Marketing Mix Analysis and Contextual Differences: Sainsbury Report

This report examines the marketing mix strategies employed by Sainsbury, a major retail company, across different contexts. It begins with an analysis of Sainsbury's marketing mix, focusing on product, price, promotion, and place, and how these elements are adapted for different customer segments, particularly children and the elderly, using ice cream as a product example. The report then delves into the differences between marketing products and services to businesses (B2B) versus consumers (B2C), highlighting the variations in driving forces, price sensitivity, and the buying cycle. Finally, the report contrasts international marketing with domestic marketing, emphasizing the distinct challenges and strategies involved in reaching consumers across geographical boundaries. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, emphasizing the importance of an effective marketing mix for achieving business success in various market environments.

MARKETING MIX IN DIFFERENT CONTEXTS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................1
4.1 Marketing mix of two different segment..........................................................................1
4.2 Differences in marketing products and services to businesses rather than consumers....2
4.3 International marketing differs from domestic marketing................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
The principles of marketing give an outline of marketing techniques, strategies and
marketing mix (Cant, Strydom and Jooste, 2009). This present report attempts to understand the
marketing mix of company. It also explains how organizations behave in their market
environment and assesses the importance of international factors that are focused on shaping the
national and international business activities of companies. This report also considers about the
marketing practices of Sainsbury which is the third largest chain in supermarket and works in
retail industry. It is headquartered in London, UK and employs over 157,000 employees across
1,106 locations.
TASK 4
4.1 Marketing mix of two different segment
Marketing mix
Sainsbury is a public limited company and is focused on providing retail products
through supermarket chains across the UK. Its vision is to become the most reliable and trusted
retailer wherein people would love to shop and work. However, its mission is to become the first
choice for consumers (Carter and et. al., 2013. main organizational objective of Sainsbury’ is to
generate more revenue in order to increase shareholders’ wealth in the short and long-term. This
retail company is dynamic and so it is focused to keep changes in its commercializing strategy
that has successfully helped in enlarging supermarket chain in the UK and its business in Egypt.
This enables Sainsbury to focus on food retailing and other related activities. Current Marketing
Mix: Product, price, promotion and place is being improved to meet its new mission. After
making assessment of the UK market Sainsbury have identified the growing market through
feasibility analysis. Moreover, population growth, income level and standard of living of people
of Central London are high. Due to this aspect Sainsbury have analyzed that launching project of
ice cream is more feasible in central London. Sainsbury have segmented their customers on the
geographic and demographic bases. Sainsbury have segmented their customer base on the basis
of age. Whereas it decided to offer ice creams to the customer of Central London. On the basis of
geographical aspect Sainsbury have offered the ice creams through the malls which are situated
in central London. Sainsbury make more focus upon the children and old age people for which
the marketing mix are as follows:
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 Product: In order to become one of the largest supermarket chains in UK, company
comes up with new and varied products. Sainsbury is committed to the consistent
betterment and improvement in its product. Main thing on which supermarket works is
related to the quality of products (Hellsten and Klefsjö, 2000). Consumers consider
product for purchasing, when they believe that product’s quality is good.. For example,
Food court plays a crucial part in maintaining quality and innovation in Sainsbury’s
outlet in the respect of their products. Sainsbury have introduced ice -cream with more
flavors as compared to their competitors. For such product Sainsbury specifically focus
on the the children and old age people. As decision making of the customers is highly
affected by the children and old age people. It is one of the main aspect due to which they
have focus on this segment. For children: Sainsbury have offered ice-cream with the
various kind of chocolate and creamy flavors. Whereas for old age people Sainsbury
have introduced ice cream by taking into consideration all kind of fruits. Price: The most important component of marketing mix is price. In today's era,
Sainsbury’s main objective is to be the first choice of food for the UK people. Company
provides the best quality of food and excellent value for money. The pricing strategy for
food covers both the segment of society including adults and youngsters (Bowman and
Gatignon, 2010). For instance: Sainsbury have undertaken the competitive pricing
strategy for the ice cream. For different flavors of ice-cream company charge prices in
accordance with the competitors. Moreover, customer compares quality of the product
with the price. Thus, it is the main cause due to which organization charges competitive
prices for their product. Promotion: Sainsbury undertakes several promotional strategies to promote the ice
cream in UK market. In order to attract the children Sainsbury places animated
advertisement on the cartoon channels and movies. In contrary to this, company can also
make advertisement on newspaper to develop the awareness among the old people about
the different flavors of ice cream which are offered by Sainsbury.(Dibb and Simkin,
2013).
 Place: Sainsbury is the biggest food retail merchant in UK. It has 60 huge stores, 270
grocery stores, 117 city center stores and 21 locals. In order to meet the needs of large
consumer base, forty three of its sales outlet trade full day and other bigger stores are
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opened at all-night long on Friday. Through this. Organization is able to serve the needs
and wants of the customers in an effective manner.
Marketing mix include product, price, place and promotion. All these elements play a
vital role in making appeal to potential customers. Sainsbury have introduced flavored ice
creams in their mall. Thus, different flavor of ice cream attract the large number of existing and
potential lovers of ice cream. In addition to this, price is also the main element which attracts
large number of customers to make use of ice creams. Moreover, price is also the main factor
which closely affects the pricing decision of customers. In addition to this, promotional
campaign helps in communicate the information to wide group of people about the quality,
ingredients and price of the ice cream. Along with it, convenience and availability of the product
is also the main aspect which attracts customer to taste the ice cream which is offered by
Sainsbury.
4.2 Differences in marketing products and services to businesses rather than consumers
There are significant differences while Sainsbury make marketing of product and services
in B2B and B2C market which are enumerated below:
 Driving forces: In case of B2B customer’s organization places more emphasis upon the
detailed description of the product and services. In addition to this, organization also
gives more priority to efficiency aspect while they make efforts to persuade the B2B
customers. Whereas in B2C choices of the customers are based upon the emotional
aspect. Thus, by undertaking the emotional appeal in marketing campaign Sainsbury can
attract the large number of the customers.
 Price sensitivity: B2B customers are more sensitive in nature in relation to the price
factor. Moreover, marketer faces difficulty in attracting the customers for the costly
products and services. Thus, Sainsbury make focus upon the price factor when they
market the product or services to B2C customers. In contrary to this, B2C customers give
more priority to the features of the product rather than the price factor. Usually,
customers are ready to give high price for the innovative and quality product and
services. Therefore, in the marketing campaign of B2C customers Sainsbury make focus
upon the features and attributes of the product and services.
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Marketing principles includes product, price, place and promotion which are essential
elements of the marketing. Product appeal to the customer to all the potential customers who
have needs to
Buying cycle: Buying cycle of B2B is lengthier as compared to B2C customers. It is the
main aspect due to which Sainsbury give more attention to the B2B customers. In addition to
this, in the case of B2B customers, organization places more emphasis upon the building of the
long term relationship. Whereas In B2c customers organization make efforts to satisfying the
current needs of the customers. There are various types of consumers, so they can demand to
serve products through using different distribution channels as per their convenience. But, in
B2B, distribution channels are very limited as compare to B2C.
Business buyer of Sainsbury is so sophisticated and they understand properly about the
products and services of company. (Bowman and Gatignon, 2010). In B2B, bulk of products is
sold at the same time that leads business to gain more profitability. Whereas, B2C buyer looks
for the best price and compares the prices of competition prior to shopping.
4.3 I Difference between the international and domestic marketing
International marketing may be defined as an exchange of goods and services at
international level. It is also termed as global marketing in which one country make use of
marketing principles in order to attain success in the international market. Whereas in domestic
marketing producer make use of marketing principles to attract the customers of home country.
The only similarity which exists between the international and domestic marketing is that
producer make marketing of their goods and services in each market. In addition to this there is a
significant difference between the international and domestic marketing which are enumerated
below:
International marketing significantly differs from the domestic marketing. Marketing
strategies which are employed by Sainsbury in order to attract or influence consumer within the
governmental boundaries of a country are known as Domestic marketing (Blythe, 2013). When,
a company serves products only in local markets, even though it competes against the foreign
companies that are operating within the country, it is said to be involved in domestic marketing.
In domestic marketing, focus of companies is on the local customer and market only and no
response is given to overseas markets. All the product and services are produced through keeping
in the mind local customers only.
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Whereas, when there is no boundary for a company and it targets to overseas customers
or expands business in another country, it is said to be engaged in international marketing. If,
Sainbury goes by the definition of marketing given above, the process becomes multinational in
this case. As such, and in a simplified way, it is nothing but the application of marketing
principles across countries. In America and Europe, many experts believe international
marketing is similar to the exporting (Dibb and Simkin, 2013). According to another definition,
international marketing refers to business activities that direct the flow of goods and services of a
company to the consumers in more than one country for the profit purposes only.
Domestic marketing of Sainsbury depends upon production, promotion, distribution, and
sale of goods as well as services in the local market while international market is the production,
promotion, distribution, and sale of goods as well as services in the global market (Difference
between International and Domestic Marketing, 2015). Domestic marketing is less risky and
easier to conduct while international marketing is more risky and more complex. Domestic
marketing requires lesser financial resources while international marketing requires huge
financial resources. Domestic marketing deals with only a single market while international
marketing deals with several different countries and markets. International marketing is more
challenging and requires more commitment from the company because of the uncertainty and
differences in laws and regulations in the global market while domestic marketing deals only
with the laws and regulations of one country.
CONCLUSION
From this project report it has been concluded that effective marketing mix provides
assistance to Sainsbury in achieving success in the strategic business arena. Company offers ice
cream with the more different at the competitive prices. Through this, organization is able to
attract the large number of customers. It can be seen in the report that there are huge differences
in the marketing of the product and services to B2B and B2C. Thus, Sainsbury needs to consider
such differences while planning the marketing campaign. Beside this, it can be inferred that
international marketing highly differs from the domestic marketing.
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REFERENCES
Journal and Books
Blythe, J., 2013. Principles and Practice of Marketing. SAGE.
Bowman, D. and Gatignon, H., 2010. Market Response and Marketing Mix Models: Trends and
Research Opportunities. Now Publishers Inc.
Cant , C. M., Strydom, W. J. and Jooste, J. C., 2009. Marketing management. Juta and Company
Ltd.
Carter, H. and et. al., 2013. Communication during mass casualty decontamination: highlighting
the gaps. International Journal of Emergency Services. 2(1). pp.29 – 48.
Clarke, I., 2005. Global Brand Strategy: Unlocking Brand Potential across Countries, Cultures
and Markets. Journal of Product & Brand Management. 14(2). pp.137 – 137.
D'Esopo, M. Almquist, E., 2007. An approach to mastering the marketing mix. Business Strategy
Series. 8(2). pp.122 – 131.
Dibb, S. and Simkin, L., 2013. Market Segmentation Success: Making It Happen! . Routledge.
Doole, I. and Lowe. R., 2008. International Marketing Strategy: Analysis, Development and
Implementation. Cengage Learning EMEA
Hellsten, U. and Klefsjö, B., 2000. TQM as a management system consisting of values,
techniques and tools. The TQM Magazine. 12(4). pp.238 – 244.
Online
Difference between International and Domestic Marketing. 2015. [Online]. Available
through:<http://www.bms.co.in/difference-between-international-and-domestic-
marketing/>. [Accessed on 28th December 2015].
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