promotion: it is the another element of marketing mix which explain the procedure of
communication with the aim of doing promotion of products and services of a
organisation. It state how to present the product in front of the target customers which
result in the profitability of organisation. Marks and Spencer adopting several
promotional and advertising strategies in order to attract the customers towards the
organisation such as online advertisement, social media marketing and many more.
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 People: It is found as necessary for the business organisations to keep their employees
happy so that they can work in an effective and efficient manner. Marks and Spencer
organisation is following employee oriented behaviour in their organisation in order to
motivating their employees towards they work. This work will result in the highest
satisfaction level of customer which is profitable for the organisation.
 Process: it has been found as necessary to develop the business operations process
effective and reliable. Marks and Spencer is working with the higher sustainability in
environment which result in attaining their goals and objectives in an effective and
efficient manner.
 Physical evidence: It include the evidence which state that the brand exist in the market.
All offline stores of Marks and Spencer which are available in the market is the physical
evidence of organisation.
how marketing is use by organisations in remain competitive using SWOT analysis
It has been found as necessary for business organisation to develop the successful
marketing strategy. It will help the Marks and Spencer in moving beyond the world of mouth
referrals along with using the tactics of marketing for driving new customers towards
organisation. The marketing campaigns which are performed by the marketers of Marks and
Spencer are expensive. SWOT is the tool which have been used by Marks and Spencer for
establishing a marketing campaign which help in analysing the strength, weakness, opportunities
and threats.
Strength
While performing this process, analysing the strength of the products and services which have
been offered by the Marks and Spencer is the first step. Under this step, M&S focus on
identifying the features offer products which can attract the customers. Majorly, Marks and
Spencer is producing stylish products which is an important feature of products. These features
can make the products different from their competitors which is the strength of the products.
Weaknesses
Alone with the strength, it is also essential for the organisation to analyse the weakness of their it
is found as a difficult step because in order to analysing the weaknesses, the organisation have to
understand the competition along with the demand of customers. Marks and Spencer is
producing stylish products but they are high in prices. Each and every weakness is required to be
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itemized for the purpose of company to be the best position it's offering as part of a marketing
campaign.
Opportunities
This level of analysis, identify all the possible markets in which Marks and Spencer can be
poised to capture. The respective organisation is providing products on premium prices. They are
only covering the customers of high class. The organisation have opportunity to produce the
product for medium and lower class as well. Analysing the opportunity for the company along
with its offerings can be the part of their practices which are essential to plan an effective
marketing strategy.
Threats
Identifying the threats of Marks and Spencer is really demoralizing. Several competitors of
Marks and Spencer are available in the market which are providing high stylist products at
cheaper price to the customers. It will retain the customer in organisation of their competitive.
By analysing the threats of organisation, the management have opportunity for addressing in
these areas on priority to their become tangible.
Ansoff Growth Matrix
Ansoff Matrix is defined as a tool which have been used by the business organization in
analyzing the growth of alternatives in the market. It include four strategies i.e. market
penetration, product development, market development, diversification. Market penetration
Strategy refers to the development of existing product in the existing market. Product
development strategy state thedevelopment of a new product in the existing market. Marketing
development strategy include the development of existing product in the new market. Whereas
diversification strategy refers to the development of new product in the new market.
Ansoff matrix is used by the Marks and Spencer in order to analysing the growth
opportunities. By applying this matrix, the organisation get to know about their product and
market. It help them in making the decision whether there product is enough to get success in the
existing market for the organisation have to move towards the new market or any new product.
Satisfaction of customers who is the major objective of organisation as It helped them in any
class success in the future. If the existing products are not performing well in the existing market,
organisation is required to develop new product and select any existing or any new market.
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Before selecting any market, organisation is required to do the analysis of market, so that the
marketers can analyse the growth and success opportunity of organisation.
Ansoff Matrix state the required changes either in the market or product. The ansoff matrix
is used in the strategy stage of the marketing planning process. It is used for analysing the which
overarching strategy the business should use and then inform which practices should be used in
the marketing activity.
Use of digital marketing in improving growth and success
It has been found that advancement of technology bring with several changes in the business
industry as well. Digital marketing is the new version of a traditional marketing strategies. Under
digital marketing, several off technology has been used by the organisation in order to reach the
customers and influence them to buy their products and services. Also use digital marketing and
it help the organisation in improving its performance and growth as well. Today's young
generation is spending most of its time on the social media platforms. Hence it can be found as
the best platform through which the organisation can reach to their customers and attract them
towards the organisation. Performing advertisements on social media is the best option for the
business organisation as it leads to the improvement in the performance and growth of
organisation. In addition to this, due to the spread of covid-19 in the entire world highly
influence the general public. People do not want to go outside and do shopping. By the use of
digital marketing company cna reach to customers and the buyers can purchase the product on
online websites and platforms. Covid-19 highly impact the industry as well. As per government
guidelines, stores of Marks and Spencer closed. That time it was really difficult for the
organisation to survive and earn profit again. But digital marketing help them in germinating the
profit again by influencing the customer also through social media platforms and email
marketing. Along with this, traditional marketing methods are found as less expensive as
compared to the traditional marketing methods. It is a huge advantage for the organisations to
adopt the digital marketing strategies as it leads to the growth and success of organisation.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that marketing is an essential function for a business
organisation as it helps the business in enhancing the revenue and profitability of organisation.
There are several elements of marketing mix which have been discussed above in details. On the
basis of the elements of marketing mix, management take your important decision related to the
products and services. SWOT analysis has been used by the marketing department for the
purpose of knowing the strength, weakness, opportunity and threats of the marketing campaigns.
By analysing these factors, the marketing department of organisation can take effective
decisions. Ansoff Matrix has been used by the organisations in analysing the growth strategies.
In addition to this it has been also concluded at technology brings several changes in the
marketing methods of organisation. Digital marketing will help the business organisation in
improving its performance along with ensuring the growth.
REFERENCES
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Nguyen Viet, B. and Nguyen Anh, T., 2021. The role of selected marketing mix elements in
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