Strategic Marketing Plan for Marks & Spencer's Thailand Expansion

This report provides a comprehensive marketing plan for Marks & Spencer's expansion into Thailand. It outlines SMART international marketing objectives, selecting franchising as the most suitable market entry mode. The plan details segmentation strategies focusing on demographic, psychographic, geographic, and behavioral aspects to target trendy, fashionable consumers. Branding strategies are discussed, utilizing the Prism model to enhance brand identity and equity. The report also presents a detailed marketing mix (7Ps) tailored for the Thailand market, addressing product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence. The plan aims to increase market share and achieve a competitive advantage in the Thailand market.

Marketing plan of Marks &
Spencer

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Purpose of the report...............................................................................................................................2
Structure of the report..............................................................................................................................2
SMART international marketing objectives................................................................................................3
Market entry mode of entering into a new market.......................................................................................4
Segmentation and target customer...............................................................................................................5
Segmentation...........................................................................................................................................5
Targeting.................................................................................................................................................5
Branding in cross-culture setting and positioning strategy..........................................................................6
Marketing mix.............................................................................................................................................9
Product....................................................................................................................................................9
Price......................................................................................................................................................10
Place......................................................................................................................................................10
Promotion..............................................................................................................................................11
People....................................................................................................................................................11
Process...................................................................................................................................................11
Physical evidence..................................................................................................................................12
References.................................................................................................................................................13
Appendices................................................................................................................................................15

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Introduction
Purpose of the report
The primary purpose of the report is to provide a marketing plan of the Marks & Spencer firm
that operates in London, United Kingdom. It is a multinational retailing company who is going to
expand its business in Thailand only. Formerly the company is going to expand its business in
Jamaica, Argentina, and Thailand but among them, considering the low financial risk and growth
rate, the firm decided to expand its business in Thailand. For expanding the business in the
international market, it is necessary for the firm to understand the market entry mode, branding
and positioning strategy, and the marketing mix that should be suitable for this retailer company.
In addition, the main reason for this study is to understand the market structure as well as the
consumer needs of Thailand. After realizing this, it will be easier for the firm to make an
appropriate strategy by which they can easily manage their consumers and increase their
performance in this country market.
Structure of the report
The overall structure of the report is divided into five sections, which will help the firm to make
the marketing plan as an appropriate way. Section wise research will also help the reader to
understand each topic briefly as it provides equal emphasis on each part of the content.
Section 1: Objectives
In this section, the objectives of entering into an international market by Marks and Spencer has
been discussed. Along with this, SMART objectives will be provided that can help the reader to
understand the reliability of their goals in the international market.
Section 2: Market Entry Mode
With the help of this section, a brief explanation regarding the international market entry mode
has been provided that should be suitable for this firm. A proper explanation has been provided
regarding the reason for this particular entry mode.
Section 3: Segmentation and target customer
In this part, an idea regarding the targeted consumer base as well as the segmentation of Marks
and Spencer in relation to the international market, is provided. With the help of this

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segmentation and target consumer, the firm can gain a high competitive advantage in the
Thailand market.
Section 4: Branding and Positioning
The section will demonstrate about the branding and positioning strategy of Marks and Spencer
in the foreign market of Thailand. Various model and positioning map has been used in defining
both the strategies of this firm.
Section 5: Marketing Mix
This is the last section of the report that demonstrates the efficient and effective marketing mix
that has been appropriate for this firm in the foreign market. The marketing mix is provided in
such a manner that it helps the firm to reach its target consumer segment and achieve their
branding in the chosen international market.
SMART international marketing objectives
Specific: To deliver superior quality of innovative products to the customers. The reason behind
this is to increase the reliability and satisfaction level of the consumers towards the company’s
offerings. Delivering superior quality with some additional discounts at special occasions will
attract a large number of customers towards the organization.
Measurable: To measure the growth of the firm by 37.5% percent at the end of 6 months. The
use of different promotional tactics will be used for promoting the product.
Achievable: To increase the customer base by 33% at the end of 6 months. This will help in
evaluating the productivity and profitability of the organization throughout the competitive
market areas.
Realistic: To increase the turnover of the firm by 21% at the end of the third quarter of the
current year. This will boost the competitive position of the firm among all its competitors. The
achieving of 21% of the turnover will increase the market share of the organization within the
competitive market areas.
Time-bound: To increase the growth of the firm among its competitors by the end of 12 months.
The entire marketing objectives need to be achieved within the mentioned time frame.

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Market entry mode of entering into a new market
In the past years, Marks and Spencer faces issues to cope up with the business climate, but with
the advancement of time, they rectify their past mistakes and set clear objectives while entering
into a new international market. The marketing strategy of this firm is to enhance its food sales
growth by building a large number of stores in the international market (Madanoglu, Alon &
Shoham, 2017). They will focus on the quality and innovation prospects so that they can increase
their supply chain and also grab the attention of their consumer base. It is seen that various
market entry modes have been used for entering into a new market such as exporting, franchising
and licensing, joint ventures, acquisition, strategic alliance, and partnering. All these modes
possess different roles while entering into a new market. By exporting modes of entry, the firm
sells their goods in foreign markets at a wholesale rate whereas by franchising the firm develop a
brick-and-mortar presence in the international market which thus lower their risk in this market
(Welsh & Alon, 2015). By joint venture, acquisitions, partnering and strategic alliance the firm’s
make a partnership with other companies so that they can stabilize in the international market
and the only difference between this mode of entry is the partners. Thus among all these modes
of entry, the most suitable entry mode for Marks and Spencer company is the franchising modes
of entry.
In order to enter into the international market of Thailand, Marks and Spencer should change
their marketing style to market-driven from product is driven one (Jørgensen & Pedersen, 2019).
Hence by franchising mode of entry, they can change their marketing style and also gain a high
competitive advantage in the market. Rather than opening a new store, franchising is a great
option for them. By choosing this mode of entry, the firm can improve its sales and market
capturing rate in Thailand. Thus it helps them to enhance their competitive advantage with that
of the similar firms present in Thailand. In other words, with the help of this franchising scheme,
the firm cannot face high risks in terms of economic, political, and social factors of this country
(Ahmed, 2016). By avoiding all these risks, they can improve their manufacturing procedure and
innovate their goods and services as per the consumer desires. All these factors help them to
improve their competitive advantage in the market, and they can make appropriate generic
strategies which influence them to sustain their performance in the chosen Thailand market.

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Apart from this, by this franchising mode of entry, the firm can reduce its operational problem,
which thus denotes that the entry mode fits for the overall strategy of the firm.
Segmentation and target customer
The segmentation and target marketing of a firm plays an important role in the behavioral pattern
of that business. Keeping this in mind, Marks and Spencer utilize appropriate strategy to select
the proper target market by segmentation as per their current business scenario.
Segmentation
Segmentation assist Marks and Spencer to maintain sustainability and stability in their business.
With the help of the segmentation, Marks and Spencer divide their population into four diverse
segments with diverse characteristics that must be related to their business (Swoboda, Elsner &
Olejnik, 2015). The segmentation prospects of Marks and Spencer in Thailand are given below:
Demographic segmentation- Based on this segmentation, the firm targeted the women whose
age group ranges from 15 to 30 years. In addition, they mainly targeted the Y generation,
women, because, in Thailand, this group of women possesses high purchasing power (Calu,
Negrei, Calu & Viorel, 2016).
Psychographic segmentation- In terms of this segmentation, the firm targeted students, working
class, and middle-class people (Ghantous & Das, 2018). As they provide high-quality products at
higher prices, therefore, they targeted this type of people in this segmentation process.
Geographic segmentation- Marks and Spencer will be going to operates their business in
numerous location of Thailand. Thus, based on this segmentation, the firm targeted mainly the
urban people that include both student and housewife (Calu, Negrei, Calu & Viorel, 2016).
Behavioral segmentation- On the basis of this segmentation, they wanted to provide high-
quality goods and always innovate as per their customer needs so that they can easily grab their
attention towards their firm (Ghantous & Das, 2018).
Targeting
Marks and Spencer mainly targeted the consumer who belongs to trendy and fashionable persons
as these groups of people always spend a high amount of money on shopping (Dibb, 2017). Thus
by targeting this group of people, the firm can increase its market growth as well as gain high

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profit in their business. Another reason for choosing women as the targeted consumer is only
because they are one who normally does their kids and husband shopping. In other words, by
selecting the middle class and high-class segment as their targeted consumer, they can improve
their brand range into a popular brand in the Thailand market (Scott & Walker, 2017). Hence
these are the reasons that influence Marks and Spencer to select this person as their targeted
consumer in Thailand.
Branding in cross-culture setting and positioning strategy
Branding
The branding of the firm can be done highlighting the name of the brand, brand sponsorship, and
development of the brand by delivering superior quality of products and services to customers
(Jackson & Ahuja, 2016). The customers' needs and emotions will also be considered to develop
trust among the customers, and this will further boost the overall growth of the firm.
Model – Prism
As per this model, the brand can be identified by its characteristics:
Physical facet: The salient physical qualities of the brand will be used to develop the brand
reputation in front of the customers; they are shape, color, logo, and images to attract the
customers (Jackson & Ahuja, 2016).
Brand personality: The traits that will be perceived by the customers, will be enhanced to
increase the number of customers (Venaik & Midgley, 2019).
Culture: It represents the values along with the principles, and it will be represented by some
effective slogans for the customers.
Relationships: The relations with the customers will be enhanced in order to generate more
revenue (Sivapalan & Jebarajakirthy, 2017).
Reflection: The thinking and needs of the customers will be analyzed to sever them with better
products and services.
Self-Image: This will reflect how the use of the brand's products is perceived by the customers
(Venaik & Midgley, 2019).

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Identity
There are few of the crucial aspects that will be used to develop the brand's identity; these are
physique, personality, culture, and relationship (Sivapalan & Jebarajakirthy, 2017).
Equity
It will help in revealing the brand’s value by delivering the products and services as per the
consumer’s perception and suggestions received in the form of feedback (Abidemi, Halim &
Alshuaibi, 2017).
Brand Architecture
The opinions and preferences from the consumers will be considered in developing the products,
and on this architecture, the brand will enhance its reputation in front of the customers
(Sivapalan & Jebarajakirthy, 2017).
Positioning strategy
The positioning strategy of the firm is to deliver superior quality of products and services in
order to retain the trust of the customers (Abidemi, Halim & Alshuaibi, 2017).
Reason
The motive of the firm is to enhance the satisfaction level of the consumers so that long-term
relationship can be sustained which will increase the profitability for the organization (Abidemi,
Halim & Alshuaibi, 2017).
Competitors
Few of the strongest competitors of Marks and Spencer are Debenhams, Aldi UK, Asda, and
Tesco (Obayelu & Stylos, 2017). These firms provide a significant threat to the firm by attracting
customers based on product and pricing strategies.

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Positioning map
Zara
Marks & Spencer
Aldi
Tesco
High
price
High Fashion
Low
price
Low Fashion
Dimensions
There are seven critical dimensions; these are marketing, sales, operations, and engineering, PR,
Finance as well as Innovation (Mallik & Farhan, 2018).
Criteria

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The criteria for measuring these dimensions merely depends on the feedback and the responses
received from the customers regarding the products as well as the services (Obayelu & Stylos,
2017).
Reason
The feedback and suggestions will be considered in order to execute the entire marketing and
branding process based on the positioning strategy of the firm (Obayelu & Stylos, 2017).
Marketing mix
The Marks and Spencer will be going to expand their business in the international market of
Thailand, and thus the marketing mix of this business is made in such a manner that it would be
efficient and effective for achieving the branding and reaching the selected consumer base of this
country market.
Product
Marks and Spencer is the multinational retail band that covers all types of clothing, accessories,
bags, and footwear for their selected consumer group of Thailand (Dove, 2017). In addition, with
the help of various PLC components such as programming and installation components the firm
will maintain its wide range of products. Based on the BGC matrix they divide their products
into different section and to sustain a standardization of their goods range they will innovate their
products and services as per the market needs (Mallik & Farhan, 2018). For maintaining their
goods fully packed, they will provide high-class packaging so that no parcel will corroded or
destroyed while traveling from one place to another. Besides this, the firm going to incorporate
various goods of famous brand for women such as Classic, Autograph, Indigo, Foot Glove, and
Twiggy. For implementing this, no such issues have been faced by the firm in the Thailand
market.

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Figure 1: BGC matrix of Marks and Spencer
Price
Marks and Spencer should maintain a competitive pricing strategy in the Thailand market as it
helps them to reduce their business issues with their competitors of this country. However, for
the selected target segment they have chosen the high process of their products range because
according to the management it will be the only way to enhance their profitability rate and
reduces their business challenges (Venter, Wright & Dibb, 2015). While implementing this
decision, the organization might faces challenges with the present competitors of Thailand, but
by following an effective pricing strategy, they can overcome their issues with time. Hence it is
clear that by following this tactic,s the firm can achieve their branding goals and also increase its
consumer base in Thailand.
Place
As per the plan of the management team of Marks and Spencer, after launching the business,
they will be going to operate in 15 different stores in Thailand. The stores should be established
in every famous region of Thailand. The firm will incorporate their company website in the

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digital platform so that every people of this country will know about their goods and services
(Sharma, Kumar & Borah, 2017). Both direct and indirect distribution channels should be used
by the firm for transporting the goods from one location to another. However, while transporting
the products, they may face challenges, but by using the local distribution channels, they can
reduce their issues in this country. The strategies that discussed earlier will thus help the firm to
reach its goals easily in this international market.
Promotion
For promoting the goods and services in Thailand, Marks and Spencer uses Push & Pull &
Profile strategies for promoting their brand in this intentional market. The strategies help the firm
to promote its products through distribution channels by communicating with the consumer and
thus understand their needs (Çifci et al., 2016). The firm also uses various modes of
communication mix such as media, advertisement, and campaign. The main reason for choosing
this promotional process is only to fulfill the objectives of the firm. The firm also adopted social
features that should be beneficial for them to convince their targeted group of people of this
country easily.
People
Slight changes have been noted in this marketing mix as after launching the products in the
international market, Marks and Spencer increase their attention towards employees. For doing
this, they will implement an aggressive payment policy in their business structure by which they
can enhance their attention towards their staff members (Puzakova & Kwak, 2017). With the
help of this policy, they will enhance the rewards of employees according to their performance in
the new country market. Hence by following this strategy and policy, the firm can become
successful in reaching its goals in the coming days.
Process
No such changes have been noted in the process of Marks and Spencer because changing it can
create an issue in their company procedure. The company maintained a beautiful and organized
store so that it can attract people to visits their stores. The floors are divided into a separate
section, and this will help the people to search their desire things easily (Eneizan, Abd-Wahab &
Obaid, 2016). For maintaining this process, they will appoint several skilled labors which thus

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help the business to organize it appropriately as per the market desires. Thus it is quite evident if
the firm follows their strategy properly then it can influence them to reach their goals in the
Thailand market.
Physical evidence
The physical evidence consists of the documents and materials that can help in influencing the
decisions of the customers. The physical cues will be developed and implemented in such a way
that it attracts the consumers towards the products. Few of the tools that can be used in reaching
the customers with the help of physical evidence are ambiance, layout, and branding
(Boonpradub & Thechatakerng, 2015). The look and feel of the shop of Marks & Spencer can be
described as ambiance. The designing of the entire shop should attract customers. Next is the
layout which signifies the designing and layout of the showroom should in such a way that the
customers can get their desired products easily (Mallik & Farhan, 2018). Next is the branding,
which will be done with the help of attractive packaging and promotions for the concerned
products and services.

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References
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mix. Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 17(3), 170-186.

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Jørgensen, S., & Pedersen, L. J. T. (2019). Toward Smart and Sustainable Business Models in
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Welsh, D. H., & Alon, I. (2015). International franchising and other forms of
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Appendices
Figure 2: Outer design of Marks and Spencer
(Source: Çifci et al., 2016)

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Figure 3: Inner design of Marks and Spencer
(Source: Eneizan, Abd-Wahab & Obaid, 2016)