Marketing Process & Planning: Sainsbury's Strategic Marketing Plan

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Sainsbury's marketing process and planning, examining the marketing concept in the 21st century, the role of the marketing function, and its interaction with other departments. It details the extended marketing mix (7Ps) and evaluates its contribution to Sainsbury's overall business objectives. Furthermore, the report includes a strategic marketing plan for a new product line, Plant Based Meat, outlining marketing objectives, situational analysis (SWOT, PESTLE, 5C), competitor analysis, value proposition, marketing strategies, budget allocation, tactical actions, and control measures. The report also features a comprehensive media plan with budget, recommendations, and justification for multi-media activities across digital, offline, and social media channels, all aimed at achieving marketing objectives and maximizing return on investment.

Higher National Diploma in Business
Management
Unit 2 Marketing Process & Planning
The Marketing Concept,
Functions and Mix (Part 1)
Marketing Planning (Part 2)
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Table of Content
Part 1: Briefing Paper
1.0 Introduction 03
2.0 An explanation of the concept/definition of marketing in the 21st century
03
3.0 Description of the role of marketing function with examples from the
chosen organisation 03
4.0 An analysis of how the marketing function works and interacts with other
departments 04
5.0 An explanation of the extended marketing mix and examples from selected
supermarket 04
2.0 An evaluation of how the marketing mix adopted by the selected
business (or business unit) contributes to the success of the organisation in
meeting their overall business objectives 05
3.0 Recommendations 06
9.0 Conclusions 06
References 08
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1.0 Introduction
The marketing process is defined as a series of such steps which are used in the organizations
to identifying the customers problems, help to analysing marketing opportunities and make
such kind of marketing materials which is help to reach out the desires of the customers. The
chosen supermarket is Sainsbury's, they are one of the Britain's 3rd largest food retailer. It has
a chain of 455 over the world and 301 convenience store. The current report will explain the
concept of marketing in 21st century as well as their role and analysing how their marketing
function works. It explains existing marketing mix and how it adapts the marketing mix.
Furthermore, the new product will be launch by the Sainsbury's which is Plant Based Meat. It
will include proteins and for the health conscious people. Moreover, it will make a strategic
plan with the strategy and clear and smart goals. It will include the marketing budget and
media budget.
2.0 An explanation of the concept/definition of marketing in
the 21st century
The world is moving day by day, marketing in the 21st century is about meeting with the
customer's satisfaction and fulfil their expectations. The future generation of the customers
will have a more options of the income with the less time and other choices. The entire
spending of the consumers will shown up in the different pattern which will be depended
upon the health and wealth.
The marketing concept help to delivering the best discussions on the effective ideas which are
being acknowledge at the very right time and right place. Marketing involves such
advertising and promotional activities which help organization to shown up about the new
product to the public. Technology has completely changed in innovative manner such as way
of communication between the people and sharing their ideas and informations about the
products. There used to be many ways in which the technologies are overpowering many
methods from where the informations are being shared.
3.0 Description of the role of marketing function with
examples from the chosen organisation
Marketing functions in the organization controlled by the marketing team plays a vital
role in achievement of profitability through focusing on different aspects of product
and its feasibility (Fahy and Jobber, 2019). The marketing team in Sainsbury is
concerned towards arrangement of products in such a way that it can lead to higher
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sales. This is done by placing the products with same properties together so that it
becomes more likely for another one to be purchased by the customer. Moreover,
the marketing department focuses on the promotion of products and services
through different methods such as media, television etc. increasing the awareness
about the product is one of the most important role of marketing department so that
the sales can be increased.
4.0 An analysis of how the marketing function works and
interacts with other departments
Marketing activities in the organization helps in increasing the sale of the
organization by attracting customers with different methods. Proper marketing
strategies helps to make people aware about the products and services of the
organization.
Marketing department and production department work together to make the product
more feasible and attractive which can meet the needs of the customer (Hanson and
Kalyanam, 2020). Here marketing department focuses on the packaging and design
of the product which reflects the meaning and concept of the commodity.
By working with finance department the marketing team avails the funds for
researching, advertising, innovating etc. which leads to the effective marketing of the
product.
For getting skilled employees in marketing department, they have to approach the
HRM and specify the skills and characteristics that has to be pertained by the
candidate.
5.0 An explanation of the extended marketing mix and
examples from selected supermarket
7p's of marketing mix
Product
Sainsbury operates as a long chain of supermarkets providing their customers with wide and
diversified ranges of products. This includes both the food and non-food products (Deepak and
Jeyakumar, 2019). Various product ranges of Sainsbury are fruits and vegetables, fish and meat,
dairy products, bakery products, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, health and beauty products,
household products, baby care products and pet care products as well.
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Place
The diversified range of products are available in the supermarkets of Sainsbury located in different
regions. There are more than 600 supermarkets of the brand across UK (Desai, 2019). For higher
reach of customer and providing them goods with ease the company has established more than 800
convenience shops located in almost 10 major cities of England.
Price
Distinct products segment in Sainsbury are differently priced to target the customers with varied
earning capacity. For targetting the customers with low earning capacity the company follows
competitive pricing policy which focuses on introducing prices lower than the competitive brands.
Promotion
For targetting different kinds of customer in accordance with their preference in product range,
Sainsbury promotes the product by adopting both ATL and BTL strategies (Kartajaya, Setiawan
and Kotler, 2021). ATL strategy that is known as mass marketing as well, helps in targetting all the
customers whereas the BTL strategy focuses on the customer with particular preference.
People
Sainsbury aims to cater the customer with good quality of commodities and services for which they
hire the employees with distinct skills set. The overall employee base of the firm is more than 1 lakh
which works for gaining better customer satisfaction.
Process
Process of business commencement of Sainsbury includes provision of distinct goods and services to
its customers through its outlets (Kumar, Paul and Unnithan, 2020). These goods and services
are transported from warehouses to the outlets.
Physical evidence
Outlets of the brand is considered as the physical evidence which are flourished all over UK. The e-
commerce website is also an evidence to the presence of brand.
2.0 An evaluation of how the marketing mix adopted by
the selected business (or business unit) contributes to the
success of the organisation in meeting their overall
business objectives
Marketing mix techniques adopted by Sainsbury has helped them to achieve various
organizational objectives. Objective of the firm to cater customers with good quality
of product and services in affordable price is being maintained by following the
pricing strategy (Bala and Verma, 2018). This strategy has focused on reducing the
prices for gaining competitive advantage. Employee base of the organization has
focused on achieving this goal by contributing with working efficiently for higher
customer satisfaction. For customer satisfaction, employees in administration makes
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efforts for making products more and more feasible to meet consumer needs. Staff
on the front puts efforts for providing better and qualitative services to the customer
in order to give them better shopping experience. Large presence of the firm in
different parts of the country has acted as a plus point as it becomes more
convenient for the customers to reach the outlets easily. Convenience shops located
in the region where supermarkets can't be established has made it easier for the firm
to approach higher customer base. This large presence of the firm helps in attracting
customers as it depicts the image of the firms as a big enterprise.
3.0 Recommendations
After analysing the above report it has been recommended that the brand can
achieve higher profits by focusing more on the niche markets by introducing a
product segment which is luxurious and not affordable by every individual. The
product segment can be designed to reflect the integrity and royalty of the user
which can make an impression of the customer on others.
The company can focus on unique promotion strategy by using unique and trendy
methods which can attract the tech savvy crowd too. There are different social
platforms available which can be used by the firm to reach the youngsters and this
can result in diversified customer base for the firm.
For increasing the profit margins without hyping the prices the company can work on
the supply chain to reduce the cost of procurement of raw material. This can help the
firm to maintain a good profit margin without putting burden on customers.
9.0 Conclusions
The above report has concluded the concepts of marketing and its key determinants
in context of Sainsbury's. The definition of marketing with its various elements has
been discussed thoroughly. These elements were product, price, place, promotion,
people, process and physical evidence in terms of Sainsbury. This has shown how
the firm operates and what are the various aspects of its marketing strategy.
Operating method of marketing department in the firm by collaborating with other
department has shown how the functioning and inter relativity between these
departments works for overall benefit of the organization. Recommendation for the
profit maximization and sustainability has been discussed thoroughly.
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References
Bala, M. and Verma, D., 2018. A critical review of digital marketing. M. Bala, D.
Verma (2018). A Critical Review of Digital Marketing. International Journal of
Management, IT & Engineering. 8(10). pp.321-339.
Deepak, R.K.A. and Jeyakumar, S., 2019. Marketing management. Educreation
Publishing.
Desai, V., 2019. Digital marketing: A review. International Journal of Trend in
Scientific Research and Development. 5(5). pp.196-200.
Fahy, J. and Jobber, D., 2019. EBOOK: Foundations of Marketing, 6e. McGraw Hill.
Hanson, W.A. and Kalyanam, K., 2020. Internet marketing and e-commerce.
(Student ed.). Thomson/South-Western.
Kartajaya, H., Setiawan, I. and Kotler, P., 2021. Marketing 5.0: Technology for
humanity. John Wiley & Sons.
Kumar, A., Paul, J. and Unnithan, A.B., 2020. ‘Masstige’marketing: A review,
synthesis and research agenda. Journal of Business Research. 113. pp.384-
398.
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Table of Content
Part 2: Marketing Plan
1.0 How the strategic marketing plan links with the overall organisational
mission, corporate strategy and objectives 11
2.0 Clear and SMART marketing objectives 11
3.0 Marketing research to support the new product line launch 11
4.0 A situational analysis 11
4.1 Marketing audit, making use of appropriate analytical tools including
SWOT, Pestle and 5C analysis 11
4.2 A competitor analysis including the market segments 14
4.3 Articulation of the new product value-proposition in the eyes of the
customer 14
4.4 Development of the marketing strategies applied to the extended marketing
mix 15
4.5 Setting of an overall marketing budget, including allocation of planned
spend 15
4.6 Tactical actions 16
4.7 Identifying appropriate control and monitoring measures to ensure
achievement of objectives including metrics to measure success such as
Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI) and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
16
5.0 A comprehensive media plan that supports the planned marketing
campaign 16
5.1 A media budget 16
5.2 Recommendations and rationale for selected and integrated multi-media
activities within the set budget that meet the marketing objectives 17
5.3 Appropriate digital, offline and social media channels for communication
17
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5.6 Full justification for a multi-media plan based on quantitative and
qualitative criteria 18
References 19
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1.0 How the strategic marketing plan links with the overall
organisational mission, corporate strategy and objectives
Strategic marketing plan helps the organizational mission of succeeding by providing
a well-articulated plan that focus on increasing the sales and services of the firm that
eventually results in increasing edge over the competitors. This plan is developed to
support Sainsbury's mission to gain the highest customer satisfaction by providing a
diversified product segment which can meet with the distinct preferences of
customers.
2.0 Clear and SMART marketing objectives
Marketing objectives for increasing awareness among the customers for new and
unique product of Sainsbury launching in near future are determined by keeping
smart criteria in context. Firstly the packaging of the product is done in a manner
which depicts the products as a luxurious one. Pricing of the product is determined to
target the customers with higher earning capacity. Promotion of the product will be
done in a way that reflects it as a product which is preferred by the royal and
luxurious class to set a level of the product in the mindset of customers.
3.0 Marketing research to support the new product line
launch
Marketing research is an important aspect that has to be focused on before
launching a product which can depict the need and demand of the product. For
feasible and sustainable future of new product line of Salisbury that is plant based
meat, a thorough market research will be conducted by doing surveys through taking
customer feedback on the product. This feedback will be t6aken in the form of
questionnaire which will be filled by the customers visiting different outlets. Focus of
the questions being asked ion the forms will be analyzing various factors like
competitors, customer preference for product etc.
4.0 A situational analysis
4.1 Marketing audit, making use of appropriate analytical tools
including SWOT, Pestle and 5C analysis
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SWOT
Strengths Customer satisfaction- Sainsbury caters their customers with quality goods and services
which results in gaining higher customer satisfaction rate. This is their biggest strength which
has helped them to gain higher profits. Diversified product segment- The company offers a wide range of food and non-food
products under on roof which acts as a beneficial aspect for the firm. This availability of
products attracts customer and helps the firm to increase its market share by eliminating the
competetion.
Weaknesses Lesser margin- For catering the customers with low-cost goods without sacrificing the
quality, the company reduces its profit margin which acts as a weakness. Although, the
customer base of the firm is wide and diversified but it still doesn't provide much higher
profit than the competitors that. Financial instability- Sainsbury has faced huge losses in past few years which is effecting the
long term survival of the organization. If this weakness is not eliminated soon then it can
result in the downfall of the organization.
Opportunities Rural expansion- There is an increasing demand for branded commodities in village areas
which is a great opportunity for the firm. This can increase the customer base of the firm
and other benefit is that rural areas doesn't have high competency rate. Trends- There can be seen a frequent change in preference of customers due to change in
trend. This opens different doors of opportunity for Sainsbury. This can be pursued by
innovating the goods and services in accordance with the customer needs.
Threats Competitors- increasing competition in the field is a matter of concern for brand as they
have to manage an edge over big competitors such as Aldi, Tesco, Associate British Foods
etc.
 Pandemic- Covid-19 pandemic has posed a major threat to every industry in every region.
It's after effects are still possessing a threat to the firm.
Pestle analysis
Political factors
Brexit uncertainty is political factor that has effected the business activities of Sainsbury's in various
ways. One of the major effect that has affected the firm is increased trade barriers (Chernev,
2020). This deal has restricted the firm to operate effectively and gain profit in both the regions.
Higher cost of raw materials is also an outcome of Brexit which has forced the firm to work on its
pricing policies and maintain them in accordance with the cost.
Economical factor
Inflation in the prices of fuel is the economic factor which is impacting the organization by increasing
the operating cost. Operations of Sainsbury that is selling products and services ion different retail
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