Unit 2: Marketing Essentials - M&S Role, Mix, and Plan Evaluation

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of marketing essentials within the context of Marks and Spencer (M&S). It explores the crucial role of marketing and its interrelation with other functional units within the organization, highlighting how marketing strategies contribute to customer engagement, sales boosts, and effective communication. The report also delves into the 7 P's of the marketing mix (Product, Place, Price, Promotion, People, Process, and Physical Evidence) and how they are applied by M&S to achieve overall business objectives, comparing these strategies with those of Burberry. Finally, it discusses the development and evaluation of a marketing plan, examining how M&S adapts its strategies to maintain a competitive edge and foster customer loyalty. The study emphasizes the importance of marketing in organizational success and provides insights into the practical application of marketing principles in a real-world business setting. Desklib provides more solved assignments for students.

Marketing
Essential (Unit 2)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
LO1 Role of marketing and its inter relation with other functional units of organization..........1
LO2 7 P'S of marketing mix to achieve the overall business objectives....................................3
LO3 Developing and evaluating a marketing plan.....................................................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is the process through which goods and services move from concept to the
consumer. It involves creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that provide
value to the consumers. Marketing is extremely important as it helps the organization in
identifying their potential customers and developing products according to their needs and wants.
Marks and Spencer is a British Multinational fashion company that sells high quality clothing to
its customers (Unnithan and et.al., 2018). The organization has more than 1400 stores worldwide
and its provides employment to more than 80,000 people globally. The current study will focus
on the role of marketing in the success of an organization, importance of marketing mix to
achieve the goals and objectives and also the evaluation of marketing plan for Marks and
Spencer.
MAIN BODY
LO1 Role of marketing and its inter relation with other functional units of organization.
Marketing has played a significant role in the success of Marks and Spencer company
because M&S used appropriate marketing strategies in order to develop the products and
services. Marks and Spencer company also restructure their marketing team to improve their
performances in the market and expand their business globally. The best marketing team can
build the market structure of an organisation. Marketing can plays an important role to increase
the productivity in the company. It also creates a big platform for the company to promote their
products and services in a very effective and efficient way. The company identifies the needs and
wants of its customers and then manufacture the clothes at a competitive price in order to achieve
an edge over other players in the market (van Helden and Alsem, 2016). Marketing helps the
organisation to promote their business and to reach the large customers, community and
investors for the great expansion. Marketing includes promoting, researching, distributing and
selling the organisation's products and services.
Role of marketing in the success of an organization:
 Engaging customers: Marketing helps in attracting customer towards the products and
services. Certain marketing activities like developing of an innovative product or service,
promoting it in a unique manner automatically leads to consumer engagement which
further leads to consumers buying that product or service. Marketing helps to develop
value for customers and also assist in to build a customer relationship. Marks and
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Spencer take necessary actions with the help of marketing and promote customers
experience and satisfaction. Marks & Spencer has always been a pioneer of creating new
designs which has helped in attracting customers and increasing their sales and
profitability (Ryynänen, 2016).
 Boost sales: The most important role of marketing is that it has not only helped Marks
and Spencer in attracting new customers but the company also successfully retain its
previous customers which has increased their sales and profitability incessantly.
Marketing plays a crucial role to encourage the customers towards the company.
Marketing helps the Marks and Spencer company to promote their products and its
features across the big market. So, customers can know and understand the product
characteristic and advantage deeply. With its unique promotional strategies and quality of
products and services, the company has been successful in establishing its brand image
which further lead to increasing sales and customer base.
 Communication channel: Marketing acts as a communication channel through which an
organization informs its customers about the products and services offered by them, its
uses, price and the value created by them. Marketing is a great source to provide the all
information and features of the products and services of the Marks and Spencer company.
Marketing is very helpful for the company to advertise their product and service globally.
With the help of marketing, customer approach the company's products and services, it
also very helpful for the customers and it also provides the information regarding the
product's advantage and disadvantage. Adequate communication between Marks and
Spencer and its target customers helped the organization in achieving customer loyalty
and also led to competitive advantage in the market (Russo, 2016).
Inter relationship between marketing and other functions of management:
 Marketing and Production functional units: The production department is concerned
with manufacturing of goods and services that are to be sold to the potential consumers.
Both marketing and production department are the pillars of Marks and Spencer as the
company would fail without the presence of any one functional unit. Marketing can
promote the production activities in the company. Effective marketing strategies will
increase the customers and then company should have to increase the production activity
in their organisation. In the organisation, production process totally depended on the
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marketing activities. According to Toms and Zhang, (2016) both marketing and
production units work closely with each other because the marketing department
communicates to the production department regarding the quality and design
specifications of the clothes as laid down by the consumers and also helps in
communicating the total units to be produced within the particular time schedule. With
the help of marketing, company can know the customer's needs and requirement, so it
provides huge help to the production department that they work according to the
customers desires.
 Marketing and Finance functional units: In the view point of Sparks, (2018), the
finance unit at Marks and Spencer is concerned with allocation and distribution of funds
to different departments therefore it is imperative for both of these departments to work
closely as marketing department provides information to finance department regarding
the budget needed for the purpose of research, promotion and distribution of goods and
services. Marketing helps the organisation to develop effective financial management by
providing the important and essential data to the finance department. It also assists in to
create efficient financial management system to balance its operations.
 Marketing and human resource functional units: Human resource department deals
with the recruitment and selection of employees in the organization. The Stead and
Hastings, (2018) has stated that marketing department of Marks and Spencer
communicates the human resource department regarding the skills and talent required in
the organization in order to meet the customer needs effectively and efficiently. Also, the
marketing unit provides information to the HR department regarding the training and
development of the individuals. This can provide the major benefit to the organisation by
providing high skilled and talented employees and it improves the production activities
and operations in the organisation.
LO2 7 P'S of marketing mix to achieve the overall business objectives.
The marketing mix is concerned with a set of actions or tactics used by a company in
order to promote the product or service. The main objective of marketing mix is to control the
company's market plan.
Marketing mix Marks and Spencer Burberry
Product M&S sells and distributes Burberry is a leading fashion
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clothes for people and children
of all age and gender. The
company also manufactures
and sell food products,
household items and groceries.
For gaining the company's
objectives, Marks and Spencer
company maintained the high
quality of the product and also
take necessary actions to
manage the quality standard
according to the quality
regulation.
brand in UK that mainly deals
in manufacturing and selling of
clothes and accessories. The
range of products offered by
Burberry as compared to
Marks and Spencer are very
less and also they are less
concern about the product
quality and their standards
(Ahmed, 2016).
Place Marks and Spencer has more
than 1400 stores worldwide so
that it can distribute goods and
services to its customers
through an effective
distribution channel. Marks
and Spencer follows the best
process to provide their
product. Marks and Spencer
also investigate the
geographical area and discover
the customer who look
forward to their product.
According to Jones and
Comfort, (2019), Burberry
owns more than 475 stores all
around the world which is
much less as compared to
Marks and Spencer thus it
signifies that the company has
a smaller customer base as
compared to Marks & Spencer.
As compared to the Marks and
Spencer, the Burberry are not
concern about the customers
and their requirements.
Price The Marks and Spencer follow
competitive pricing strategy in
its marketing mix portfolio as
it helps them in achieving an
The Burberry organization has
established an image for itself
as a luxury brand therefore the
products are highly priced for
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edge over other players in the
market thus increasing their
overall profitability. The
effective pricing policy can
helps the organisation to build
a huge market and also helps
the Marks and Spencer
company to provide products
in a affordable rate, all these
activities can enhance the
customer interest towards the
organisation (Datta, Ailawadi.
and Van Heerde, 2017).
its target customers. The target
customers of the company are
very small compared to Marks
and Spencer's. Burberry offers
their products and services in a
very high rate so, the
customers in the market
dissatisfied with them.
Promotion M&S spends huge funds when
it comes to promoting their
products and services. The
organization targets both kids
and adults therefore they use
various promotional tools like
advertising, print media and
social media to increase the
sales of their products and
services (McDonald and
Wilson, 2016). With the use
of social networking sites, they
can promote their product
largely and in a very effective
manner. By the huge
promotion Marks and Spencer
company increase their market
Burberry heavily relies on
celebrity endorsements to
promote its fashion line. The
company enjoys a strong
goodwill in the market
therefore there is a less
requirement for them to
promote its products through
various channels. Also, it
reduces the marketing cost of
the company and increases
their profits. It can also increse
the market share of the
organisation and reflect their
positive image in the market
place (Schlegelmilch, 2016).
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share and net worth.
People M&S employs more than
80000 skilled employees and
also provide them with
incentives and rewards to
boost their productivity to do
the job. Marks and Spencer
also build the strong
relationship with their staffs
and employees and encourage
them towards the effectively
achievement of company's
goal. They organize the special
training and skill programme
to inspire them for the unique
innovations.
Burberry employs 10,000
employees worldwide and
provide them with adequate
training and development in
order to improve their
efficiency and effectiveness.
With the help of this
development programme
employees will able to
fulfilling the customer's needs
and demand (Bernon, 2018).
Process M&S follow a systematic
process to sell their products
and services through an
effective logistics system
which help the company in
achieving competitive
advantage. They also develop
a smooth process for the
consumers to provide them
easy path and by which they
can reach the company
quickly. Marks and Spencer
also offer the customer care
executive service to their
The manufacturing and selling
procedure of Burberry
company is comparatively
expensive as the company has
a smaller customer base
therefore it fails to achieve
economies of scale. This
company has a lengthy and
complex process to remove the
customers issues and that can
create a negative impression of
the organisation (Išoraitė,
2016)..
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customers so that they solve
their queries quickly.
Physical evidence The physical stores and
products of M&S distinguish
themselves from the
competition as they are more
colourful and have an
attractive logo. Marks and
Spencer has unique design
logo that attract the customers
towards them. This also crease
the best results for the
company. All the attractive
logos and design are
promoting the company
globally and the customer are
recognized the company by its
logo (Choi and Kim, 2015).
The products of Burberry are
of premium quality and also
the stores are very beautiful
which further attracts the
customers. Burberry also
emerge the beautiful logo that
are very eye catchy and
encourage the customer
towards their organization. It
can promote the company
worldwide and provide the
great identity to their products.
LO3 Developing and evaluating a marketing plan
Executive summary:- The marketing plan includes the marketing strategy of a company that will
help them in achievement of organizational goals and objectives. Marketing plan have included
objectives of M&S with its respective segmentation, targeting and positioning. Further it has
included Pest and SWOT analysis of Mark and Spencer with its estimated budget for new
product development. Plan have also included marketing mix, marketing program and further
monitoring and evaluation is also included.
The marketing plan of Marks and Spencer is as follows:-
Vision:- To have quality, value, innovation in its product with effective services that builds trust
of customers.
Mission:- To provide quality products with depth and range of its product
Objectives: The objective of M&S is to build a sustainable business by providing good quality
products to its customers and thus maximizing the profitability of the organization.
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STP Analysis: STP analysis involves segmentation, targeting and positioning i.e. how a
particular company intends to present their product in a particular market segment in front of the
targeted customers.
Segmentation:- Amongst the four major segment used to segment consumers i.e. demographic,
geographic, behavioural and psychographic and Marks and Spencer can use the demographic
segment by targeting a specific age group of people.
Targeting:- Company is targeting middle aged women by offering different fashionable cloths.
They are providing branded and occasional items to young women with diverse and wide range
of offerings. Company is using wishy-washy approach in order to target there respective
customers (Choi and Kim, 2015).
Positioning:- Marks and Spencer is having good reputation in market due to its quality of
products and that have resulted in loyalty of its customers. There products and services are
differentiable in market and this helps the organization to have effective positioning in market.
They are positioned as premium products with innovative strategies and attract its customers
with its quality of products.
PEST analysis
Political factors: According to Sulaiman and Syahrivar, (2018), The political factors can affect
the growth prospects of the company because of BREXIT. BREXIT will lead to increase in tax
rate and would hamper the smooth operations of the company in European countries.
Economic factors: The economic factors include inflation and change in interest rate. The
inflation in the UK has affected the sales of M&S and the company needs to reduce its prices in
order to increase their market share (Išoraitė, 2016).
Social factors: Social factors include the attitude, buying behaviour and income level of the
people in a society. With the increasing change in socio cultural factors it is important for Marks
and Spencer to analyse these factors timely and then develop the products and services
accordingly.
Technological factors: The Marks and Spencer must use latest and upgraded technology like
selling of products and services online and use of artificial intelligence in order to promote their
products as it would help in increasing their sales and also reduce the operating cost of the
company.
SWOT Analysis
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Strengths:
The company focuses on providing the best possible experience to its customers which has
helped them in not only adding new customers but also retaining their previous customers.
Marks and Spencer provides huge variety of goods and services for children and adults of all age
group (both men and women) which has increased their market share to 8.1% thus making it the
largest clothing retailer in UK (Datta, Ailawadi. and Van Heerde, 2017).
Weaknesses:
The company needs to reduce its overall production cost as it has led to reduced revenue and a
significant decline in their market share.
The employees at Marks and Spencer resist to change which has significantly reduced the sales
of the company therefore it is imperative for the organization to motivate its employees so that
they can successfully implement the changes.
Opportunities:
The company enjoys a strong brand image and has the opportunity to expand its operations
online which can lead to adding of new customer base and increase profits significantly.
Threats:
The increasing entry of new players into the market has increased the competition level and
reduced the market share of M&S which has led to shutting down of stores. Therefore, it needs
to reduce their prices and improve its marketing strategy (Byskata, 2017).
Marketing mix:-
 Product: According to Bernon, (2018) M&S provides variety of products to its customers
that create value for them. The company provides different products and services like
clothing, household items and groceries as it helps in increasing their sales. Mark and
Spencer is working to introduce sustainable jeans and customers demand is increasing for
sustainable products. This product development will help the organisation in bringing
competitive advantage as already company is having good reputation in market and with
these efforts they will rise there reputation. As it is international brand it is beneficial for
the organisation to have sustainable products and sustainable products have huge demand
in global market.
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 Place: Marks and Spencer operates in more than 50 countries with over 1400 stores thus
it helps the company to provide better services to their customers and also it reduces
their overall cost through adequate supply chain system. Company is also producing its
products in global market as the demand of sustainable products have raised in market.
 Price: In accordance with Ahmed, (2016), Marks and Spencer sells its goods and
services at competitive prices in order to increase their overall market share. The
aggressive pricing strategy has been a major reason behind company's success. They are
providing its product at premium price that helps the organisation to have maximum
possible revenue.
 Promotion: The company promotes its products and services through various sources
like Television, internet, corporate events and sponsorship programs because
promotional activities have played an important role in company's success and growth.
They are using different marketing programs like digital marketing, commercial
marketing and also direct marketing in order to attract the customers. They take help of
email, messages and different social marketing platforms like Facebook, Instagram, you
tube channel in order to promote there products. Company have to focuys on digital
marketing tools in order increase its profitability.
Marketing program:-
Marketing channel
Direct marketing With the use of email, messages to respective
customers
Digital marketing With the help of different social marketing
platforms like Facebook, Instagram, you tube
channel
Commercial marketing With the use of television and magazines
Budget:-
Particulars Amount
Raw material cost 250
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Direct cost 300
Overheads 350
Marketing cost 600
Total 1500 Pounds
Monitoring and Evaluation:-
 Cost benefit analysis:- After the market plan it is essential for the organisation to monitor
and evaluate the strength and weaknesses of different approaches in order to achieve the
benefits. It is essential for Mark and Spencer, to monitor whether the plan have benefited
the organisation or different approach is in need.
 Sales analysis:- It is also essential to evaluate that the plan have helped in effective
sale of the business or not. This helps the business to analyse whether the marketing
plan have successfully worked or not so that effective changes can be brought for
the business.
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CONCLUSION
From the above study, it can be concluded that marketing plays an important role in the
growth and success of the organization. It helps in identifying the needs and wants of consumers
and then developing a product accordingly which also helps in increasing the sales and
profitability of the company. Marketing is also inter related with all other functional units of an
organization. The report further included comparison between 7P's of marketing mix of Marks
and Spencer and Buerberry in order to identify the growth objectives of the organization. Also, it
included a marketing plan that can help improving the profitability and reduce the cost of M&S.
Thus, it can be concluded that marketing plays a very important role in increasing the sales of a
product and also helps the company in achieving competitive advantage.
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REFERENCES
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