Principles of Marketing: Marks & Spencer Marketing Plan Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Marks and Spencer's marketing strategy, focusing on the application of the Ansoff matrix, the marketing mix (4Ps), and customer-driven strategies. The report begins with an introduction to marketing principles and then applies the Ansoff matrix to i...Read More

Principles of
Marketing

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK...............................................................................................................................................3
Develop a marketing strategy.................................................................................................3
Discuss the marketing Mix.....................................................................................................5
Discuss the customer driven strategy.....................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
Books and Journals:................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Marketing can be understood as the process of acquiring potential customers and clients
interested in the organization's commodities and services. This is a process which includes
investigating, promoting, selling and dispersing the goods and services. This discipline involves
the study of market, together with the behaviours of consumers and it examines the commercial
management of businesses for the purpose of customer attraction, acquisition and retention by
fulfilling their demand and wants and ingraining brand loyalty (Bodell, 2021). From the
assessment 1, it is identified that Marks and Spencer (M&S) is considered to prepare this report.
This is a global retailing organization in British administration. The headquarters is in London,
UK. This is famous for merchandising clothing, food products and home products. A marketing
plan is going to be prepared in this report to achieve certain objectives and targets of that
company. In this report, Ansoff marketing framework will be outlined to know the growth
opportunities of business. Marketing mix will be elaborated in which 4Ps are covered; product,
price, place and promotion. Lastly, it will outline the customer driven strategy of the company in
which segmentation, targetting, positioning and differentiation are involved.
SMART Objectives: Specific: Improve services of customers and their user experiences as well. Measurable: Respond to all queries and issues within 12-24 hours while advancing the
NPS score to 98. Attainable: Response times as well as NPS score show additive enhancement versus one
year ago. Realistic: The customer experience will show the ability to grow and develop.
 Time: As measured by every quarter metrics for times of responses and NPS scores.
TASK
Develop a marketing strategy.
Anosff matrix is often known as product or market expansion grid method. This is two by
two tool exploited by marketing and strategic managers to help in planning while examining
growth initiatives (Bonaparte, 2019). It helps stakeholders to analyse the level of risks associated
with various growth or expansion strategies. In respect of Marks and Spencer, the growth or
expansion strategies within the Ansoff matrix are as follows:

 Market penetration: The market penetration is the first strategy in the quadrant of this
matrix in which the least risks and uncertainties are involved. It is when a company seeks
to grow and develop their business in a market it already presents in with goods, services
and any other offerings it already has. The key goal is to boost the market share by
acknowledging new customers in the present market or selling more of its offerings to a
current customer base. The chosen company can expand or grow their business with this
method by advancing promotional efforts, lowering their prices and merging business in
the same market. Market development: This is the second strategy in the quadrant in which the
organisation utilises its present offerings and try to expand into other places of market. It
may cover local area, regions, nation-wide as well as international market. Whenever a
company seeks to expand their business with this method where they do not yet present,
whatever that new place may be, it is market development expansion strategy. It may
cover little more risks than the above strategy (Chautard and Collin-Lachaud, 2019). It
involves greater chance of success if the organisation can advance its output without
negatively influencing dispersion and finances, the market they are entering is related to
the one they already have attainments and its goods and services are unique enough to
stand-out in the new place. The company can grow by appealing into foreign markets or
by establishing diverse segments its consumer base. Product development: This one is the third option in the matrix in which a company
develops new goods and servings for its current marketplace. It is about as risky as the
market development strategy. Through this method of expansion, the chosen organisation
can expand its product portfolio that customers can opt from. For this strategy, M&S can
partner up with other organisation to provide an additional good or to boost dispersion.
 Diversification: This is fourth and final method in the Anosff matrix that carries the most
risks to organisations. It include an organisation that willing to enter new marketplace
with new goods or services. It covers the untested products in the new market that they
do not have any kind of experience in.
By analysing all the above aspects in all the growth and expansion strategies, it can be
said that M&S can use diversification strategy in which they can perform research about the
capable markets in which they can grow with their new offerings and services. With their current

offerings as the company is able to serve the customers and gain their satisfaction, they can also
enhances their current portfolio by adding new features or creating completely new will also help
in acquiring new customers base in the new place (Eiseman, 2018). They can appoint agents to
gain the knowledge about the customers of the certain country or new marketplace so that their
new offerings can be serve properly. Those agents will also help in knowing the tastes and
preferences of the new customer base so that they develop accordingly and prices will also be set
accordingly. Although, it may involve highest risks among all, but simultaneously will help in
gaining lucrative amount for the business.
Discuss the marketing Mix
Marketing mix is defined as the set of practices or actions which have been performed by
the management of business organization in order to promote the brand of organisation or the
products in the market. The major aim of marketing mix is to focus on the marketing plan and
make them more effective as compared to their competitors. The marketing mix include 4P's
which include product, price, place and promotion. The combination of all these components of
marketing mix result in the better development of marketing strategies. Below mentioned is the
explanation of four components of marketing mix in the context of Marks and Spencer: Product: One of the essential component of marketing mix is product. It is defined as the
item or service which are organisation offer to their customers. In simple words it is
defined as the item which is actually made or developed for sale. The products are being
developed for the purpose of satisfying the requirements of individual or group. It has
been found as necessary for the management of Marks and Spencer to do the research
before developing the products because of fluctuations in the life cycle (Sabaghinejad and
et. al., 2018). Marks and Spencer is dealing with the clothes, home products along with
the food products. All these items which are being provided to the customers in order to
satisfy the needs of customers and generating higher revenue are consider as the products.
These products are provided to the customers for the purpose of generating higher
revenue and profits as well. Price: It is defined as the value which a seller get in the exchange of products and
services from the customers. There are various pricing strategies which are being selected
by the marketing manager in order to earn the higher profits. The pricing component of
marketing mix is being used by the marketing department in order to demarcating,

differentiating along with enhancing the brand image of the business organisation. While
developing marketing plan, it is found as the most essential component as it make the
decision of profit along with the survival of organisation (Palmatier and Sridhar, 2020).
The Marks and Spencer is adopting premium pricing strategy under which the
organisation is charging very high amount from their customers because of its high brand
image. Through adopting this pricing strategy, the respective business organisation is
earning high amount of profit along with gaining the higher market share. Place: It is the another element of marketing mix which describe the location of
providing the products and services to the customers. Placement and distribution is found
as the most essential part of the strategy of marketing mix. Marks and Spencer is
providing its products in all over the world (Vatandost, Namamian and Ghobadilemoki,
2021). There are several offline stores are available in the different countries from where
the management is serving their customers. Along with this, the respective business
organisation is providing its products to their customer s through their online website.
Through the use of internet, the customers located at different locations can place the
order.
 Promotion: It is defined as the practices which is being conducted by the marketing
department of organisation. It involve several practices such as advertising, press report,
commissions and many more. In simple words, it can be defined as the marketing
communication procedure which is helping the Marks and Spencer to publicizing the
products along with its features (Musakayeva, 2019). It is found as the high expensive
element of marketing mix. The marketers of Marks and Spencer is using several tools and
technology in order to do the promotion of their products and services such as email
marketing, social media marketing, advertisement and many more. They are adopting the
several marketing strategies such as direct marketing, personal branding and many more.
Discuss the customer driven strategy
It has been found as necessary for the business organisation to develop the effective
marketing strategies in order to drive the customers towards the business organisation. The
management of Marks and Spencer is required to develop the customer driven strategy in order
to work in an effective and efficient manner as it also leads to the increase in profitability and
productivity of organisation (von Freymann and Cuffe, 2020). In order to drive the customers, it

is necessary to make the target customers. The management of Marks and Spencer is applying
STP analysis model to drive the target customers. It help the organisation in analysing the
product offering along with the manner in which they are communicating. Below mentioned is
the application of STP analysis in the context of Marks and Spencer:
 Segmentation: Market Segmentation is being used by the management of business
organisation in order to classify the customers in the different groups of people with
the similar interest or any other feature. It help the management in meeting all the
requirements of customers. There are various ways in which the Marks and Spencer
has divided their target market in several groups i.e. demographic, geographic,
psychographic and behavioural (Liu and Levin, 2018). The management of Marks and
Spencer is classifying their customers on the basis of location and demographic as the
company is providing their products globally. They are providing their products as per
the classification of locations i.e. by country, state, region, city or any other. Along
with this, the organisation is majorly dealing with the clothes. Hence, they are also
classifying their customers on the basis of gender and age. The organisation is
performing their business operations in the international market which state that they
are required to keep their classification basis effective, so that they can effectively sale
their products to their target customers.
 Targetting: After making segments of customers on several basis, the management of
Marks and Spencer is required to make the target of their customers. The management
have to work on the identification of the best group which can help the management in
earning the higher amount of profit. There are several factors which are consider by the
management of Marks and Spencer while selecting the target segment of customers
i.e.the profitability of each and every segment, the size and potential growth of each
and every group of customers, the manner in which the organisation is providing the
products. The Marks and Spencer is targeting the customers who have higher level of
earnings as the organisation is providing its products on high prices.
 Positioning: Under this step of STP analysis, the management of organisation have to
position their products in front of their target customers. This is possible just after
making the selection of effective segment of customers (George, 2021). The Marks and

Spencer is providing their products in all over the world and they are providing clothes
fro all categories i.e. men, women, children of all age groups.
Above mentioned are the stages of STP analysis which is being adopted by the management of
Marks and Spencer in order to analysing their target customers. Through analysing their taregt
customers, the management can effectively present their pro ducts in front of their target
customers which result in the increase in profitability and productivity of organisation.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that the marketing is an essential function in
a business organisation as it leads to the increase in brand awareness along with generation of
higher revenue. In order to perform the marketing activities in an effective and efficient manner,
the marketing manager have to plan all the marketing activities under which they identify the
their target market, target customers and many more. Marketing mix is also consider as an
important element which help the business organisation in developing the effective marketing
strategies. It is found as necessary for the marketing function to drive the effective strategy in
order to attract the customers of target market. While developing effective marketing strategy,
the organisation is going to apply the ansoff matrix under which the management analyse several
situations in which they can earn maximum amount of profit. The marketing managers develop
SMART objectives which help them developing the effective marketing strategies through which
they can attain the organisational goals and objectives. There are several tools and models which
are being used by the marketing function in order to reach to the target customers such as
marketing mix, STP analysis and many mothers.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Bodell, R., 2021. The Method Efficacy and Outcomes of a Marketing Service-Learning Project
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Bonaparte, Y.L., 2019. Sustainable outcomes of an experiential learning project in a principles of
marketing course. Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science, 29(1), pp.7-14.
Chautard, T. and Collin-Lachaud, I., 2019. Introducing the storytelling analysis methodology in
marketing: Principles, contributions and implementation. Recherche et Applications en
Marketing (English Edition), 34(3), pp.27-46.
Eiseman, D., 2018. Marketing sustainable tourism: Principles and practice. In Tourism planning
and destination marketing. Emerald Publishing Limited.
George, R., 2021. Tourism and Hospitality Marketing Principles. In Marketing Tourism and
Hospitality (pp. 3-31). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Liu, Y. and Levin, M.A., 2018. A progressive approach to teaching analytics in the marketing
curriculum. Marketing Education Review, 28(1), pp.14-27.
Musakayeva, P.M., 2019. Marketing economy at the business enterprise. Российская наука и
образование сегодня: проблемы и перспективы, (3), pp.15-16.
Palmatier, R.W. and Sridhar, S., 2020. Marketing strategy: Based on first principles and data
analytics. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Sabaghinejad and et. al., 2018. Retracted: A survey of jundishapur medical sciences university
students viewpoints in Ahvaz considering the effective components in the marketing
process of libraries based on the principles of marketing mix (9P's model). Journal of
Fundamental and Applied Sciences, 10(6S).
Vatandost, T., Namamian, F. and Ghobadilemoki, T., 2021. Principles of marketing ethics and
Internet banking service strategy based on perceived value of customers. Political
Sociology of Iran, 3(4), pp.1716-1732.
von Freymann, J.W. and Cuffe, B.P., 2020. Can Higher-Order Active Learning Modalities
Improve Student Learning Outcomes in a Marketing Principles Class?. Journal of the
Academy of Business Education, 21.