Retail Market Analysis: M&S Strategies in UK Fashion Retail

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Marks & Spencer (M&S) within the UK fashion retail market. It begins with an introduction to the retail industry and the M&S company, highlighting its history, core functions, and market position. The report then delves into key relevant changes within the UK fashion retail market, examining both political, economic, social, technological, and legal factors. It also explores the micro environment, including customers, employees, and suppliers, and how these factors impact the business. The analysis includes a discussion of strategies and tactics M&S could use to navigate these challenges and capitalize on opportunities. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and recommendations, providing a valuable overview of the dynamic retail landscape and M&S's position within it.

RETAIL THEORY AND PRACTICE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION TO RETAIL......................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPANY.......................................................................................3
KEY RELEVANT CHANGES WITHIN THE UK FASHION RETAIL.......................................3
RELEVANT CHANGES WITHIN THE MICRO ENVIRONMENT............................................5
SUGGEST AND DISCUSS STRATEGIES AND TACTICS THAT COULD BE USED............8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
INTRODUCTION TO RETAIL
Retail industry is the most popular and effective industry. Retail market have a very
ancient history over the centuries, in today current scenario there are shopping modern era or in
earlier times some retailers were itinerant paddlers. This is the process in which retailer selling
the consumer goods or services to end customers through different multiple channels of
distribution to earn profit revenue (Thorlakson, Hainmueller and Lambin, 2018). The concept of
retail industry is to collect the bulk products from the manufacturing company and distribute
those products and services to the ned consumers. Modern type of retailers are now they selling
their services on online level through different channels. Retail fashion clothing industry is very
demanding and challenging process to meet the needs of customers. In this retailer market
retailer needs to analyse the actual needs and demands of the buyers according to that they adopt
new changes. Overall, retail industry is highly dynamic and changeable in nature.

INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPANY
Mark & Spencer is the multinational fashion retailer in UK. Headquartered in the city
Westminster, London. It is the most popular company in British market which also listed on the
London stock Exchange. The core function or specialises in the selling of clothing they also
dealing with luxury food products as well. Mark & Spencer founded in 1884 by Michael Marks.
In 1998 M&S is Become the first retailer to make pre-tax profit of over £1 billion. Moreover,
M&S is the leading retailer in the UK market (Raum, 2018). Current M&S currently has 979
stores across the UK. M&S is the biggest retailer in the multinational market which deals with
many products and services. On the other side, potential customers of Mark & Spencer are
satisfied with the services of M&S. They focus on the customer needs and demand. Before
introducing any new product and services. M&S analyse the market demand and current trends
accordingly they provide all services to the customers. Besides, retail market is the huge market
which provides number of products and varieties. Such as M&S deals with women clothing,
Lingerie, Men clothing etc. they also provide the latest trendy and fashionable products and
services. Moreover, the main objective of the company is to analyse the current market demand,
in order to meet the needs of the customers. The retail concept is very wide and attractive
because retail store deals with various varieties where customer buy every thing at reasonable
prices as well. On the other side. M&S founded by a partnership between Michael Marks or
Polish Jew.
KEY RELEVANT CHANGES WITHIN THE UK FASHION RETAIL
Fashion retail market is highly challenging and riskier in terms of instant changes as per
the market changes. Moreover, the main aim of the organisation is to earn the maximisation
profit. Moreover, fashion industry is based on the trends. Besides, in retail market retailer needs
to analyse the market prices in order to set their own prices. Retailer needs to set the prices on
the basis of customer approach. Along with that, it is the most important for the organisation to
adopt the latest technologies and strategies to enhance the customer focus towards the company
product and services (Minton and Kim, 2018). Moreover, the main aim of the organisation is to
earn the customer satisfaction. In retail market retailer needs to face some changes which gives
the adverse effect on the business functions. Like fashion changes, needs changes, market

competitors pricing strategies, changes in technological factors. UK market is customer oriented
and product oriented. Market is changeable and dynamic in nature. There are some key changes
in fashion retail market in UK.
Political Factors: UK market is spread in wide term. Most of the challenges facing by
the fashion companies is that, change in customer demand. This is the most prominent and
challenging factor which influence the activities of M&S company. It is the foremost function of
the company is to check the current demand in the market. Due to offering old trendy clothes to
the customers this gives negative impact on their buying decision making approach (Dose,
Walsh and Segev, 2018). On the other hand, customer is rational they always get attract from
creative things and innovative services. For that company needs to check the regular market to
adopt all changes. This is the first changes in UK market which faces by the fashion retailer.
Economic Factors: Adding to more, the another changes in UK market is change in
technology. In current scenario customer needs more flexibility in buying the clothing products.
Technology changes are the common changes which is requires adopting the companies in order
to make the effective and productive working environment on the other sides it makes new
changes and attractiveness with the customers (Jezic von Gesseneck Toffanin and Jezic von
Gesseneck, 2018). This is the another change for fashion retail market which may gives the
adverse effect the business activities. Technological changes should adopted by the M&S in
order to make more flexibility in dealing with the customers. Technological changes increases
the efficiency of a product or process that results increase in output.
Social Factor: Social factor is the another factor another macro factors which is
necessary for the company to adopt. In this context company needs to adopt some social welfare
activities to attract the customer faith. Main key changes in the UK market which faces the
changes and issues (Cairns and Wright, 2018). On the other side, this changes gives the negative
impact on the business organisation. Competitors price is important to be consider to set their
own prices in order to mitigate the risk factor. For example, Tesco change the prices of their
clothing products this change is give adverse effects on the sales of M&S. It is important for
M&S to adopt this changes to beat with the competitors price. Customer is rational in nature they
attract towards those services which available on low prices (Lamichhane and Malet, 2018).
Along with that, changes in competitor price is used more often by businesses selling similar

products and services. Besides, this market change of UK fashion market would be considered
by the business organisation.
Technological Factor: Another significant change in fashion retail market in UK is
change in taste and preferences of customers. At the position in which company deals with the
similar products which sell by the another firm as well. So in that, Fashion industry is the only
retail market which keeps on changing in every certain level of point. It is the important
determinant changes in the UK market (Díaz, Idowu and Molyneux, 2018). Due to heavy
competition in the UK market company needs to adopt this changes on constant level of time.
Legal factor: Legal factor is the another changeable factor which may affect the
company terms and political. Legal implications and regulations of the government is very
necessary to amend on the company functions (Cottan-Nir and Lehman-Wilzig, 2018).
Environmental factors: Environmental factors are the another macro factors which
changes as per the time. M&S needs to analyse the environmental changes and amend those
changes in the business practises in order to meet the needs of customers.
RELEVANT CHANGES WITHIN THE MICRO ENVIRONMENT
In
Cottan-Nir, O. and Lehman-Wilzig, S., 2018. CEO Branding: Between Theory and Practice—
Case Studies of Israeli Corporate Founders. International Journal of Strategic Communication.
pp.1-20.
Díaz, B.D., Idowu, S.O. and Molyneux, P. eds., 2018. Corporate Governance in Banking and
Investor Protection: From Theory to Practice. Springer.
Horst, M., 2018. Insurgencies and Revolutions: Reflections on John Friedmann’s Contributions
to Planning Theory and Practice.
Manniche, J. and Testa, S., 2018. Towards a multi-levelled social process perspective on firm
innovation: integrating micro, meso and macro concepts of knowledge creation. Industry and
Innovation. 25(4). pp.365-388.
Hartmann, N.N., Wieland, H. and Vargo, S.L., 2018. Converging on a New Theoretical
Foundation for Selling. Journal of Marketing.

Sullivan, O., Gershuny, J. and Robinson, J.P., 2018. Stalled or Uneven Gender Revolution? A
Long‐Term Processual Framework for Understanding Why Change Is Slow. Journal of Family
Theory & Review.
Dose, D., Walsh, G., and Segev, S., 2018. Investigating links between cultural orientation and
culture outcomes: Immigrants from the former Soviet Union to Israel and Germany. Journal of
Business Research. 82. pp.281-289.
Minton, E.A., and Kim, C.H., 2018. The subjective norms of sustainable consumption: A cross-
cultural exploration. Journal of Business Research. 82. pp.400-408.
Raum, S., 2018. A framework for integrating systematic stakeholder analysis in ecosystem
services research: Stakeholder mapping for forest ecosystem services in the UK. Ecosystem
Services. 29. pp.170-184.
Thorlakson, T., Hainmueller, J. and Lambin, E.F., 2018. Improving environmental practices in
agricultural supply chains: The role of company-led standards. Global Environmental
Change. 48. pp.32-42.
Jezic von Gesseneck, M., Toffanin, R. and Jezic von Gesseneck, J., 2018. Innovation system
foresight and systemic innovation for the overseas countries and territories. foresight, (just-
accepted), pp.00-00.
Cairns, G. and Wright, G., 2018. Why Should the Individual and Organization Practice Scenario
Thinking?. In Scenario Thinking (pp. 1-23). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Lamichhane, J.R., and Malet, J.C., 2018. A call for stakeholders to boost integrated pest
management in Europe: a vision based on the three-year European research area network
project. International Journal of Pest Management. pp.1-7.
the external market there are two types of changes in the market. Micro environment changers
involves factors of resources availability and usage that impact individual and businesses. Micro-
environment is refers to the internal environment of the company which may affects in the future
times. Along with that, micro-environment includes investors, customers, employees, suppliers,
shareholders, Media. Theses all are the micro environment for the company. It is the significant
changes which is important to be adopt in order to met the needs of the customers. Along with
that, M&S is the largest retailer company which deals with the many changeable factors.

Moreover, in order to adopt those changes company needs to make proper planning and
implementing strategies to achieve the overall objectives and goals of the company. There are
some micro changes in environment which affects the company environment are given below:
Customers: customer is the king of the market. On the basis of customer needs and
wants. All businesses need to adopt customer oriented approach to make them happy and
satisfied. Retail companies must be adopt all changes and demand of the customers to sustain its
own business organisation in the market. Moreover, firms main aim is to make plans according
to attract the and retain the customers through products which helps to met their needs and wants
(Sullivan, Gershuny and Robinson, 2018).
Employees: talented and skill full employees are very essential in the business
organisation. This is the another micro environment changes in the UK fashion market. Along
with that, another main function of the fashion retailer is to give training and development
session to the employees in order to enhance the skills and knowledge, this is the second relevant
change in micro environment which may affects the business functions. This changes may give
low and unproductive environment to the company through which company needs to face
customer dissatisfaction. Moreover, in order to mitigate the future uncertainty company needs to
adopt ongoing training and promotion activities to enhance the employee performance level.
Training and development play a critical role in achieving a competitive edge. Fashion clothing
retailer must need to adopt quality staff to deal with the customers. Unproductive staff may lead
to diminish the company goodwill. Besides, employer also need to motivate the staff and
employees to enhance their skills and knowledge which helps to enhance the customer service
and ultimately sales (Micro Environment, 2018).
Suppliers: suppliers is the another significant change in micro environment. M&S is the
biggest and more popular retailer in the multinational market Which enhance the coverall market
of the fashion clothing market. M&S should need to maintain good relationship with the
suppliers in order to purchase the effective products at low prices. Suppliers is plays an important
role to carry the business activities. Suppliers behaviour may directly effects on the business
activities (Hartmann, Wieland and Vargo, 2018). Due to negative behaviour with suppliers they
may provide poor services to the businesses' organisation. Close relationship with suppliers may
are an effective way to remain competitive and secure quality products.

Investors: Investment is very important for the company. Effective investment or
investors give opportunity to enhance the company services or expansion. This is the another
main changes in micro environment which may affect the business activities. Shareholders or
investors are the important source of funds arrangement which should be happy with the
company (Manniche and Testa, 2018).
SUGGEST AND DISCUSS STRATEGIES AND TACTICS THAT COULD
BE USED
Fashion clothing market strategy is the overall strategy which helps company to take
more attractive changes and enhancement growth which helps to make the new changes in the
market growth. Along with that, moreover the main part of the organisation is to correct the
functional ineffective activities in order to meet the needs of customers. Along with that,
company needs to adopt all these required strategies to enhance the performance level of the
organisation (Horst, 2018).
Strategies and tactics for fashion clothing retailers
Promotional strategies:
Promotional strategies are very necessary for the clothing fashion retailers to promote the
clothing outlets. For that, M&S applies various promotional activities in order to attract the
customer attraction. Such as M&S adopt the celebrity style and provide clothing into that part
only. Moreover, the main objective moreover the main objective of the promotional strategy is to
enhance the popularity of the product and services through which customer get attractive towards
the product services. Moreover, another promotional strategy for fashion clothing retail
companies is fashion plates. In this style professional stylist are available on your store through
which M&S advertise this on the company websites to enhance the public interest towards the
company products. Besides, another strategy is that to adopt the Real Life Runway strategies in
this strategy company may organise fashion shows to promote their own fashion outlets. These
are the most prominent strategies for the company which guides M&S to increase the demand of
the products.
Growth strategies:

Growth strategy is the another effective tactics for retail companies in order to exist the
position in the competitive market. Growth strategy is helpful for the company to enhance the
profit margin and enhancement of brand management. In order to enhance the growth M&S
needs to adopt growth strategies such as Pitch to investors, in this growth strategy company
needs to maintain the good relationship with investors to take more capital investment on the
company. Public relation and marketing is the another growth strategy in which M&S needs to
enhance the brand image in the market. For that, M&S needs to acquire advertising campaign to
promote the function of the organisation. Provide customer service, maintain good relation with
the customers like give offers on festive sessions, organise contest and attractive gift vouchers
etc. which helps to retain the potential customers. Overall, these are the growth strategies for
M&S company which gives positive outcomes.
Creative Marketing Strategies:
Marketing strategies is the significant tactics or strategy which provide awareness of the
product and services. Marketing strategies provides stability to the company. With the help of
which company expands their activities. For fashion clothing sector marketing activities must be
creative and attractive. Like Company my expand its business at online level, provide more
advanced technologies to provide more flexibility to the customers. Marketing promotional
activities or strategies must be different from other competitors. This will be the best for the
company enhancement. Besides, M&S may target the customers and sell products and services
accordingly. Moreover, the main purpose of the marketing strategies is to give the best services
to the customers. Another marketing strategy is to acquire market research to determine the
current needs, competitors strategies so that, company obtain those services.
On the basis of this growth strategies, marketing strategies, promotional strategies. These
are the tactics helps M&S to enhance the growth in the retail sector. Moreover, may be these
tactics are useful for the company betterment. Moreover, it is prominent for the company to
adopt all necessary changes to make company quality more effective and spectacular as per the
market demands. Fashion clothing sector is the very challenging. To beat the competitors
strategies company should take attractive action plan to sustain in the market in long time.
RECOMMENDATIONS

On the basis of above report company needs to acquire market research to make the
changes in the business activities. This helps M&S to meet the challenges. As per the changes
and my point of view company should adopt new advanced technologies and business plans to
attract the customer attraction. Apart from that, company also ensure the competitors strategies
and plans before making its own policies. They also may adopt new trends and clothing outlets
to grab the customer attraction. This may help M&S to sustain its market stability in long term.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that, fashion retailers are the most demanding
and challenging approach. It explained the overall aspects of the macro and micro environment.
On the other side, it also covered the strategies and tactics through which M&S adopt new
effective changes. Moreover, present report discussed about the M&S company.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Cairns, G. and Wright, G., 2018. Why Should the Individual and Organization Practice Scenario
Thinking?. In Scenario Thinking (pp. 1-23). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Cottan-Nir, O. and Lehman-Wilzig, S., 2018. CEO Branding: Between Theory and Practice—
Case Studies of Israeli Corporate Founders. International Journal of Strategic
Communication. pp.1-20.
Díaz, B. D., Idowu, S. O. and Molyneux, P. eds., 2018. Corporate Governance in Banking and
Investor Protection: From Theory to Practice. Springer.
Dose, D., Walsh, G., and Segev, S., 2018. Investigating links between cultural orientation and
culture outcomes: Immigrants from the former Soviet Union to Israel and
Germany. Journal of Business Research. 82. pp.281-289.
Hartmann, N. N., Wieland, H. and Vargo, S. L., 2018. Converging on a New Theoretical
Foundation for Selling. Journal of Marketing.
Horst, M., 2018. Insurgencies and Revolutions: Reflections on John Friedmann’s Contributions
to Planning Theory and Practice.
Jezic von Gesseneck, M., Toffanin, R. and Jezic von Gesseneck, J., 2018. Innovation system
foresight and systemic innovation for the overseas countries and territories. foresight, (just-
accepted), pp.00-00.
Lamichhane, J. R., and Malet, J. C., 2018. A call for stakeholders to boost integrated pest
management in Europe: a vision based on the three-year European research area network
project. International Journal of Pest Management. pp.1-7.
Manniche, J. and Testa, S., 2018. Towards a multi-levelled social process perspective on firm
innovation: integrating micro, meso and macro concepts of knowledge creation. Industry
and Innovation. 25(4). pp.365-388.
Minton, E.A., and Kim, C.H., 2018. The subjective norms of sustainable consumption: A cross-
cultural exploration. Journal of Business Research. 82. pp.400-408.

Raum, S., 2018. A framework for integrating systematic stakeholder analysis in ecosystem
services research: Stakeholder mapping for forest ecosystem services in the
UK. Ecosystem Services. 29. pp.170-184.
Sullivan, O., Gershuny, J. and Robinson, J. P., 2018. Stalled or Uneven Gender Revolution? A
Long‐Term Processual Framework for Understanding Why Change Is Slow. Journal of
Family Theory & Review.
Thorlakson, T., Hainmueller, J. and Lambin, E.F., 2018. Improving environmental practices in
agricultural supply chains: The role of company-led standards. Global Environmental
Change. 48. pp.32-42.
Online References
Micro Environment, 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.learnmarketing.net/microenvironment.htm>.