Strategic Marketing Mix Planning: A Case Study on ASOS's Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of ASOS's marketing mix strategic planning. It begins with an introduction and organizational background, followed by an explanation of the role of marketing and its interlinks with various functional units within ASOS. The report then compares how ASOS utilizes the elements of the marketing mix (product, price, promotion, place, people, process, and physical evidence) to achieve its business objectives, referencing examples like Boohoo.com for comparative analysis. The study delves into ASOS's product lifecycle, pricing strategies, promotional activities, and placement methods. The role of people management within the marketing strategy is also highlighted. The report concludes with a discussion on developing and evaluating a basic marketing plan for ASOS, offering insights into its strengths and potential areas for improvement in the context of the competitive online fashion retail market. The report also explores the role of marketing in the organisation and its interlinks with functional units.

Marketing mix strategic planning: a case
study on ASOS

Table of content
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Organisational background........................................................................................................3
Explaining the role of marketing and its interlinks with the functional units of the
organisation................................................................................................................................4
Comparing the ways in which the organisation use the elements of marketing mix to achieve
the business objectives...............................................................................................................7
Developing and evaluating a basic marketing plan for ASOS.................................................10
Reference List..........................................................................................................................16

Introduction
The marketing mix strategic planning of the organisations is important for fulfilling the
strategic objectives of the firm sin running their business operational activities in the market
(Charter, 2017). Through developing marketing strategies, the organising tries to expand their
business in the market and promote the brand, so that it is possible for the companies to retain
customers and strengthen their customer’s base in long run. Hereby, through developing the
marketing mix strategic planning the organisations can maximise their profitability by
improving their sales volume and secure the sustainable development in near future. The aim
of the study is to analyse and evaluate the marketing mix strategic planning of the company
ASOS, through which the firm is trying to grab high market share in operating their business
sustainably. The study also focuses on discussing the importance of marketing mix planning
to understand interlink between the marketing strategic practice and the organisational
functions. Apart from that, the study also focuses on developing a suitable marketing
planning or the organisation through which it is possible to fulfil the objectives of the
business of ASOS.
Organisational background
ASOS Plc is a British online fashion and cosmetic retailer, where it was founded in the year
of 2000. The website sells over 850 brands as well as it has own range of products including
clothing, accessories and ship to all 196 countries from the fulfilment centres n the UK, US
and EU. The major product of the company are such as cosmetics, shoes, accessories and
clothing as well as health and beauty products as per the market trend and customer’s choice
and preferences (ASOS, 2019a).
Figure 1: Organisational logo
(Source: ASOS, 2019a)

The company is efficient to generate revenue in the market, where in the last year, the
organisation has generated over £2.4 billion revenue and the organisation is also efficient to
manage their staff where the numbers of employees are more than 4500. It runs their business
through e-commerce facilities and it is efficient to develop effective marketing planning for
grabbing the market opportunities and strengthening their customer’s base, so that it is
possible to secure future sustainable development in fashion industry (ASOS, 2019b).
Explaining the role of marketing and its interlinks with the
functional units of the organisation
In the recent era of globalisation and highly competitive market structure, all the
multinational corporate firms focus on developing effective marketing mix strategic planning
to run their business sustainably in near future, where the companies try to grab the market
opportunities by developing effective marketing tactics and strengthen their customer’s base
to make the business profitable (Baker and Saren, 2016). The marketing mix strategic
planning in this regard plays a crucial role in fulfilling the objectives of the firm. The
objective of the organisation ASOS is to maximise the profitability by retaining the
customers where the company focuses on creating values for the customers by delivering
high quality products and services to the customers so that their expectations can be met well.
Hereby, it is necessary for the organisation ASOS to develop effective marketing plan to
attract the audiences in the market and strengthen their long term buyers for sustaining in the
business. Hereby, the marketing plan is beneficial for ASOS to grab the market opportunities
of high demand for cosmetics and beauty products among the customers through developing
the marketing mix strategic planning (Scarano, 2016).
Figure 2: Roles of marketing

(Source: Smedescu, 2013)
In addition to these, the marketing strategic planning plays a crucial role in gaining high
competitive advantage by satisfying the customers where the company also can maximise its
profitability and enhance sales vole further. In this context, ASOS is also successful in
retaining the long term buyers and gain competitive advantage over other competitive firms
in the market such as SHOPBOP, Gilt group, Revolve, Boohoo.com etc. Apart from that, the
organisation is also efficient to gain high market share in the fashion industry through
marketing planning where the marketing planning of ASOS plays a crucial role in attracting
the customers and appropriate branding in the market place. Additionally, expansion of the
brand can be possible through marketing mix strategic planning and also the firm scan create
good corporate image through the marketing mix strategic planning (Rigby, 2015).
In this context, the organisation ASOS also can expand their business over 190 countries,
were they serve the customers efficiently. In addition to these, the company is able to
maintain the economies of scale and enhance the efficiency of their services in serving the
customers in a better way. The organisational objectives can be net well by the marketing mix
strategic planning. The marketing strategic planning is also important for managing the
organisational functions in ASOS, where through the strategy of people management and
process innovation, the company can develop proper working culture and improve their

efficiency to serve the customers across the globe. Brand loyalty and brand equity can also be
enhanced by the marketing mix strategic planning.
in this context, the organisation ASOS is also beneficial tin developing proper marketing
strategies in order to improve branding and increase visibility of the brand in the market,
which in turn provides a scope to ASOS to improve brand equity as well as trust and loyalty
among the customers in the market. Brand image is another benefit of developing effective
marketing strategies where the organisation can improve their brand image in the market and
ensure to deliver quality products and efficient services to the customers. In this regard,
ASOS also focuses on creating values for all the stakeholders through developing effective
marketing strategies, where proper management of the stakeholders further help the company
to manage their operational activities efficiently and secure future sustainable development.
Hereby, the marketing mix strategic planning is important and playing a crucial role in
managing the business operational activities as well as secure brand image and brand equity
in the market.
In this regard, the marketing strategies are important to reshape the functions of the
organisation as there are proper planning of people management, product development,
pricing, process innovation and physical activities which are important for the business
activities of the firm to be managed efficiently. The tactics of people management is effective
for ASOS to develop proper human reduce management, which in turn helps to improve the
overall performance of the firms and deliver quality service to the customers. Hereby, the
marketing strategies have crucial impacts on the functional activities of the fir sin doing their
operational activities efficiently. Moreover, process development and physical activities
development are also effective contributing factors in reshaping the business functions where
the organisation can develop effective strategies to run their functions and operational
activities properly to meet the ultimate objective (The Times 100, 2015).
Additionally, through the marketing tactics, the organisation tries to identify the appropriate
customer base and acknowledge the market trend and recent customer’s preferences so that it
is possible for the company to develop effective product line that would attract the customers.
Hereby, for managing the product line and enhance the product diversification, the marketing
mix planning is also important for ASOS through which the organisation can deliver the right
products to the customers for fulfilling their actual needs and preferences. Moreover, through
managing the price strategy and placing the products, the organisational functions have been

developed well, where the company like ASOS focuses on setting proper price for their
products as well as developing appropriate strategies to place their products in the market
through developing effective supply chain and distribution network. Hereby, the marketing
mix strategic planning plays a crucial role for ASOS to develop effective tactics to improve
brand image and equity in the market and create proper functions, so that it is possible for the
firm to run their business operational activities strategically (Waite, 2014).
Comparing the ways in which the organisation use the elements of
marketing mix to achieve the business objectives
As per the marketing mix strategic planning, there are 7 segments which are products, price,
place, promotion, physical activities, process and people which are important aspects for
restructuring the functional activities of the firm and developing appropriate marketing mix
strategic planning in order to promote the brand successfully.
Figure 3: Marketing mix strategic planning

(Source: Sheth and Sharma, 2014)
 Product:
The products strategy of the organisation ASOS is good where diversified product are present
in the company from which the customers can choose the right products and service
according to their personal preferences ad choices. In this regard, ASOS focuses on the
product lifecycle including introduction of the products, rapid growth, maturity, saturation
and decline, through these stages, it is possible for the company to reshape the products
strategy. The company introduce the products in the website and maintain adequate stock and
promote the products through the website in ensuring rapid growth. Additionally, at the
maturity stage, the company focuses on remind the customers about the features and equality
of the products through the online content, company website and newsletters (Shankar and
Bolton, 2014). At saturation, the organisation set the price of the product and targets the right
customers in the fashion industry to grab further market opportunities. For example, the
company Boohoo.com focuses on product diversification where there is a huge amount and
variety of clothing and accessories through which the company targets the diversified
customers in the market and this strategy is beneficial for Boohoo.com to generate
profitability in the end of the year (ASOS, 2019b).
 Price:
Pricing strategy is also another aspect of marketing mix, where the company needs to set
appropriate pricing to retain the buyers in the market. In this regard, the company focuses on
zone pricing strategy which indicates that the price of the products varies with the distance
between the warehouse and the point of purchase by the customers. This is a unique pricing
strategy for which the price varies customers to customers according to their geographical
locations. The price is also affected by the issue of currency fluctuations, whereas ASOS
charges the minimum price for the own branded product. In comparison to ASOS, the
company Boohoo.com focuses on price penetration, where the company focuses on setting
the lower price of the products as compared to other competitive companies in order to retain
a large customer’s base in the market where the customers can make effective purchase
decision for the quality products at the minimum price of the products.
 Promotion:

The promotional activities are the major initiatives, taken by the firms in order to promote
their business in the market. In this regard, the organisation ASOS focuses on online
activities and utilisation of the social media platform for enhancing two way communications
between the customers and the organisational representatives. In this regard, the Facebook
posts, proper content development in the Blogs and Twitter are appropriate strategic planning
of the firm in order to share the organisational information with the customers (ASOS,
2019c).
 Place:
Placing the product is useful and in this regard, the company ASOS focuses on managing the
warehouse in order to conduct their online activities. ASOS mainly aims to maintain their
stick of the products as well as manage the warehouse successfully. The company uses GPS
system to track the demand of the customers as well as telephonic conversation ad online
activities to tack the order details are effective to manage the placement of the products and
services, offered by the organisation.
 People:
Proper management of the people is necessary for developing the marketing mix strategic
planning and in this regard, through manage to the people, the firms are trying to retain long
term employees and skilled workforce to serve the customer in a better and unique way, by
ensuring excellent customer service. In this regard, the organisation ASOS focuses on
managing the people by providing structured salary ad compensation that would be effective
for creating values for them. Additionally, the company maintains the health and safety of the
employees and manage them efficiently to create trust and loyalty and retain them for long
run so that the organisational operational activities can be managed well.
 Process:
In order to develop proper process, the organisation focuses on managing the company
website efficiently with proper activities such as one click order placement, managing the
customers online and developing efficient staff base by providing proper training and
development program so that the employees can deliver quality services to the customers.
 Physical evidence:

Physical evidence management is another necessary aspect through which the organisations
in the recent years can develop effective infrastructure to secure future sustainable
development and in this regard, the company ASOS focuses on developing proper
infrastructure in the warehouse, so that the stick management system can be developed well
(ASOS, 2019c).
Developing and evaluating a basic marketing plan for ASOS
The marketing plan will be developed in six steps, such as, SWOT analysis, objectives,
strategy, action plan, forecast, and control.
Figure 4: Steps of marketing planning development
(Source: Created by Author)
Evaluation of Marketing plan
Marketing plan has been created by ASOS to achieve their long term and short term
objectives of business. This plan consists of various strategies that has been used by
company. Strategies has supported growth in firm. This plan has also analysed the budget that
would be implemented in organization.
1. SWOT analysis
Considering the SWOT analysis, the strengths of the company are high use of social media,
high growth rate, financial stability, strong employee base, ultimate fashion destination and
revenue growth. The weakness are such as no physical store, not well known in Australia,
high cost of production and distribution, which needs to be resolved well by developing
effective marketing mix strategic planning. The opportunities are digital media advertisement
growth in demand of fashionable product and beauty product, growth in popularity of online
Marketing
planning
1. SWOT analysis
3. Strategy
4. Action plan
6. Control
2. Objectives 5. Forecast

shopping and increase the use of mobile technology and application as well as the threats for
the firm is uncertain economic issues, high competition dependent on internet, lack of
televisions and offline advertisement.
Strength: ASOS have high brand image, they have been engaged in providing high
quality of products, goods and services to their consumers. ASOS has created a good brand
image by emphasizing on the corporate responsibility and also letting the customers know
who they are helping. ASOS loves good advocacy of the brand.
Weakness: A number of cases have been registered by number of consumers that
ASOS has not been engaged in fully addressing the problems which is being face by
consumers. It has also been analysed that company is not investing much in Research and
development department.
Opportunities: ASOS has the huge opportunity to expand their market in new areas
so that their profitability and presence in global market will be increased. Trends change very
year so, ASOS can involve in adopting new trends which is an opportunity for them to attract
potential consumers.
Threats: Company have huge threat from competitors. They are engaged in doing
business online, so ASOS also is facing threat related to leaking of personal data of
consumers that might hamper their goodwill.
STP analysis:
As per the STP analysis, it is possible to segment the market and target the audiences for
successful positioning of the brand. For segmentation, the organisation categorises the
customers on the basis of gender, culture, personal preferences and economic condition. In
this regard, targeting the middle class family is suitable for the organisation, as there is huge
population from middle class family and it would be beneficial o target the audiences and
retain them in long run by delivering the quality products at lower price. Additionally, the
company targets male and female for variety of products as well as the customers who prefer
latest products. This is effective to segment the market and target the audiences for
establishing the brand by strengthening their customer’s base. After segmenting and targeting
the customers, the organisation focuses on the positioning strategy which will be

recommended further through marketing mix strategic planning for successful establishment
of the company in the market.
Unique selling proposition:
The unique selling proposition of the organisation must be the highest quality and the lowest
price, where the organisation is able to serve the customers in a better way and create values
for them by providing high quality products and efficient services at competitive price, in
which the customers can make effective purchase decision for better quality and lower price.
2. Marketing Objectives of ASOS
The objectives of the company AOS are,
To develop strong brand image in the fashion and retail industry worldwide
To strengthen their customers base by gaining larger global client base
To enhance profitability and sales volume
To secure future sustainable development
3. Strategy:
 Recommended product strategy:
For product innovation, the company needs to focus on BCG matrix where diversified
products can be represented in the website which in turn attracts the audiences in the fashion
industry. Apart from the cosmetics and beauty products the company should focus on
clothing including tops, jeans, formal wear for both men and women, kids wear, dresses and
shirts so that it can target all the segments of the customers. In this regard, the company needs
to focus on product diversification by manufacturing the products so that it can deliver the
products with their own brand labelling. Additionally, as per the BCG matrix, the company
must focus on product mix strategy for market penetration, which is described below,
Figure 5: Product mix