Business Comparison: Tesco vs. Sainsbury Marketing Strategy and Plan

This report provides a detailed comparison of the marketing strategies and plans of Tesco and Sainsbury. The analysis begins with an examination of their marketing mix, including product, price, place, promotion, physical evidence, people, and process, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each company's approach. It then evaluates Tesco's marketing plan, including its goals, understanding of the market, SWOT analysis, market channels, and marketing action plan. The report explores Tesco's market penetration strategy, customer relationships, and international expansion. A SWOT analysis details Tesco's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report also assesses Tesco's online marketing and social media channels, and provides an overview of the importance of market penetration and budget forecasting. Overall, the report offers a comprehensive review of the marketing strategies of both companies, providing valuable insights into the retail market.

Running head: MARKETING STRATEGY AND PLAN
MARKETING STRATEGY AND PLAN
Name of the student:
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Author Note:

1MARKETING STRATEGY AND PLAN
Table of Contents
Task 2 – Marketing Strategy and Applications..........................................................................2
P3 – Business comparison of Sainsbury and Tesco based on marketing mix...........................2
P4 – Evaluation of Tesco’s Marketing Plan...............................................................................5
Goals of Tesco........................................................................................................................5
Section 1 – Understand Market of Tesco...............................................................................5
Section 2: SWOT analysis of Tesco.......................................................................................6
Section 3 – Market Channels of Tesco..................................................................................7
Section 4 – Prepare the ground..............................................................................................8
Section 5 – Marketing action plan of Tesco...........................................................................8
Section 6 – Review of Marketing Plan................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................11

2MARKETING STRATEGY AND PLAN
Task 2 – Marketing Strategy and Applications
P3 – Business comparison of Sainsbury and Tesco based on marketing mix
Sainsburys and Tesco are the company actually conducting the same kind of business.
The business of the both the company is particularly supermarket where Tesco is the ninth
largest retailer in terms of revenue and on the other hand Sainsbury is the second largest
super markets in the United Kingdom. Both the company in this sector have their own
marketing mix policies and strategies (Fill and Turnbull 2016). Based on the policies and
strategies the financial, marketing, operations and overall business performance of the
company works accordingly. Sainsburys and Tesco are also listed in the London stock
exchange and further carries on business in a diversified manner.
 Product in the marketing mix
In comparison to the product mix of both the companies, Tesco actually offers wide range
in the variety of products like the food, clothing, electronics goods and financial services.
Sainsburys in this case only deals with the variety in the food and healthcare department (De
Mooij 2018). The business concept of Sainsbury is to deliver the products lying in the same
category but the strategy in the product mix adopted by Tesco is much wider and diversified.
In such a situation Tesco will give much tough competition to Sainsbury. But strategy of
Sainsbury is much sharp as compared to the Tesco, the reason behind that is Sainsbury will
be able to create demand as it is only concentrating on the glitches of a particular sector or
department. This will further help the company to understand the taste and preference of the
customers and management in this sector will take actions accordingly.

3MARKETING STRATEGY AND PLAN
 Price in the marketing mix
The pricing strategy of both the company is effective and it has its own way to attract
the potential customers in the market. But the pricing policy of both the company is
different in such a way that Sainsbury set different pricing for various products by
adopting the price discrimination policy and further tries to maintain the quality and
services. Sainsbury sets the pricing policy in order to tackle the prices set by the rival
firms but tries to maintain reasonable and affordable price rates (Tuten and Solomon
2017). On the other hand, the pricing strategy of Tesco is quite sharp and effective than
the Sainsburys due to the reason that strategy of low pricing by maintaining the quality of
the products. Tesco provides club card system to its customers where the customers
actually gets points after making purchases which further serves as an excellent price-
promotional strategy.
 Place in the marketing mix
In terms of place in the marketing mix, Sainsbury from the report it is obtained that
the company actually have six hundred supermarkets and eight hundred shops all around
London. On the other hand, as per the survey report there are six different small stores
accessibility apart from the online store of Tesco. The volume of shops and stores are
higher in case of Sainsbury in comparison to the Tesco, but the Tesco have the online
store which is missing in case of the Sainsbury. There are certain advantages and
disadvantages in this case. The strategy in terms of the place is effective in case of Tesco
but as the volume of shops and stores are higher in case of Sainsbury, it will help the
company to enlarge the business as it will have more customers than that of Tesco.

4MARKETING STRATEGY AND PLAN
 Promotion in the marketing mix
Promotion in the marketing mix plays a significant role in the marketing strategy of
the company. In case of promotion mix, Tesco is concentrated on the low-price strategy
which set its business apart from the other retail company. As per the brand image of
Tesco it tries to lower the cost which means that there lies a possibility of a degradation in
quality of the products (Haider et al. 2019). Tesco also provides lots of attractive offers to
its customers along with the club card system of the company. Tesco implements its
strategy based on the demand pattern and also by considering the taste preferences of the
customers. On the other hand, Sainsburys promotion mix is much effective due to the
reason that the company have recently adopted the BTL and ATL strategies to market its
products in the consumer market. In case of the sales promotion techniques, the company
use the databased and incentive-based strategies to keep track regarding the demand and
preferences of the customers. Sainsbury always concentrates on quality and recently it
launched Nectar reward card in order to create sales and enhance the base points of the
customers.
 Physical evidence in the marketing mix
In terms of Physical evidence, Sainsbury is far ahead than that of Tesco due to the
reason that Sainsbury have more stores compared to Tesco and each store are furnished,
clean and attractive. On the other hand, Tesco does not invest a lot on the furbishing its
stores.
 People in the marketing mix

5MARKETING STRATEGY AND PLAN
The sales assistance associated with the company are effective in case of both the
company which is obtained from the report of survey. Both the workers of the company
are highly efficient and effective as it directly reflects in the overall performance of the
business. The goodwill and brand name of both the company are satisfactory which is the
reason behind such outstanding performance further helps to accomplish the business
objectives of the company (Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick 2019).
 Process in the Marketing mix
Both the compared companies try their best to keep the customers satisfactory and
happy but the matter of fact is that the concept of process is completely depending upon
the perception of the customers and their choices made regarding the products and
services. Both the company uses effective tools and techniques to solve the issues of the
customers in order to retain them and accomplish the overall business objectives
accordingly.
P4 – Evaluation of Tesco’s Marketing Plan
Goals of Tesco
The main objective of Tesco is adding value to its products and service so that the
company can generate revenue in the long run. The key marketing strategy of Tesco deals
with the analysis of the market and provide best offers on the wide range of products and
services (Wilson et al. 2016).
Section 1 – Understand Market of Tesco
It is significant to understand the demand of the customers along with the taste and
preferences of the customers. The potential customers are first needed to be located and
Tesco does the job in a three-way strategy to accomplish success. Tesco actually attracts the

6MARKETING STRATEGY AND PLAN
upper and middle level customers and the competitors of Tesco in such a range are the
ASDA, Sainsbury’s, Morison and Somerfield, etc. In such a situation the company tries to
provide the best quality in their product and services to minimize the cost in order to attract
the potential customers in the market (Bowie et al. 2016). This is the main reason behind the
distinction among Tesco and the other competitors in the same retail market.
The market penetration strategy is adopted by the company due to the fact that
retaining the existing customers in the market is significant rather than bringing in the new
ones. The company always tries to maintain healthy relationship with the potential or rather
the existing customers as they are the future of the company apart from the ups and downs in
the overall performance of the company. The recent international expansion strategy which is
adopted by the company is significant to meet the maximum number of customers in the
market (Kotler et al. 2017).
Tesco always tries to lowers the cost of the material supplied in order to influence the
products and services of the company. Tesco also provides various range of offers on the
products and services which actually benefits the customers for receiving the quality products
at a much cheaper rate compared to that of the other companies in this sector. Tesco also have
great experience to deal with the large and diversified customers in the market and
understands the significance of the customers satisfaction which has further created a brand
loyalty which is the specialty of Tesco.
Section 2: SWOT analysis of Tesco
The SWOT analysis plays a significant role in the marketing plan for the purpose of
determining the impact of the strength, weakness, opportunity and threat of the company in
respect to the future business prospect (Kerin and Hartley 2015).

7MARKETING STRATEGY AND PLAN
 Strength – The strength of Tesco includes the strong brand image and in terms of
marketing and revenue generation it is considered as the third largest in the world of
wholesaling. Another positive thing about the company is that the directors of the
company are effective which further makes the management system of the company
strong and sound. Due to which the business performance of the company is
performing quite effectively and efficiently.
 Weakness – The main failure of the company is related in leading the city center
markets. The collapse of city center market is one of the biggest weakness of the
company in the coming years. The second weakness is the lack of marketing
approaches compared to the competitors of the company (Baker 2016).
 Opportunities – The opportunities of Tesco are that most of the UK customers have
demands on the local brands which is an opportunity for the company to develop the
customer base. There are certain regions in the market which the company needs to
explore in order to generate growth and opportunities in those regions.
 Threats – The main threats of the company are the small number of stores which deals
with low contribution and low-price superstores. The financial situation of the
company is also a risk which is needed to be taken care by the company as it hampers
the productivity and market share of the firm. Apart from the that the new competitors
in the market are the main potential threat of Tesco (Sajid 2016).
Section 3 – Market Channels of Tesco
Marketing
channel
Questions to
ask
Advantages Measurement Cost
Online Is it possible to The technological The technical and The cost incurred is

8MARKETING STRATEGY AND PLAN
marketing attract enough
people through
website?
advancement and
effective search
engines help to
filter out the
potential customers
through online
marketing.
analytics department
helps to fix the key
issues and further
update the systems
accordingly.
huge and further
effectiveness is
needed to enhance the
websites in order to
expand the customers
base.
Social media Which social
media sites are
your customers
using?
Advertisements are
mainly provided in
the social media
which most of the
customers are
engaged with like
Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram,
YouTube.
This are further
followed by the lies,
subscription and
follow You Tube
channels are the key
components of
measuring
effectiveness.
The advertising cost
which are required
through social media
are minimal which
Tesco can easily
afford and an
effective marketing
strategy of the
company.
Section 4 – Prepare the ground
It is needed to strengthen the customers base and for that effective marketing action
plans are required accordingly. Market penetration will definitely enhance the sale and at the
beginning of the year it is needed to prepare budget forecast and it is needed for the company
to achieve such budget by lowering the variance (Armstrong et al. 2018).

9MARKETING STRATEGY AND PLAN
Section 5 – Marketing action plan of Tesco
Activity Timing Target audience Objectives Cost & time
Task 1 Must be
implemented at
peak time
The target
audience must be
middle and the
lower
department
people of UK.
Market penetration
must be the key
objective of the firm
for the purpose of
attracting the
potential customers
Minimize
cost and time
of giving
services.
Task 2 During lean time. Enhancement of
information
system and
technologies.
Provide support
through website and
television.
Utilization of
modern
technology
will increase
the cost and
time
(Lovelock
and
Patterson
2015).

10MARKETING STRATEGY AND PLAN
Section 6 – Review of Marketing Plan
Activity 1st
review
date
Measure
of success
at 1st
review
2nd review
date
Measure of
success at 2nd
review
End
date
Measure of
success at
end date
Task 1 2017 achieved 2018 Needed to be
accomplished
2019 Needed to be
accomplished

11MARKETING STRATEGY AND PLAN
References
Armstrong, G.M., Kotler, P., Harker, M.J. and Brennan, R., 2018. Marketing: an
introduction. Pearson UK.
Baker, M.J., 2016. What is marketing?. In The Marketing Book (pp. 25-42). Routledge.
Bowie, D., Buttle, F., Brookes, M. and Mariussen, A., 2016. Hospitality marketing.
Routledge.
Chaffey, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F., 2019. Digital marketing. Pearson UK.
De Mooij, M., 2018. Global marketing and advertising: Understanding cultural paradoxes.
SAGE Publications Limited.
Fill, C. and Turnbull, S.L., 2016. Marketing communications: brands, experiences and
participation. Pearson.
Haider, A.A., Zafar, A., Khalid, A., Majid, A., Abdullah, M.A. and Sarwar, M.B., 2019.
Marketing Management.
Kerin, R. and Hartley, S., 2015. Marketing: the core. McGraw-Hill.
Kotler, P., Bowen, J.T., Makens, J. and Baloglu, S., 2017. Marketing for hospitality and
tourism.