Marketing Essentials: Tesco's Marketing Plan Analysis Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Tesco's marketing strategies, focusing on its marketing functions, marketing mix, and overall marketing plan. The introduction highlights the importance of marketing in the context of Tesco, a British multinational retailer, and outlines the report's objectives. The report delves into the roles and responsibilities of the marketing function, including market research, communication, product development, pricing, promotion, distribution, and storage. It examines the interrelationship of the marketing department with other departments like finance, HR, production, and sales, emphasizing their collaborative efforts to achieve organizational goals and satisfy customers. Furthermore, the report compares how Tesco and Sainsbury's apply the marketing mix to their marketing planning processes, evaluating their approaches to products, pricing, place, and promotion. Finally, the report underscores the importance of a well-defined marketing plan, including company vision and adopted strategies.

Marketing essentials

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing function .............................................................3
P2 Relationship of roles and responsibilities of marketing to the wider organizational context 5
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................6
P3 Comparison of ways in which organizations apply marketing mix to the marketing
planning process.....................................................................................................................6
LO3..................................................................................................................................................9
Marketing Plan for Tesco.......................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is an important business process of creating a strong relationship with
customers and satisfying them. This present study is based on Tesco that is a British
multinational groceries and retailer whose headquarter is in Welwyn Garden city, England. This
company was founded by Jack Cohen in the year of 1919, 100 years ago. It provides its services
and products to UK, India, Thailand, Czech Republic and other countries (Ismail, 2017). This
report is going to show the increasing importance of marketing as it is the main department that
is wholly responsible for attracting customers towards stores and websites of the company. It
plays several roles and responsibilities in all its functions. IT will also show the interrelationship
of marketing with whole organisation and all its functional departments for accomplishing its pre
determined goals.
It closely works with production, sales, finance, HR and other departments for satisfying
customers & increasing company's sales. Further it will also describe different ways in which
Tesco and Sainsbury's apply marketing mix for making marketing planning process more
effective. Lastly this report shows importance of marketing plan that consists of several steps
like vision of the company, strategies adopted by them, budget etc.
LO 1
P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing function
Marketing is a wide term that is defined as a procedure of creating, communicating,
delivering & exchanging products and services that have value for society, clients and customers
as well. Marketing manager of Tesco retailer has to play several functions with the main aim of
accomplishing their pre determined goals and vision related to marketing. The main roles and
responsibilities of Tesco's marketing manager involves market research, planning,
communication, products and services development, promotion, distribution, selling etc.
It is stated that marketing manager of Tesco does not only provide promotional and other
services of marketing but also provides post selling services (Kerin and Hartley, 2015). For
example, if customers have any queries and doubts related to products and services then manager
try to solve their problems for increasing their trust and loyalty. Some roles & responsibilities of
marketing functions of Tesco are described as follows:

Market research: Market research and planning is the most important and preliminary
role of marketing department. Marketing manager finds out needs and demands of their target
customers as which type of products and services they want and prefer. Without marketing
research it is not possible to satisfy customers needs. In this function, marketing manager of
Tesco gather all informations like what customers wants, in what quantity or demand, at what
price, what type of advertising they would prefer, preferences of distribution system etc.
Communication: Communication is other main role and responsibility of marketing
manager as they require communicating with customers and other departments of the company.
Tesco Plc has several departments and it is believed that if the market department fails then there
are more chances to fail efforts of other departments. By effective communication, marketing
manager of Tesco Plc can tell rest of departments that what they need to do for accomplishing
common goals (Appiah and et.al., 2019).
Product designing & development: Product designing function helps the marketing
manager to attract wider range of customers. It can help them in making their all roles and
responsibilities ease. By making an attractive design, Tesco is now taking more competitive
advantages. They do not only focus on products design but also focus on continuous
development.
Pricing of products: To set prices of products and services is called the other main
function of marketing manager. The main role of manager in this function is to see the cost of
product, profit margin, prices of competing products, policy of the government and other things
for taking the right decision to set the prices. They need to set a price in a manner which can be
affordable for customers and also profitable for the company.
Promotion: Promotion is also a main function of marketing. According to this function
and roles of this function, marketing manager need to tell their target market about their services
and products and also try to encourage them to buy their products (Shimura, 2018). It has mainly
4 methods of promotion such as personal selling, advertising, publicity and sales promotion. The
decision related to choosing methods of promotion is being taken by marketing manager of
Tesco.
Distribution: After choosing the best method of promotion of products it is important to
distribute and provide products to customers. This function includes to carry products and things
from the place of production to the place of their consumption. In this function the main role of

marketing manager of the company is to make sure that products have been reached to customer
at a right time and distribute their products via the best method.
Storage of products: It is other main function of marketing manager. It is essential for
the manager to keep & store products safe at a place. To keep products at warehouses till the
same are sold is called storage function. The main role of marketing manager of Tesco in this
function is to protect products from damages.
So it can be said that by playing all roles and responsibilities of each function, marketing
manager of Tesco Plc can influence business decision with the main purpose of meeting
customers needs and satisfy them (Fursov, 2017).
P2 Relationship of roles and responsibilities of marketing to the wider organizational context
Marketing is the only department who has a strong connection and link with rest of the
departments for the company. It collects informations related customers and the main target of
Tesco Plc is its customers. All departments work for satisfying customers and for that they need
some informations related to their target market, so it can be said that functions of marketing
department are interrelated with each others (Wahab and et.al., 2016). There are some examples
which shows a strong relationship of marketing with other departments of Tesco Plc:
Marketing & finance: As it is already discussed that marketing manager plays several
roles in functions. For playing effective roles and responsibilities, marketing manager requires
proper economic resources for planning, marketing research and evaluation of their marketing
strategies. All these resources are being provided by finance department of Tesco Plc. So it can
be said that without having an effective communication with finance department of the company,
marketing manager can not play their roles and functions.
Marketing and HR: Marketing department also require working closely with HR
department of the company for accomplishing its goals and making all its function more
effective. HR department recruit resources for accomplishing the company's goals. On the other
hand marketing department requires all those resources which are being used and recruited by
HR for accomplishing marketing goals. Marketing department work for pleasing customers,
while HR works for pleasing employees. Without help of employees marketing department can
not play their all roles effectively, so it is important to communicate with HR and tell them to
hire resources accordingly (Mostafa, 2017).

Marketing and production: The preliminary work of marketing is to make a plan and
market research. Production department is responsible for producing and manufacturing products
as per the demands and needs of customers. Marketing manager of Tesco collects several
informations regarding customers like their preferences, needs, tastes, prices etc. For making the
same type & features of products they need to provide informations to production department.
After taking all informations, production department try to make the same products for satisfying
customers. On the other hand marketing department requires making a marketing plan and for
that they need to have a production description, so it can be said that there is interrelationship of
marketing with production department.
Marketing and sales: Marketing and sales department of Tesco Plc also have a strong
interrelationship. Marketing is responsible for attracting customers and building a strong
relationship with them. On the other hand sales department is responsible to sales their products
top customers in a larger amount. The main purpose of both department is to sell products and
attract customers. Without attracting customers and bringing them towards company's Websites
and stores it is not possible for sales department to sell their products. So it can be said that sales
department can not perform their duties and roles effectively without the help of marketing
department (Fill and Turnbull, 2016).
LO 2
P3 Comparison of ways in which organizations apply marketing mix to the marketing planning
process
There are 7 key elements included in marketing mix which shown full detail of the
company related to marketing. It includes products as what it sells and offers, prices like at
which prices and what pricing strategy it adopts, place at where it sells its products and services,
promotion means the way of telling customers and encourage them to buy products, people
means its customers, employees which are involved in the process and physical evidence means
packaging, its designing & attractiveness. Different ways in which Sainsbury's and Tesco apply
their marketing mix are being described as below:
Basis Tesco Sainsbury's
Products In the context of products, Tesco provides
variety of products and services like
Sainsbury's has approximate 15,000
own brand products. It also provides

clothing, food, electronic, cosmetics etc.
Frozen food, bakery products, pet care
products, garden & home products, toys,
car products, party and gift products, baby
products etc. As compare to Sainsbury's it
has wider range and variety of products
which attracts more customers.
variety of products like frozen food,
fresh bakery foods, beauty products,
cleaning products, clothing,
entertainment etc. It is also stated that
this company invest in its own brand
products development.
Price The main pricing strategy which is being
used by this company is cost leadership.
According to this strategy it tries to
maintain low price without compromising
with quality of products. The main aim of
using this cost leadership pricing strategy
of Tesco is to take competitive
advantages.
The main strategy related to pricing is
premium pricing which is being adopted
by this company. Some products are
cheaper from its competitors. As
compare to Tesco it is lack in this step
and element.
Place It uses 2 main distribution channels such
as online and offline. Offline stores
includes Tesco extra, Tesco metro, Tesco
compact which has around 6,809 around
the world. On the other hand online
business is called Tesco direct. As
compare to Sainsbury's it has larger stores
around the world.
It also provides offline and online
services and products. In the context of
offline, Sainsbury's has several stores
and supermarkets as it is reported that it
has approximate 807 stores and 605
supermarkets. On the other hand it also
receives around 250,000 online orders
each week. It is also being announced
by Sainsbury's that it will roll out 1 hour
delivery to 1.7m customers in some
parts of London.
Promotion For promoting its products & services it
makes an effective use of social media,
newspapers, television as it has already a
strong brand image (Bahl and Chandra,
This step shows the way of
communicating with target market. It
takes and make an effective use of
variety of media for communicating its

2018). It uses different promotional
strategies also like buy 1 get 1 free,
discounts, loyalty cards, club cards etc.
messages to customers. It uses radio,
Television, newspapers and internet. In
addition, it used a number of celebrities
as its brand ambassadors. All these
strategies help them out in generating
sales and attract customers (Lamey and
et.al., 2018).
People In the context of people it is stated that
there are approximate 460,000 people
work at Tesco Plc. Employees &
customers play a vital role. Tesco invest
huge amount of money in training for
making their employees more able.
People includes all those individuals
who involved and contribute in
marketing process such as employees.
Customers are also included in the
people because whole processing is
being done for satisfying them. In the
context of Sainsbury's it has
approximate 190,000 people work at
Sainsbury's. As compare to Tesco it has
fewer people and employees.
Process In the context of process of Tesco,
customers pick up and select products and
go to customer assistant at offline stores.
For making payment they Tesco provides
them self service machines.
As like Tesco, Sainsbury's also have
stores and provide online services. So
process of providing services and
products to customers is the same.
Customer order through different
application and make their order. Some
customers come at their stores and pick
up products what they want and go to
customer assistant for payment.
Physical
evidence
Tesco Plc has an attractive Logo and also
use several colours for making effective
physical evidence. Its Website is also
attractive and fantastic in looks and easy
There is a risk for customers to buy
something which they have not tried
before. For reducing this type of risk,
Sainsbury's focus on providing evident

to operate. They also try to make their
premises clean as they provide both online
and offline services. It is the strategy of
attracting more customers towards buying
products.
products and for that it has logo. It
makes customers sure that they are
taking the right company's products
more stores and supermarkets products
are not fraud. Physically it is also
important to keep premises area clean
for attracting customers and Sainsbury's
focus on this element effectively
(Gbadamosi, 2016).
By comparing ways in which both Sainsbury's and Tesco uses marketing mix it can be
said that Tesco uses the best way and strategy of marketing mix. They have more people, more
stores and supermarkets than Sainsbury's. Tesco is also now more focusing on cost leadership
pricing strategy, so it can be said that Tesco is better than Sainsbury's and use the best way of
using marketing mix (Lancaster and Massingham, 2017). It is the main reason which makes it
differ from its competitors and also make them able to take competitive advantages. It also can
be said that marketing mix is key to success. A company can not develop their products and
make customers aware without making a plan and considering marketing mix.
LO3
Marketing Plan for Tesco
Executive summary
Tesco is one of the biggest retailer merchandise in the British multinational groceries as
they are now launching the new product and making the strategy to introduce the new product in
the store. For this the marketing plan is being prepare that the new product will get the place in
market.
Mission

Mission of the company is to build the products that are of value added to the customers
at the same it also helps the organisation to rum effectively and bring the growth in the market at
the same it also keeps the factor of faithfulness for the long run of company.
Vision
As the Tesco is enjoying the long term success that is focused on the business, they are
having the core vision to remain constant while the strategies of the business and the continuous
practice adapt in changing the world. In the increasing global environment the business must
having the clear vision if they are lack in seeing the direction may not able to survive. Vision is
the aspiration view where the business wants to be, because of the vision the business come up
with the innovative ideas in order to expand the business.(Crick and Crick, 2015)
Objectives
Objective of Tesco is to achieve the share substantial share in the market and that are
indispensable for Tesco that to have some effectual objectives and that is to be focused on
SMART pattern. Company is having the corporate as well as marketing objectives.
STP
Segmentation
Segmentation of market involves the dividing large, heterogeneous markets into the
smaller segments so that the company can reach with more effectively and efficiently with the
products as well as services. Tesco can do the segmentation of market while launching the new
products on geographic basis, demographic basis, psycho graphic basis and last on the
behavioural basis.
Targeting
By identifying the market segment, marketers may decide about that where they intend to
enter. Marketing programme that covers all the elements of marketing mix and can be designed
to suit the particular requirements of the particular target segments. In this firm looks into three
main factors that are size and growth of segment, structural attractiveness, company objectives
and its resources.
Positioning
In this the Tesco do the positioning of brand as it is the conceptual place in this the
company target the customer group to whom the Tesco wants to focus on. It develops the needs
of the customer group that the company intend to meet. They list out the products and the service

benefits that meet these needs in the unique way. Tesco uses the wide range of positioning
strategies so that they attract the particular customer segment (Anthonisz and Perry, 2015).
SWOT Analysis
Strength
As Tesco is the big brand name in retail industry
offer the product at low price and keep the
customers focused.
Leader in the UK market, now they are
diversifying in the bakery also to strengthen its
position.
Strong customer loyalty that offers rewards and
vouchers.
Weakness
Majority of the profit is coming from the UK
only.
Tesco is not specialised to sell the specify
product.
High rate in the turnover of employee as many
leaves within the short span of time.
Opportunity
Tesco can grow its business after launching the
bakery products and use the technology for the
non food products.
They have to enter into the international market
for the growth (Crick and Crick, 2015).
Threats
Increasing the cost of raw material impact in the
profit margin.
Strong competition from the Walmart, Asda,
Sainsbury.
PESTLE analysis
Political factor
Various types of political factors affect the Tesco in direct and indirect ways. List of factors that
affects the company they are not only limited to the political stability in UK or in abroad. Certain
political factors are having the negative impact on the working of company as in the year 2014
the UK government has charge the tax on supermarkets (Brooksbank and et.al., 2015).
Environmental Factor
Companies are facing the immense pressure from the government to address the
environmental issues. Tesco is also liable to respond for these issues and need to serve the
society. With the increasing pressure of environmental issues they have to adopt the different

ways of conducting operation. Tesco is minimising in producing waste that is being produce by
the stores earlier at the same they also committed that they reduce the carbon footprint by 50%
till 2020.
Social Factor
Due to various social changes, it indicates that the customers in the Uk have been towards
the bulk shopping and in one stop shopping. Tesco has increase the number of non food items
that is being offered for sale. As Tesco is being adapting to the changes that is being
accommodate by the demand for the organic products.
Technological Factor
As the advancement in the technology brings the many opportunities to the company.
Development and the introduction of online shopping at same provides the home delivery. Self
service check out points provided the convenience and ease to the customers that reduce the
labour cost (Crick and Crick, 2015).
Legal Factor
Government policies as well as the legislation directly impact the performance of
company. In the year 2016, 17 workers have been taken the legal action against the employer on
the basis of age as well as the gender discrimination. They become frustrated after they are
having the low pay rates for night, weekend or for the holidays (Koh, 2015).
Economical Factor
Many economic factors affect the Tesco at great extent, labour cost is one of the major
economic factors that impact the revenue in great way. In fact the revenue of the company also
affects from the various external economic factors that is overall macro economic condition of
UK, monetary and the fiscal policies is being charged by the government, it may impact the new
venture of Tesco.
Marketing mix of Tesco
Product
Tesco is dealing in the vast range of products that includes the food, clothing, stationary,
cosmetics, financial services etc. now Tesco caters in the way as they can cater the every
possible needs of the customers. Now the company also starts to deal in the bakery products in
its whole range(Lewis, Byrom and Grimmer, 2015).
Price