Sainsbury's Marketing Plan: Process, Strategies, and Environment

This report provides an analysis of the marketing process and planning strategies employed by Sainsbury's, a leading UK retailer. It examines the concept of marketing, its operations, and its role within the organization, including the interrelation of marketing functions with other departments. The report also analyses the marketing environment, identifying both external and internal factors that influence Sainsbury's marketing efforts. A comparative analysis of Sainsbury's and ASDA's marketing mix is presented, highlighting different approaches to marketing planning. Furthermore, the report discusses the strategies and approaches used by companies to achieve business objectives and develops a tactical marketing plan integrating the marketing mix elements. The report concludes with a media plan outlining recommendations and rationale for chosen media activities within budgetary constraints.

Marketing Process
and Planning

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Concept of marketing & its operations with the various areas and role of marketing................3
Function of marketing and the interrelation of marketing function with various other
departments in the company........................................................................................................5
Analysing the role of marketing in the marketing environment and..........................................6
identifying the external & internal environment........................................................................6
Comparing the ways of different companies with the help of marketing mix to the..................7
marketing planning process to accomplish the company's goals................................................7
Strategies & approaches applied by companies to describe how business objectives can be
accomplished...............................................................................................................................8
Developing tactical marketing plan which includes the elements of marketing which
integrates the marketing mix for the company to accomplish marketing goals..........................9
Media plan with recommendations & rationale for chosen media activities which meet
budgetary requirements & objectives of a marketing campaign...............................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
The marketing mix is a set of marketing tools which helps any business or organisation to
promote the products or services. It is a base model for the businesses. The marketing mix is
used to create the marketing strategy in order to achieve the marketing goals. It is one of the
essential part of the business to enhance the brand image and to gain the attention of people
towards the offerings(Solimun and Fernandes, 2018). In context to Sainsbury's, it is second
largest company of United Kingdom in retail sector. The company's headquarters is in London,
UK and it was founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury's. This report will examine that how
marketing planning helps the organisation to evaluate the performance and to increase the
customer satisfaction. It includes the role of marketing, trends, interrelation among marketing
and other department along with external and internal factors. It will further define the 7P's of
marketing mix and media plan in context to the company.
MAIN BODY
Concept of marketing & its operations with the various areas and role of marketing
The concept of marketing determines the marketing strategy in order to meet the
customer demands, satisfy their needs, increasing sales growth and to gain competitive
advantage. Basically, it is a action plan to get the attraction of the people towards the company's
offerings(Stead and Hastings, 2018). It is the process of developing, implementing and
maintaining the relationship among the customer and organisation.
 Product concept: The product concept includes quality, features, benefits, price, design
and durability of the product. The customers prefer those products which are easily
available at low cost and with high quality.
 Marketing concept: The marketing concept helps to understand the customer's needs
and then delivering the product accordingly. This concept defines the customer first
approach in which customer values and desires are considered. It is basically finding the
right products for the customers.
Current marketing trends
There are some following current trends used for marketing as:

 Radio Ads: It is one of the oldest way of adversing. It is currently being used as
marketing channel. In this products or services promoted through FM radio which is
voice based with the help of various FM channels.
 Print media: In this way of advertising the reach to the customer is increased as
compared to radio ads. It includes marketing of products through newspapers, magazines,
templates and posters.
 Telemarketing: In this marketing person directly contact to the prospective customer
through call and tell them about the products and services. It is the direct method of
marketing in which salesman convince the potential customer to buy the goods or
services over the phone call.
 Television Ads: It is one of the most effective way of marketing in which products can
be advertised through audio as well as video. It is the most expensive way of marketing
due to that it targets the large customer base.
Future trends of marketing
 Targeted emails: It is the direct way of marketing which follow the email marketing. In
this first research is done to identify the potential customer and then emails with various
offers and discounts sends to those customers. This marketing method is also used to get
feedback from customers.
 Voice search: As it is seen that to get information people more likely uses voice search
medium as it most convenient way. There is no need to type the search content such as
Alexa and Siri. Marketers can define the content as voice friendly and placed the ad in
between the process.
 Artificial intelligence: It is going to be the most effective method in future marketing. It
allows customer to see the products in 3D which will enhance customer experience along
with one to one interaction and product customization.
 Programmable marketing: It refers to the placing the advertisement by identifying the
customers habits, buying behaviour and choices. It will automatically promote the
products or services to target audience with the help of predefined algorithm or
programming.
Role of marketing

The marketing is the foundation model of any organisation which plays an important role
to make product successful such as:
 Identifying customer demands: The major role of marketer to first identify what
customer is actually requires, their needs(Nezamova and Olentsova, 2020). It helps
marketer to make effective marketing strategies.
 Attractive product offerings: To enhance the product selling and to increase the
profitability. It is the foremost responsibility of marketers to attract the customers by
providing them the various discounts and offers on the product purchase.
 Design of effective marketing plan: It is one of the important role of marketing to
define the effective and attractive marketing plan to gain the attention of large customer
base towards the offering.
Function of marketing and the interrelation of marketing function with various other
departments in the company
Marketing functions
There are some of marketing function given below as:
 Market research: Market research is the first step before entering to the market. It is
used to analysing the market demand, size of the market and the available competition in
the market (Salazar, 2018).
 Market segmentation: It is the important part of the marketing mix process. In this
market is divided according to the demographics, geographical area and product demand.
 Product pricing: After analysing the target market now it is the time to define the
suitable pricing of the product so that customer can easily purchase it.
 Distribution channel: It is one of the important part of marketing that supply chain must
be efficient. Distribution channel is responsible to deliver the product at right place and
on right time. It includes deliver the product to retailers and to end customer.
 After sales service: one of the important factor to enhance the brand image. It is due to
that after sales service leads to customer satisfaction. It includes handling customer
queries and complaints after purchase of the product and providing them the appropriate
solution.
Interrelation of marketing with other departments

 Marketing and supply chain management: The supply chain management involved the
distribution and production of the product. Marketing helps the suppliers and
shareholders to get to know about the brand and products(Brock, 2019). It helps suppliers
to define the distribution Chanel accordingly.
 Marketing and information technology: Information technology is majorly used in the
marketing to identifying and analysing the customer likes and preferences. It is used for
generating the leads.
 Marketing and human resource management: Marketing and human resource
management shares the similar objectives. Marketing used for the product promotion or
branding whereas human resource responsible for employment.
Analysing the role of marketing in the marketing environment and
identifying the external & internal environment
The marketing is responsible for defining the marketing plan, identifying customer needs
and attracting customer towards to offering. There are some external and internal factor of
marketing function as follows:
External factor
 Political factor: Political factor in marketing function includes government policy, fiscal
policy, trade regulations, tariffs, corporate taxation policies and political stability
(Nikarilkanth, 2018). This factor defines that how government can influence the
company's business.
 Economical factor: Economical factor includes exchange rate, inflation rate, working
hours, minimum wage rate and economic growth. This factor defines the economic
performance of the country which can effect the company's business in long term.
 Technological factor: One of the important that can affect the marketing function
directly. It refers to using the technological advancement in the marketing operations
such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and research & development.
Internal factor
 Leadership style: The leadership style of the company can influence the working culture
of the employees which leads to difficulty in creating marketing plan.
 Structure: It refers to the company's hierarchy which helps to define the roles and
responsibilities of employees.

Comparing the ways of different companies with the help of marketing mix to the
marketing planning process to accomplish the company's goals
Here the chosen company is Sainsbury's and ASDA. The chosen companies are related to
the retail sector. ASDA is a British multinational company which was founded in 1949. It was
established by Peter and Fred Asquith with merger of Associated Dairies company (Stevens and
et. al., 2021). Marketing mix is a tool used for promotion and branding of the products or
services.
Marketing mix elements Sainsbury's ASDA
Product The company has wide range
of products such as groceries,
homeswares, clothing and
electricals. The company sells
over 23,000 product lines
globally from 1400+ suppliers.
ASDA deals in similar
products as Sainsbury's which
includes George clothing, food
& beverages, music, books and
groceries. There are almost
35,000 products can be found
in the ASDA supermarket in
which 60% belongs to food &
beverages.
Price Sainsbury's main objective is
to provide the products which
is affordable to everyone. The
company offers value for
money and defined pricing
according to the product.
ASDA includes wide range of
the products and it believes in
mass selling of products.
Hence, the company adopted
cheap and affordable pricing
strategy.
Place The company first operation in
1922 in London. According to
report of 2018, the company
has over 680 supermarkets.
The company also sells its
products through online
shopping.
The first store opened by the
company in Castleford. After
that it achieved fast expansion
in which stores in almost every
part of the UK. The company
has about 341 superstores and
211 supermarkets.

Promotion The company launched various
market campaigns through
magazines, newspapers, radio,
TV and billboards to enhance
the brand image and to achieve
the sales growth.
ASDA follows the aggressive
marketing strategy. It has
created innovative content and
advertise through social media
platforms and various
websites.
Process The company ensures that
products are always available
at the stores when needed
through inventory
management tools. The
company has also adopted
online delivery process.
ASDA uses various inventory
tools to make sure the product
availability.
People The company has customer
service department which
contact to the people in case of
any issue. These people are
well trained to resolve the
customer issue.
The company has employed
large employee base in order
to handle the customer query
and complaints. It also has
different departments such as
marketing, sales, HR and
finance.
Physical evidence Sainsbury's is using attractive
packaging to attract the
customer.
The company created effective
online websites where
customer can see the high
quality images of the product.
Strategies & approaches applied by companies to describe how business objectives can be
accomplished
The marketing mix helps the organisation such as Sainsbury's and ASDA to determining
the different marketing strategies to increase the profitability. The ASDA invest heavily on
creative marketing strategy which is helping the company to increase the customer base whereas
Sainsbury's saves the fixed cost by reducing infrastructure.

Developing tactical marketing plan which includes the elements of marketing which
integrates the marketing mix for the company to accomplish marketing goals.
Marketing planning process involves the defining, introducing and evaluating the
marketing strategy.
Importance of marketing plan
 Marketing planning is used for defining the successful marketing strategy. It helps the
company to create innovative marketing campaign in order to achieve the company's
objectives.
 Marketing planning helps company to reduce the circumstances during the process of
product promotion.
 It is essential to evaluate the performance and strength of the marketing campaign in
order to minimize the risk.
SWOT analysis of the company
In context to the Sainsbury's, there are some factors which can affect the organisation
internally described by SWOT analysis as:
Strength Weakness
 Sainsbury's is one of the largest
supermarket chain in UK. It is adopted
right move of expansion and created
inventive promotional strategies.
 The company has low retention rate and
low margins due to cut down the price
of the product in order to attract the
customer (AlMarwani, 2020).
Opportunity Threat
 The company can promote the product
in rural areas which is untouched.
 Due to extensive rise in the competition
company can loose the market share.
The main competitors are Aldi and
ASDA.
Marketing goals
The main objectives of sainsbury's are:
 To enhance the sales growth of the company by 30%.
 To increase the market share by 6%

STP analysis
STP stands for Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning which helps the company to position the
product or services to target the particular market segment(Yaning, 2021).
 Segmentation: Segmentation refers to segregating the customer on the basis of
demographics, geographical area, personality, values and behaviour.
 Targeting: The company is targetting young people for clothing by providing them
various discounts and offers on purchase.
 Positioning: Positioning refers to finally placing the product so that customer can easily
access it. The company placed the products at various places such as online websites and
offline stores.
Marketing elements
 Product: The company will more focus on the quality of the product and will increase
the product line.
 Price: The company will reduce the margin which will directly decrease the price of the
product in order to increase the customer base.
 Place: The company will increase the investment in online product placement.
 Promotion: The company will take the help of digital media marketing to further
promote the products.
 Process: The company will start the fast and secure delivery of products along with
online payment facility.
 People: The will more focus training and development program for the employees. Physical evidence: The company will focus on providing virtual experience of the
product online using artificial intelligence.
Action plan
Cost and budget

Monitoring and evaluating process
Key performance indicator(KPI): The KPI is a technique is used by the various companies to
evaluate the performance.
Media plan with recommendations & rationale for chosen media activities which meet
budgetary requirements & objectives of a marketing campaign
Media planning plays a essential role in defining that how to gain attention of the
customer towards the offering (Jain, 2021).
 Objectives: The sainsbury's aims to increase the market share by 6% with enhancing the
sales by 30%
 Run time: The time set by the company to achieve the objective is one year for long term
perspective.
 Campaigning type: The sainsbury's promotes its products through digital marketing
campaigning.
 Target audience: The target of the company is young people to expand it clothing
business.
 Content: The content of the company includes the vision and mission.
 Recommendation: The sainsbury's needs to first analyse the external and internal factors
in order to get competitive advantage.

 Justification: The company can take feedback to analyse the plan.
 Media budget: The media budget involves budget allocated by the company for media
planning.
The media plan of the Sainsbury's with all expenses and cost is defined below as:
Particulars Amount
Equipment 160000
Advertisement 40000
Promotional tool 10000
Media house 10000
Total 220000
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report, it is concluded how marketing planning helps the
organisation to evaluate the performance and to increase the customer satisfaction. It includes the
role of marketing, trends, interrelation among marketing and other department along with
external and internal factors. It further defines the 7P's of marketing mix and media plan in
context to the company.

REFERENCES
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Stevens, R.E. and et. al. 2021. Marketing planning guide. CRC Press.
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