M&S Marketing Audit and Strategy: A Comprehensive Analysis Report

This report provides a detailed marketing analysis of Marks & Spencer (M&S), a British retail company. It begins with an introduction to marketing and its importance for business success, followed by a marketing audit of M&S, covering product, price, place, promotion, and market position. The report then delves into market segmentation, focusing on young and middle-aged customers, and includes questionnaire results to assess brand image, product attractiveness, and areas for improvement. It recommends strategies for M&S to grow in the retail market, such as taking customer feedback, expanding product ranges, raising product standards, and identifying areas for improvement. The report concludes with a summary of findings and recommendations for future marketing strategies.

Marketing

INTRODUCTION
Marketing refers to the use of different activities which are useful in ensuring that the
final product is able to reach the prospective customer and therefore it is important that the
companies are able to make the required improvements in their marketing so that they can ensure
that they are able to attain the future goals and objectives in a better manner (Ali and Anwar,
2021). Organizations should bring regular innovations in their marketing strategy which will
help them in targeting the customers quite appropriately and therefore ensure that the attainment
of the future goals and objectives can be done in a proper manner. For this report, Marks &
Spencer has been chosen. It is a British Retail Company which provides a wide variety of
products and services to the customers in the market. In this report, a detailed and specific
discussion will be made on the ways in which Marketing can help the Businesses.
MAIN BODY
Marketing Audit refers to a type of investigation which is required to be done so that the
assessment of the needs and requirements of the different types of customers can be done so that
the enhancement in the overall level of profitability can be done which will help in maximizing
the returns in a proper manner (Chatterjee and Kar, 2020). Marks & Spencer is a company which
has to identify the way in which it can attain a strategic and competitive edge in the market over
the competitors so that it is able to attain a higher-level of efficiency and effectiveness in its
operations.
For this purpose, it is quite important that the assessment of the current marketing
strategy of the Business can be done (Chou and et.al., 2020). This can be done in the following
manner-
Product- M&S provides a lot of retail products to the customers in the market. These
cater to a wide range of needs and requirements of the customers which therefore helps in
ensuring that they can effectively and efficiently ensure that they can attain their future goals and
objectives.
Price- M&S make use of Competitive Pricing Strategy in which it assesses the price
which is being used by the competitors regularly and therefore sets the price of its products
accordingly so that the enhancement in the overall level of profits can be done quite effectively
and efficiently.
Place- M&S has its stores which are located all over the world which therefore ensures
that the different types of customers in various areas can be targeted effectively and efficiently in
a proper manner.

Promotion- M&S makes sure that through making the use of aggressive promotional
strategies it is able to ensure that it can attain its various types of goals and objectives in a proper
manner.
Market Position- M&S has a very strong position in the market of U.K. It also has
consolidates its presence in the various countries across the world where it is giving a tough
competition to its wide range of competitors in the market (Donthu and et.al., 2021). Therefore,
in this way it can be said that the management of M&S needs to make sure that through making
the use of its strong market position in the market it is able to make sure that it can attain the
future goals and objectives quite effectively and efficiently in a proper manner. The market
position of M&S also allows it to ensure that it is able to identify the way in which can
strategically place its different products and services so that higher-level of profits can be
generated and therefore the maximization of the revenues can be done in a right way.
Market Segmentation- Market Segmentation is the practice of segmenting the market
according to various criteria so that the enhancement in the overall level of profits can be done in
a right manner quite effectively and efficiently. M&S also has to ensure that it makes its use so
that it is able to make sure that it can segment the market in a proper manner quite effectively
and efficiently (Dwivedi and et.al., 2020).
M&S is a Brand which attracts the attention of the various types of customers in the
market. Therefore, in this way it can be said that it will be able to make sure that it is able to
attain a higher-level of efficiency and effectiveness (Rust, 2020). For growing and expanding in
the market, it has to ensure that it segments its market according to the criteria of age group of
the customers. It will conduct a Market Research on two groups of customers- Young Customers
& Middle-Age Customers. Therefore, in this way it will be able to understand the specific needs
and requirements which these customers have in the market and will be able to make sure that
the use of the right methods and techniques can be made so that these needs and requirements
can be met in a proper manner quite effectively and efficiently.
Use of Questionnaire- Questionnaire is a technique which can be used as a part of
Market Research which is being conducted. This is so because in it there are several questions
which are present which can be asked to the different types of customers and therefore
accordingly the conclusions and recommendations can be drawn in a proper manner. Thus, by
making its use the organizations can ensure that they are able to progress in the market in a right
way which will help them in attaining the goals and objectives. Thus, it is recommended to the
managers of M&S that its use should be made so that the company can frame right strategy for
making progress in the future (Dzwigol, 2020).
The Questionnaire which will be used by the company to target Young Customers is as
follows-
Question 1- Do you think that M&S has a good Brand Image in the market?

Answer-
Yes- 40 respondents
No- 10 respondents
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Interpretation- According to the graph, 40 respondents are of the opinion that the
company has a good Brand Image in the market. The remaining 10 respondents think that the
company does not has a good Brand Image in the market.

Question 2- According to you does M&S has attractive products?
Answer-
Yes- 45 respondents
No- 5 respondents
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Interpretation- As per the above graph, 45 respondents state that M&S has attractive
products. The remaining 5 respondents are of the opinion that M&S does not have attractive
products.

Question 3- Should M&S consider making improvements in its products to suit the needs and
requirements of its customers in the market?
Answer-
Yes- 30 respondents
No- 20 respondents
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Interpretation- According to the graph, 30 respondents state that improvements should
be made in the products. The remaining 20 respondents state that improvements should not be
made in the products.

Question 4- Can M&S make sure that it makes the use of Innovation to bring attractive products
which will help in bringing an enhancement in the overall level of profits?
Answer-
Yes- 35 respondents
No- 15 respondents
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Interpretation- As per the above graph, 35 respondents state that the use of innovation
must be made to enhance the overall level of profits. The remaining 15 respondents state that the
use of innovation should not be made to enhance the profits.

Question 5- Are the products of M&S reliable to be used?
Answer-
Yes- 40 respondents
No- 10 respondents
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Interpretation- According to the graph, 40 respondents state that the products of M&S
are reliable to be used. The remaining 10 respondents state that the products of the company are
not reliable to be used.
The ways M&S can make use of these customers to grow in the retail marketplace-
Young customers are quite important from the point of view of M&S. This is so because the
company needs to make sure that it is able to identify the changing needs and requirements
which this group of customers has and make sure that it is able to fulfill them so that the overall
enhancement in the level of profits can be done in a proper manner (Hajarian and et.al., 2021)..
This will be quite helpful in ensuring that the company is able to target strategic growth in the
marketplace in the future. Thus, for the organization it is crucial to make sure that these
customers are targeted by fulfilling all their necessary needs and requirements and ensuring that
the level of overall efficiency and effectiveness can be enhanced in the right way. In this way,
the attainment of the goals and objectives in the future can be done quite properly.
The various types of ways which can be used by M&S for ensuring that it grows in the
retail marketplace are as follows-
 Taking the feedback from customers- It is necessary that the feedback from the
customers is taken by M&S so that it is able to find out the problems and issues which are
present and take the right rectifying steps so that these problems and issues can be
resolved quite properly (Kalaignanam and et.al., 2021). Therefore, in this way it can be
said that the company will be able to make sure that the attainment of the future goals and
objectives can be done by the company in the right way. Young customers generally
provide their feedback on the products and services and therefore it should be used by the
company to target its growth in the market.
 Expanding its range of products and services- It is also crucial that the expansion in
the range of products and services can be done so that M&S can target the customers in a
proper way. Thus, it becomes quite important that the expansion can be done in the right
way so that the broad segments in the market can be targeted which will be quite helpful
for targeting expansion in the market in a proper manner. Young customers have a
preference for a range of products and services which can help them to be able to
maximize their profits quite properly.
 Raising the standards of its products- It is also quite necessary that the overall
standards of the products of the company can be raised in a proper manner. M&S
therefore can make sure that it makes use of the available opportunities to increase the
standards of its products and make sure that it is able to target higher-level of profitability
in a proper manner. Young customers require that the standards of the products can be
raised so that they can purchase them.
 Identifying the scope for improvement- It is quite important that the identification of
the scope of improvement is done by M&S so that it can bring improvements in the
products wherever it feels necessary (Kohli and Haenlein, 2021). This will be helpful in

ensuring that the management of the needs and requirements of the customers can be
done highly appropriately and therefore the maximization of the overall level of revenues
and profitability can be done in the right manner. Young customers can identify the scope
of improvement quite quickly and thus this can be quite helpful for the organization to
make sure that these improvements can be made quite properly.
The Questionnaire which can be used by M&S to be able to target Middle-Age
Customers is as follows-
Question 1- Does M&S has the required potential through which it can expand in the
market quite effectively and efficiently?
Answer-
Yes- 45 respondents
No- 5 respondents
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Interpretation- According to the graph, 45 respondent states that M&S has the potential
to expand in the market. The remaining 5 respondent think that M&S does not have
potential in market.

Question 2- Should M&S make use of aggressive marketing and promotion techniques to
target the customers?
Answer-
Yes- 40 respondents
No- 10 respondents
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Interpretation- According to the opinion of 40 respondents M&S should make
the use of aggressive marketing and promotion techniques for targeting the customers.
According to the remaining 10 respondents M&S should not make the use of aggressive
marketing and promotion techniques for targeting customers.