Marketing Essentials: Tesco's Strategic Analysis Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Tesco's marketing strategies, exploring the roles and responsibilities of marketing functions, the impact of environmental forces, and the relationship between marketing and business objectives. It delves into Tesco's marketing mix (4Ps and 7Ps), comparing it with Marks and Spencer. The report covers strategic planning, the importance of marketing plans, and the monitoring of the marketing process. It also examines current and future marketing trends, the role of marketing within Tesco, and the application of marketing principles in both B2B and B2C contexts, providing a detailed understanding of Tesco's approach to marketing and its strategic implementation. The report includes an introduction, tasks, and a conclusion summarizing the key findings and insights.

MARKETING
ESSENTIALS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Role and responsibility of marketing functions.....................................................................1
a. Marketing and its nature..........................................................................................................1
b. Marketing concept, its current and future trends....................................................................2
c. Key roles of marketing within Tesco......................................................................................4
P2 Relationship between role of marketing and objective of firm..............................................5
a. Marketing Mix.........................................................................................................................5
b. Marketing process of Tesco....................................................................................................5
c. 4P's relations with responsibility of marketing.......................................................................6
d. Role of marketing in context business to business (B2B) or business to consumers (B2C). .7
M1...............................................................................................................................................7
Effects of micro and macro environmental forces on marketing effectiveness..........................7
Impact of external environmental elements on marketing activities...........................................8
M2...............................................................................................................................................9
a. Functional units in Tesco........................................................................................................9
b. Role of marketing, finance, human resource and operations..................................................9
c. Interrelationship between function and mission of company..................................................9
d. Value chain framework.........................................................................................................10
D1..............................................................................................................................................11
Key elements of marketing functions.......................................................................................11
7P's of marketing.......................................................................................................................11
TASK 2..........................................................................................................................................12
P3 Comparison between Tesco and marks and Spencer marketing mix..................................12
a. Comparison of business objectives of Tesco and M&S........................................................12
b. Difference between products and services of both companies.............................................12
c. Extended marketing mix.......................................................................................................13
d. Marketing planning process..................................................................................................13
e. Applying of marketing mix in organization..........................................................................14
M3.............................................................................................................................................14

a. Comparison of objectives of firms........................................................................................14
b. Difference between tactics of different organizations..........................................................14
c. Reason of shifting from 4P's to 7P's......................................................................................14
d. Overview of marketing planning process.............................................................................14
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................15
P4 Marketing plan.....................................................................................................................15
a. Drawing marketing plan and its stages..................................................................................15
b. Importance of marketing plan...............................................................................................16
c. Link between marketing plan, objectives and strategies.......................................................16
d. Monitoring of marketing planning process...........................................................................16
M4.............................................................................................................................................17
D2..............................................................................................................................................17
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................18

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is the process through which entities create value for its valuable consumers
and try to develop a strong relationship with them. It is the tool that assists in identifying needs
of potential buyers and providing them products which can satisfy and make them loyal towards
the brand (French and Russell-Bennett, 2015). Present report is based on Tesco which is a
supermarket firm that aims to provide high quality products to consumers and become a leading
brand in this industry. Current assignment will explain the roles and responsibilities of
marketing. Furthermore, it will discuss the marketing process of Tesco, its strategic planning and
marketing mix. In addition, study will describe the impact of external environmental factors on
business activities. It will also define the relationship between functions and objectives of firm.
Comparison between Tesco and Marks and Spencer will be done with reference to their
marketing mix as well. Furthermore, current study will describe 7'p and reason of turning for 4'ps
to 7ps. Importance of marketing planning will also be explained in this assignment.
TASK 1
P1 Role and responsibility of marketing functions
a. Marketing and its nature
Profit maximization is the main aim of any organization. Modern corporate environment
is highly competitive. In such environment, it has become essential for companies to provide
satisfactory products to consumers so that they can be retained at the workplace for longer
duration (Charter, 2017). Marketing is the only way through which entity can meet with its
objectives. It can be defined as a set of activities and process that creates value for consumers,
communicates message and exchange offerings so that more people would get attracted towards
the brand.
Marketing is a managerial process that helps the firms in selling their products to end
users. American marketing association has defined marketing as a function of organizations that
creates, communicates and delivers valuable to consumers and develop relationship with them.
Customers are the most important stakeholders of business, if they are satisfied with the firm
then it can grow well with earning high revenues and vice versa (Fortenberry Jr and McGoldrick,
2016).
Nature of marketing:
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Marketing is the management process in which company exchange its products in order
to get monitory benefits. It is the goal oriented function that helps entity in accomplishing their
objectives. Tesco is operating its business in supermarket industry, its main aim is to earn more
profit and satisfy the consumers. It identifies needs of customers and accordingly offer them
satisfactory products (Fan, Lau and Zhao, 2015). Through marketing activities, Organization
becomes able to analysis specific needs of different clients and accordingly, it offers them goods
and services so that maximum people would get associated with brand for longer duration. Thus,
marketing supports in achieving the business goals to a high extent.
Marketing has scientific and artistic nature. There are many competitors of Tesco such as
Marks and Spencer, Asda, etc. They all offer similar products to clients. In such condition,
marketing is the only way through which company can create a unique image in the kind of end
users and can make them positive towards the brand (Barrales‐Molina, Martínez‐López and
Gázquez‐Abad, 2014). It is the process through which Tesco can get better information about
needs and desires of clients and it can provide them similar services. In addition, marketing is the
way that can help in understanding behaviour of the person so that marketing officers and other
marketing team members can deal with them accordingly. Research, market segments, product
development, determination of attributes are another essential facts of marketing. With the help
of this tool, company can make necessary changes in its existing retail products so that
satisfaction level of clients can be increased. It helps in spreading a positive brand image of the
firm across world (Walker, 2014).
b. Marketing concept, its current and future trends
Marketing is philosophy that helps in making sound decisions for growth of
organization. There are various concepts of marketing:
 Production concept
 Product concept
 Selling Concept
 Marketing concept
 Societal marketing concept
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Illustration 1: Marketing Concept
Source: (Concepts of Marketing, 2017)
Production concept of marketing is popular and used by many firms in their business
operations. Most of the consumers want to buy quality products at affordable rates. Tesco adopts
this concept; it offers a wide range of goods to buyers at low cost. This operational oriented
marketing concept helps the firm in attracting more clients towards brand (Margarita, 2014).
Product concept is another type of marketing idea in which company pays more attention
on the quality of goods. They use innovative ideas in order to improve the quality of its offered
things. Customers like to buy such things which have good quality. This conceptual framework
helps entity in attracting more people towards brand and making them loyal towards firm.
Selling and marketing are two different aspects but have same goal. In selling concept,
company aggressively concentrates on selling of goods whereas marketing pays attention on
offering products as per the needs of consumers. Marketing concept supports corporation in
creating a unique image in mind of clients and retaining them in firm for longer duration.
Societal marketing concept is another type of function in which organizations concentrate on
delivering more valuable products to clients as compared to their competitors. They offer such
products which can be valuable for society and its well-being (Chegwe and Anaehobi, 2015).
Current and future trends in marketing
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Earlier, companies were taking support of selling concept whereas now, they pay more
attention on the marketing concept. Now companies adopt customer centric approach in which
they treat clients as assets of the firm. Marketing department offers them products and services as
per the requirement of them (Siriwardana and et.al, 2016).
Current trends
. Marketing trends in Tesco are as following:
 Products promotion through retail stores
 Relationship marketing
 text messages advertisement Email marketing
Future trends
In order to grow well, Tesco needs to improve its marketing practices and need to make it
as per the environmental condition (Whetten and Cameron, 2014). Future trends of marketing are
as follows:
 Social media marketing
 Internet video advertisement
 Online selling of products and services
c. Key roles of marketing within Tesco
Tesco is the leading brand which operates its business across the world. It has many
stores in more than 12 countries. It has employed more than 500000 employees those who are
serving to the consumers well and satisfying their needs. In the year 2017, its revenues was
55917 million whereas operating income of company was 1280 million. It has approx. 6553
stores worldwide. Tesco’s vision is to become leading brand in the supermarket industry. It
continuously tries to implement innovative ideas and ways so that its objective can be achieved
and it can offer quality products to its clients. It treats its consumers well and resolve their
quarries immediately (Askoul, Khan and Faisal, 2015). Tesco's objective is to increase the
number of consumers and enhance its profitability by 35% till the end of 2018. For that, it
conducts market research and finds out needs of consumers. It helps the firm in providing them
products and services in such a manner which can meet with needs of target audience.
Role of marketing within Tesco
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Marketing is an essential function which helps firm in accomplishing their goals and
enhancing brand image of corporation It directly and indirectly impacts on the sales, profit and
reputation of the entity to a great extent. Different roles of marketing with Tesco are as follows:
 Marketing plays the role of researcher, it analyses market situation and work accordingly.
By this way, Tesco gets to know about the needs of different users and way it can be met
by the firm. Role of researcher supports entity in making necessary changes in its
existing strategy and operations so that overall goal of company can be achieved (Lee,
2016).
 Marketing plays the role of communicator; it communicates message of company to mass
audience in order to make them aware with the quality of products and its attractive
features. By this way, people can take interest in its products and buy the same. This
helps the entity in increasing its sales revenues and expanding business as well.
 Marketing plays role of analyst in the Tesco, with the help of this tool marketing officers
can analysis market situation and can modify their operations accordingly (Rind,
Subhpoto and Sheikh, 2017).
It also plays the role of risk manager. It supports in identifying or forecasting future risk that can
create consequence for the entity. By this way, marketing officers can make changes in
operations and develop products as per the requirement of organization and target audience
(Meacham, 2015).
P2 Relationship between role of marketing and objective of firm
a. Marketing Mix
Marketing mix is the operational part of marketing process of the organization. Iit is the
set procedure which is used by entity in order to meet with its objectives. Product, price, place
and promotion are four main tools of marketing mix. These all factors are combined in the
marketing plan in such manner so that organization can meet with the specific needs of
consumers (Jelinkova and et.al, 2015).
b. Marketing process of Tesco
Marketing process is the procedure which includes analysis of market, selection of
potential buyers, development of marketing mix and managing marketing efforts. This marketing
process supports an entity in meeting with its objectives and earning high revenues.
Analysis
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In the marketing process Tesco first analysis the market, understand its situation and
accordingly plan next activities. In the analysis section marketing officer of Tesco identify the
macro and micro environmental condition and plan activities accordingly so that overall goal of
the organization can be achieved (Suganthi, 2016).
Strategic planning
It is another part of marketing process of Tesco in which company plan activities by
doing SWOT and PESTLE analysis. It is the phase in which officer organize things, make
strategies and allocate resources so that Tesco can accomplish its goal and can sustain in the
market for longer duration (Büyüközkan, Mukul and Uztürk, 2016).
Marketing Mix
It is the next phase of marketing process in which cited firm makes strategies related to
products, price, promotion, place. This helps the entity in attracting new consumers and gaining
competitive advantage.
 Products: Tesco offers quality products to its consumers so that they feel satisfy towards
the brand. It also offers wide range of products so that overall goal of the company can be
achieved.
 Price: it adopts price skimming strategy in which it keeps lower price to its retail items.
 Promotion: It promotes its brand through social networking sites.
 Place: Its stores are available to visible place which helps in attracting more buyers
towards the entity (Ratiu and Avram, 2013).
c. 4P's relations with responsibility of marketing
Tsco's main objective is to increase its profitability and satisfy needs of consumers. 4P's
are able to meet with the objective of the organization significantly.
 The main function of marketing is to communicate message to mass audience. For that it
has opened its stores at visible places where maximum people can come and get
information about its retail items. Apart from this it markets its products through social
media sites that helps in communicating right message to right clients (Explain the Steps
of Marketing Planning Process, 2016).
 Another function of marketing is to build strong relationship with buyers, for that entity
takes support of skimming pricing strategy of marketing mix. It helps in developing
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strong bonding with consumers and retaining them in the corporation for longer duration.
By this way overall objective of increasing revenues of cited firm can be accomplished.
 Another function of marketing in Tesco is to make people aware with brand. For that
cited firm coordinate with buyers through social networking sites. It sports the entity in
making people loyal towards the organization (How to use the 7Ps Marketing Mix?,
2017).
d. Role of marketing in context business to business (B2B) or business to consumers (B2C)
B2B is the type of business in which companies coordinate with other firms in order to
sell its products and services. On other hand in B2C type of business entities deal with end users
those who utilize these goods for their own. It is the major difference between both these types of
corporations.
In B2C marketing, Tesco will have to pay attention on explaining benefits of particular
product for consumers. So that they take interest in these products and buy it. Clients do not like
lengthy messages, they get attracted through amazing discounts images or other features. On
other hand B2C type of corporate consumers buy products in bulk which can satisfy their needs
in context to price and quality. B2B marketing is related with enhancing brand image of the firm
and making people aware with products and services. But when it comes to B2C marketing then
Tesco needs to pay attention on customer satisfaction and retaining these corporate clients in the
organization for longer duration. This can support in increasing sales volume of the entity
significantly (Mapping of Porter’s value chain activities into business functional units, 2011.).
M1
Effects of micro and macro environmental forces on marketing effectiveness
Macro and Micro are two essential environmental factors that impact on the functioning
of the company and create challenges for marketing effectiveness to great extent. These forces
are as following:
Macro elements Political changes: It is considered as one of the major component that impact on
effectiveness of marketing activities. If government makes changes in political laws then
it would be difficult for the firm to continue with existing marketing plan. It would be
necessary for it to make changes in its marketing strategy. This can increase cost of Tesco
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to great extent. On other hand if laws are positive them through marketing cited firm will
be able to generate high revenues and will be able to expand its business worldwide. Economic changes: It is another macro environmental element which create challenge for
Tesco (Concepts of Marketing, 2017). If there is inflation then it would be difficult for
the Tesco to spend huge amount in marketing. Whereas if there is high employment rate
then people will have sufficient income sources and they will spend huge amount, in such
condition company will be able to spend in marketing activities in order to attract more
people towards the brand.
 Technological factors: It is another component of external environment which impact on
marketing activities of business. If there is technological Updation then cited firm will
have to implement it which may improve marketing process of the corporation. But on
other hand it an increase cost as well which would be negative for the organization and
will create consequence for the organization (Ratiu and Avram, 2013).
Micro Elements
 Competitors: It is the major component which impact on marketing of the Tesco. If
competition is high then cited firm will not be able to market its products well and
achieving its goal. But effective marketing strategies will help in gaining competitive
advantage.
 Customers: Buyers are life blood of business, if they change their test or preferences then
overall marketing tactics of entity can get failed (Büyüközkan, Mukul and Uztürk, 2016).
 Suppliers: If suppliers increase their rates of supplying raw material then it may create
financial problems for Tesco. By this way it would not be able to spend much amount in
marketing process. On other and if suppliers offer products on credit and provide quality
goods then it will help in satisfying needs of consumers through marketing.
Impact of external environmental elements on marketing activities
External environmental factors are such as political, technological, economic, legal,
environment etc. impact on the business performance and marketing activities to great extent.
These elements can influence marketing activities. If government of UK is changing laws then it
would be difficult for the organization to conduct its marketing plan as it was designed earlier. It
has to modify it which will require huge investment again (Whetten and Cameron, 2014). In
addition, changes in economic condition can change buying behaviour of the person. By this way
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people will not take interest in buying new products as frequently. In such condition Tesco will
have to modify its marketing plan and it needs to market its products in such manner so that it
can fulfil needs of consumers. Sometimes changing external condition create consequence for
the firm because it may have to stop its marketing process (Fortenberry Jr and McGoldrick,
2016).
M2
a. Functional units in Tesco
Tesco is a multinational brand which has many functional units. These are as following:
 Marketing
 Operations
 Finance
 Human resource management
 Customer services
All these functional units work together to achieve organizational goal.
b. Role of marketing, finance, human resource and operations
All functional departments are interrelated with each others. Through marketing company
gets to know needs of consumers, so production department make changes in its existing
products so that they can offer products to end users as per their requirements. Apart from this
through marketing Tesco forecasts its future sales and accordingly assume number of employees
will require. Accordingly, human resource department hires new candidates those who have
necessary skills and can contribute well in the success of business unit. If there is absence of
skilled candidates then marketing, operations and other function will be completed in its
effective manner (Charter, 2017). Finance team allocate funds to each department, if there is
insufficient monitory resources then company will not be able to run its activities significantly.
If marketing is not proper then Tesco will fail to generate cash which will impact on other
departments because finance team will not be able to allocate finds properly. Same as if
production department does not produce quality goods then marketing will fail to meet with
needs of buyers.
c. Interrelationship between function and mission of company
Function of Tesco are interrelated with mission and objective of the cited firm. For
example objective of Tesco is to enhance its profitability and satisfy needs of clients. For
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