Strategic Marketing Report: Analyzing M&S Customer Needs and Mix

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Marks and Spencer's marketing strategies. It begins by differentiating between customer needs and wants, then examines Marks and Spencer's specific customer needs, wants, and demands. The report includes a situation analysis, detailing the micro and internal environments, including competitor analysis and internal strengths and weaknesses related to organizational resources and culture. The marketing mix of Marks and Spencer is thoroughly examined, covering product, price, place, and promotion. The analysis aims to provide insights into how Marks and Spencer can achieve its organizational objectives through effective marketing strategies. Desklib provides similar solved assignments and past papers for students.

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Case study related to Marks and Spencer
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Table of Contents
1) Introduction –......................................................................................................................2
2) Task 1..................................................................................................................................2
a. Difference between needs and wants –...........................................................................2
b. Needs, wants and demands of Marks and Spencer’s customers –..................................3
3) Task 2..................................................................................................................................4
a. Situation Analysis and its importance for Marks and Spencer –....................................4
b. Micro environment of Marks and Spencer –...................................................................5
c. Internal environment –....................................................................................................5
4) Task 3..................................................................................................................................7
a. Marketing mix of Marks and Spencer –..........................................................................7
5) Conclusion –.......................................................................................................................8
6) References -........................................................................................................................9
7) Appendix 1 –.....................................................................................................................11

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1) Introduction –
Marks and Spencer is leading retailer in UK. Company sells many products such as clothes,
furniture, foodstuff, gifts and household items. They operate more than 450 stores in 30
countries and company sell their products to 10 million of customers every week. Company
constantly grow since established in 1882. Company’s mission is to making aspirational
quality of products which is accessible to all and their values are building trust with
customers and employees, innovation, provide quality product to their customers and offer
various services to them. Company are committed to making every movement of their
customers through offering high quality, brand food, home product, furniture and clothing
which are offer in their in- stores and international stores (About Marks and Spencer, 2019).
Organization culture of the company focuses on value and beliefs and attitude of both
employees and management. Company use consultative style of leadership, as leader consult
with their employees before they take any decisions related to them. They have various style
of management but it depends on hierarchical scale of the company. So, it helps the company
in creating effective environment, maintaining positive relations with their employees,
resolving conflicts among employees, increasing productivity and performance of their
employees, better decision making and achieiving the organizational goals and objectives (M
& S leadership, 2019).
The Report consists of marketing management of Marks and Spencer which includes needs,
wants and demands of their customers and how they differ from each other, marketing
environment of the company, their competitors and their potential threats from the
competitors, strengths and weakness of the company, marketing mix of the company such as
how they design their products as per the customers, their pricing strategies, at where they
sell their products to the customers and how they will promoted their products and aware
about their new products or services to the customers and their other marketing strategies
which made for achieving overall organizational objectives.
2) Task 1
a. Difference between needs and wants –
Needs are completely differ from wants. Needs refer as an individual’s basic requirement
which is essential for survive but wants refer as individual’s desires other than basic needs
which they wants to have as a part of their caprices or in other words wants of the individuals

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are not essential for basic survival but they are required for fulfilment of their desires. Needs
of the individuals are limited but wants of the individuals are unlimited as individual may
have many desires which they want to have in their life (Huffstetler, 2018). Needs may be
defined in terms of necessity of any individuals and it includes food, shelter, electricity,
water, clothing and other physiological needs of the individuals. Needs and wants may be
different from person to person because every person has different desires. Needs of the
individuals are fixed as they do not change by time but wants of individuals change from time
to time. If needs are not fulfilled then person may lead to death but when wants of the
individuals does not fulfilled then there is no impact on the life of that individual as they may
be disappoint for non- fulfilment of their wants (Bullard, 2014).
b. Needs, wants and demands of Marks and Spencer’s customers –
Customer Needs –
Company has divided its customer’s needs into three types of ranges of products. First one is
perfect and classic range; it includes design clothing in simple way which includes plain,
white shirts, jeans and sweaters. Need of that customers are good quality, machine washable
cloths, non- iron and at very reasonable price. Second one is autograph range; it includes
designer products at high street prices which includes elegant clothing or formal wear. Last
one is per una range; it includes latest trends designs with high quality of products. This type
of customer’s preferred high quality and design even at high price (Plouffe, Nelson and Beuk,
2013).
Customers Wants –
The wants of the Marks and Spencer customers is that company must provide high quality
along with affordable prices of the products. The customer wants from the company to
provide various facilities such as return facility in case of damage of their products, seamless
experience while shopping, and support to them, personalized customer services and online
integration. Apart from these, customers also want that company should offer that services
which would be time saving, cost effective and solving their issues as soon as possible.
Customer’s Demands –
There are various demands of the customers at Marks and Spencer such as they are
demanding for latest and unique design with stylish outfit, latest trend of clothing, actual size

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of them for the cloth which they want to purchase, higher quality of the products with low
prices as compare to the competitors, new technology or new fabric, products are available at
reasonable price, positive culture or environment of the stores, ready to solve query of them
and long lasting quality of the products. Apart from these demands of their customers, they
are also demanding services like shopping through e-commerce websites with high quality of
products and reasonable prices and it also includes availability of return facility whenever
products would find to be damage or missing or any other reasons from which customers
would not satisfy with their products or services which is offered by the company (M & S
Annual Report 2017, 2018).
3) Task 2
a. Situation Analysis and its importance for Marks and Spencer –
1. Situation Analysis –
Situation analysis refers as state of environment of an organization. It describes competitive
position of the company, company’s operational and financial condition and state of
environment which includes internal as well as external environment of an organization.
Situation analysis helps the company in planning, gaining competitive advantages,
management of the company and helps to identifying internal or external factors which affect
the company in achieving their goals.
2. Marketing environment –
There are two marketing environment made for situation analysis, one is internal
environment and other one is external environment. There are two types of external
environment, one is micro environment and other one is macro environment.
Tools that can be used to analysis the environments. One is internal environment; there are
various tools which can be used to analysis internal environment such as value chain analysis,
strategic advantage profile, and balanced score card and benchmarking. Other one is external
environment; there are various tools which can be used to analysis external environment such
as SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunity and threats) analysis, PESTEL analysis
(Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal) and Porter’s five
forces model are used for analysis of external environment (Helms, 2010).

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3. Importance of situation analysis for Marks and Spencer –
Situation analysis is very important for Marks and Spencer before setting a marketing
strategy because it helps in better identify the company’s strengths, weakness, opportunities
and threats and how company can minimise weakness and threats from marketing strategy, it
also helps to knowing the customers perception towards their organization and develop better
plan for growing their business or achieving their goals (Clarke, Friese and Washburn, 2017).
b. Micro environment of Marks and Spencer –
1. Competitors of Marks and Spencer –
Key competitors of Marks and Spencer are as Next, Primark, Crew clothing co., Tesco, Asda,
Aldi UK, John Lewis Partnership, Macy’s.
a) Next – Next is also engaged in the retail of clothing, accessories, home products,
footwear as Marks and Spencer. Its mission is to provide awareness about fashion to
men and women who want style, quality and distinction from their clothing. They
offer product to their customers at same price which offer by Marks and Spencer.
b) Primark – Primark is fast fashion chain which offers cloths, home products and other
accessories to men and women as Marks and Spencer. Primark is set to largest fashion
retailer in UK. Primark’s market share is 7.6 per cent whereas Marks and Spencer’s
market share is 7 per cent in 2018 (Primark, 2019).
2. There are various potential threats which are poses by competitors such as threats of
substitutes are high for Marks and Spencer because Next, house of Fraser and
Selfridges offer high quality of clothing with competitive price, Asda have alternative
products with their food range and prices, Debhanams and House of Fraser offer
similar products and services with high quality as compare to Marks and Spencer,
bargaining power of customers is high because similar products or services sell by
their competitors at same price or quality and Primark is offering their products at low
price and they also offer value for money to their customers. So, for Marks and
Spencer threat of new entry high for some products due to low barriers of entry for
their competitors (Tresidder, 2010).

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c. Internal environment –
1. Factors of internal environment are resources, skills of employees, capabilities and
core competencies, management value, culture of corporate, goals of stakeholder and
current strategy and success (Fitzen, 2009).
2. Following are two factors of internal environment which could be considered as
strengths or weakness in business operation of Marks and Spencer: Organizational
Resources and Organization culture.
3. Organizational resources – Resources which are used by the organization for
achieiving its objectives and goals. Assets which has available for the company to use
in the process of production. Organziational resources are four types such as human
resources, financial resources, physical resources and information resources. Human
resources include all members who are working in organization and their skills,
knowledge and capacity. Financial resources include financial capital, cash used for
funding the activities. Physical resources include raw materials, all equipment and
production offices. Information resources include data needs in decisions making
process (Wojciechowska, 2016).
Organization culture – It defines as the underlying beliefs, values, assumption and
way of interacting with employees as well as customers of the organization. It also
includes expectations, vision, norms, rules and regulation, language, system and
experience of the organization.
4. These factors are to be considered strengths or weakness because of following
reasons:
Organizational resources – Marks and Spencer has good financial resources as
physical, human, financial and information resources. M & S has 375 stores in UK
and 155 stores in other countries, they also have good financial resources and
company has experience, friendly and hardworking employees. So, the above
information indicates strengths of the company.
Organization culture – Organization culture at Marks and Spencer is bureaucratic. So,
this could be considered as weakness of the company. Company has high degree of
formality in business operation and it includes strict rules & regulation for the

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employees and they have to strictly follow orders from top management or their
superiors (Indris and Primiana, 2015).
4) Task 3
a. Marketing mix of Marks and Spencer –
1. Marketing mix – It is the combination of factors which can be control by organization
to increase their sales with customers satisfaction. It includes all the important tools
which are used by the company to influence the demand of their products. Marketing
mix includes product, price, place, promotion, physical environment, process and
people. These all are important for achieving the goals of the organization (Richter,
2012).
2. Marks and Spencer’s marketing mix –
Product – Product refer to the goods and services which are offered by the company
to their customers and which are capable of satisfying needs and wants of the
customers. Company has to made strategies related to variety, quality, features,
design, size, return policy, packaging, after sale services and brand name. Products of
Marks and Spencer include cloth, accessories, footwear for both men and women
(Clothing, 2018) and it also includes beauty products, home product, furniture, wine,
food and flowers (Appendix 1).
Price – Price refer as the amount which has to pay by the customer to get desired
products and services. There are various factors which affect the pricing of the
products such as list price, competitor’s prices, location of customers, terms of sale
and discount. Marks and Spencer uses market penetration strategy which is achieved
by competitive pricing strategies and promotion strategies. They are priced their brand
between medium to higher range due to premium quality of their products and
company also use dynamic strategies of pricing for their products such as they offer
more discounts during seasonal time.
Place – Place refer as location where products are easily available to the customers. M
& S products are available at Egypt, Spain, Qatar, Jordan, Morocco, Finland, Canada,
India, China, Kabul, France and Germany. They also have their own websites from
where customers can buy products.

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Promotion – Promotion refer as how to promote their products and services and
method from which customer can aware about the new products. Marks and Spencer
promote their products through advertisement in print media, T.V. and social media
platforms. They also use their own website to promote their products, by charitable
work and conduct loyalty program as Sparks which keeps on adding points to their
customer’s account (Brooks and Simkin, 2012).
5) Conclusion –
Hence, needs and wants of the customers are differ from each other because needs includes
basic needs of the customers which are essential for survival and wants includes desires of
the customers which they wants to fulfil and they are not essential for survival. Needs of
Marks and Spencer’s customers are cloths which are essential for their survival, wants of
Marks and Spencer’s customers are various facilities such as high quality product at lower
price, return and refund policy and effective environment of the store and demand of their
customers includes low prices, unique product, various offers and seamless experiences while
shopping. Situation analysis is very important for the company before setting up the
marketing strategies because it helps in planning, better decisions and minimizing weakness
and threats of the company. Increase in competition is main threat which poses to Marks and
Spencer. Factors of internal environment impact on the performance and productivity of the
organization and it also describes strengths and weakness of the company. Analysis of
marketing mix is also important for increasing customers and achieiving their goals through
customer’s satisfaction. Marks and Spencer provide various products and services with high
quality at reasonable price at right location where customers can easily reach and also adopt
various promotion strategies for promoting their products.

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6) References -
Brooks, N. and Simkin, L. (2012) “Judging marketing mix effectiveness”. Marketing
Intelligence and planning, 30(5), pp.494-514.
Bullard, L. (2014) Lily Learns about Wants and Needs. United State of America: Lerner
Publishing Group.
Clarke, A., Friese, C. and Washburn, R. (2017) Situational Analysis: Grounded Theory After
the Interpretive Turn. United State of America: SAGE Publishing.
Fitzen, L. (2009) Marketing Environment: What factors “internal” to an organization can
have an influence on the way it perceives and responds to its external environment?
Germany: GRIN Verlag.
Helms, M. (2010) Exploring SWOT analysis. Journal of Strategy and Management, 3(3),
pp.215-251.
Huffstetler, E. (2018) Distinguishing Between Wants and Needs [Online]. Available from:
https://www.thebalance.com/wants-vs-needs-1388544 [Accessed 26/03/2019]
Indris, S. and Primiana, I. (2015) Internal and External Environment Analysis on the
Performance of Small and Medium Industries. International Journal of Scientific &
Technology Research, 4(4).
Marks and Spencer (2018) M & S Annual Report 2017 [Online]. Available from:
http://annualreport.marksandspencer.com [Accessed 26/03/2019]
Marks and Spencer (2019) About US [Online]. Available from:
https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus [Accessed 26/03/2019]
Marks and Spencer (2019) Leadership [Online]. Available from:
https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus/our-leadership-team [Accessed 26/03/2019]
Marks and Spencer Plc (2018) Clothing [Online]. Available from:
https://global.marksandspencer.com/seasonal-trends/ [Accessed 26/03/2019]
Plouffe, C., Nelson, Y. and Beuk, F. (2013) Testing an Enhanced, Process- Based View of
the Sales Process. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 33(2), pp141-163.

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Primark (2019) About US [Online]. Available from:
https://www.primark.com/en/about-us/about-primark [Accessed 26/03/2019]
Richter, T. (2012) International Marketing Mix Management: Theoretical Framework,
Contingency Factors and Empirical Findings from World- Markets. Berlin: Logos Verlag.
Tresidder, R. (2010) Reading food marketing: the semiotics of Marks and Spencer.
International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 30(9), pp.472-485.
Wojciechowska, M. (2016) Intangible Organizational Resources: Analysis of Resource-
Based Theory and the Measurement of Library Effectiveness. London: Macmillan Publishers
Ltd.

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7) Appendix 1 –
Products which are offered by Marks and Spencer –
They diversified their products as per the following:
1. Women – Apparel which includes jackets, trousers, tops, suits, work wear, shorts,
shirts, jeans and dresses, Accessories which includes watches, purse, jewellery and
handbags and Footwear includes slippers, shoes, boots and sandals
2. Men – Footwear which includes socks, shoes and slippers, Nightwear includes Formal
wear- suits, blazers, jackets, formal dresses, Apparel includes t- shirts, shorts, joggers,
jumpers, jeans, shirts and casual trousers and Accessories includes ties, wallets,
briefcase, bags and luggage
3. Beauty products includes skincare, make- up, hair care and toiletries
4. Home products – Accessories includes artificial flowers, lighting, mirror, candle
holder, curtains and ornaments, Bed and Bath, Cooking and dining and Travel bags
and luggage
5. Furniture – Sofa, footstools, side table, bookcases, dining chair, table and display
cabinet
6. Food – Cakes, fruit, fish, cold meat and cheese
7. Flower – Bouquet, luxury flower, orchids and indoor plant