Comprehensive Marketing Report: Wilkinson Sword Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive marketing analysis of Wilkinson Sword, a UK-based personal care product manufacturer. It begins by outlining the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing department, both internally and in relation to the external environment, including market research, strategy development, and customer relationship management. The report then explores the interrelationships between the marketing department and other functional units within the organization, such as finance, operations, human resources, IT, and customer service. It further examines the core elements of the marketing process, including research, strategy, planning, and tactics, and how these elements interact with each other. A significant portion of the report is dedicated to analyzing Wilkinson Sword's marketing mix, including the traditional 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) and expanding to the 7Ps, considering factors like people, physical evidence, and process. The report also compares Wilkinson Sword's marketing mix with those of other organizations, providing a detailed understanding of the company's marketing strategies and their effectiveness. The report concludes with a discussion of the market plan for the selected enterprise.

MARKETING ESSENTIAL

Illustration Index
Illustration 1: 7 P's of marketing mix...............................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Success of each enterprise depends on its marketing. There are several aspects of the
organisation depends on activities that exists in marketing. It includes various methods such as
advertising, public relation, promotion and sales (Pride and Ferrell, 2016). It also consists of
process through which products and services can be promoted towards potential customers. In
this context, present report is based on Wilkinson Sword that deals in personal care products in
UK. They produce guns, bayonets, garden shears, etc. During world war, they also produced
motorcycles and many other machines. In order to focus on the present report, it covers
marketing functions as roles and responsibilities. Furthermore, it includes interrelationships
importance in marketing and different elements. Moreover, it classified ways that can be apply in
marketing mix in business in context of marketing planning. At last, it discusses about market
plan for the selected enterprise.
LO 1
a) Key roles and responsibilities of marketing functions for the organisation
Marketing is referred as the concept in which organisation strives to identify needs and
demands of customers and after that decisions need to be made to satisfy them. In other words, it
can be stated that this helps to focus on target market needs or wants so that business can deliver
value in most effective way than competitors, so as to gain competitive advantage (Laurell and
Parment, 2015). Further, marketing process consists of model in which several steps' comes such
as analysis situation, determines opportunity and frame strategy to formulate value proposition to
make effective results. In order to operate effective functions and operations, marketing manager
of Wilkinson Sword focus on practical application of the business operations. In this context,
following are certain roles and responsibilities of marketing department within the selected
enterprise:
Conduct market research: Marketing manager has function to conduct research that
helps to gain proper understanding about customers’ requirements. With the help of research,
manager able to assess opportunity that assists to make niche for Wilkinson Sword products and
services (Brennan, Binney and Nguyen, 2014). It is the major responsibility marketing manager
of Sword to analyse the customers needs and wants by using the primary tool of research which
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is interview and questionnaires which assist the team in attaining feedback regarding products.
Further the survey assist the Wilkinson in developing products according to market requirement.
Developing marketing strategy: In addition to this, marketing managers is also
responsible for developing strategies within Wilkinson Sword. With carry these strategies, the
chosen business can promote goods in target area of market to enhance volume of sales. Hence,
manager play role to make competitive results (Merchant, 2017). The manager shares the
important role with the firm of formulating market strategies by identifying the tactics of
rivalries which assist the company in attaining competitive advantage.
Relationship management with customer: In the Wilkinson Sword, marketing manager
has also responsibility to perform functions of championing customer relationship management
within the enterprise (Tyson, 2014.). They collect information from customer database that helps
to create customer satisfaction. This is because, with the help of customer feedback about their
needs and demand the organisation can provide products and services accordingly (Hosseini,
Etesaminia and Jafari, 2016).
b) roles and responsibilities in context of marketing to external environment
Marketing department of Wilkinson Sword has overall responsibility to increase their
revenue and market share to contribute in growth and profitability. Marketing consist roles in
term of advertising, publications and events (Pride and Ferrell, 2016). In the external
environment, they have following roles and responsibilities: Product development: Within the department of marketing works for inside and outside
development of product within the team to improves existing as well (Seifert and et. al.,
2015). In Wilkinson Sword, marketing analyses sales of existing products and identify
gap to bridge that to ensure maximum profitability for the company. Employees provide
development teams with information about customer’s needs and their preferences
(Laurell and Parment, 2015). Analysing the demand for particular product by interacting
with consumers through various modes of communication assist Wilkinson in making
production decisions.
 Communication: Marketing department of the selected enterprise also make planned
campaigns that develop communication material to promote product and services towards
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customers. Depend on the budget, advertisement need to be plan and email also drop for
marketing program that create promotional content (Brennan, Binney and Nguyen, 2014).
 Events: Its is the responsibility of marketing manager of Wilkinson to organise
promotional events and activities which assist the management in recognising the
loopholes and shortcomings which can help the business in making profits (Yangand
Gabrielsson2017). Moreover, the activities helps in building strong relation with buyers
as it establishes interaction with consumers.
 Sales Support: It is the ultimate responsibility of manager to communicate with sales
team because it is important for both the departments to establish coordination and
cooperation between marketing activities (Aljukhadar and Senecal2011).
c. Interrelationships between marketing and other functional units
As in Wilkinson, there is an important significance of marketing on other units of the
company (Askeland and Wright, 2013). It has different impact on different departments of
Wilkinson. They are discussed as below :
Finance department
The marketing department at the Wilkinson ensures the fact with the finance department
that there is an appropriate budget in the organisation as they can be able to meet the needs to
cover the research, promotion and the distribution (Batt, 2013). The Wilkinson have to ensure
that their business is operating within the financial capabilities. If some profitable opportunities
may occur anytime, they can overspend it by giving the employees incentives or some sort of
increments (Begic and Duman, 2013).
Operations production department
At Wilkinson, their marketing department ensures the appropriate research of the plan
and development is managed in a way that they are satisfying the needs of their customers
(Begon, Howarth and Townsend, 2014). The marketing department sets a limitation that
stretches the abilities of the production department.
Human Resource Management
Dealing with this department is essential for the marketing department because this
department considers that appropriate staff is working in order to the proper planning and
development of new ideas (Camm and et. al., 2014). Also, if they are capable enough of meeting
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the targets. As the HRM department deals with all the selection and recruitment criteria, they
have the responsibility of balancing the obligations to marketing as compared to other
departments (Clare, 2015).
Information technology department
Relation between IT team and marketing team plays an important role as employee
working in IT will assist marketing manager with the use various advanced technology which
can connect customer and company easily (Hanssensand et.al., 2014). As a result of this,
Marketing manager will able to recognise the loopholes and shortcomings. Moreover, it assists
the manager in identifying issues which can interrupt the development plan of products and
services.
Customer service Department
Marketing is done through various modes in which media plays a major role and by this
marketer evaluates the information regarding declining demand for products and further conveys
to customer care executives which help them in dealing with queries and issues of buyers. The
problems resolved through various modes like, online, telephonic, etc.
d. Determination of marketing element.
There are various elements in marketing process of Wilkinson Sword which are as follows:
Research: In this step, manager analyse the brand value of company, it stresses over
identifying demands for goods and services offered by business to its buyers(Fan, Lau and Zhao
2015). It is done by Wilkinson to enhance the value of enterprise among its buyers and
competitors (Helm and Gritsch 2014). Further, manager aims at identifying market requirement
of buyers like, what number of consumers will stick to brand and number of individuals will drift
towards other commodities in case of any changes. This helps firm in making decision regarding
needs and wants of targeted buyers
Strategy: Its access over strategies or tactics which assist the firm in promoting its
products in market. In this marketing manager recognise the best alternatives and techniques to
enhance the value of products in order to make optimum utilisation of resources and to attract
more and more buyers like, schemes, discounts which will help the marketing team in grabbing
the attention of consumers (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick 2012).
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Planning: IN this stage, the manager increase focus on production which assist the team
increasing production rates of commodities which further help Wilkinson in accomplishing
organisations goals by satisfying consumers needs and wants.
Tactics: The enterprise understands that buyers will only go for specific product when it
is offered at best possible scheme therefore to attain this manager strategies product which
provides value of money, innovation and quality at affordable price. In this stage firm offers the
schemes and discount for limited period in order clear the stock and boost sales.
Thus, all the marketing elements are related to every functional units of Wilkinson
Sword. For instance, if the company is researching for the demand of specific products the team
will need funds which will be supplied by finance department (Armstrong and et.al., 2014).
Further, it is important for marketing team to closely interact with production department in
order to aware them about the taste and preferences of buyers. Similarly, the team need to
coordinate every plan and strategies with HR department because the manager will formulate or
make changes in policies and procedures accordingly. Moreover, the HR manager after
evaluating marketing requirement organise training and development session for employees in
which the focus is to make on conveying the changes in demand of customers according to taste
and preferences. Therefore, to accomplish organisation goals together Wilkinson aims at
coordinating and cooperating efforts of all the functions units of business (Gordon 2012).
The concept of 4P's evaluates the whole process of the functioning of marketing
(Cleverley and Cleverley, 2017). These are discussed as under :
Product
It ensures finding the appropriate product for the target market. Wilkinson considers the
fact that the product is must be something that satisfies the needs of the customers (Pride and
Ferrell, 2016). All organisations have a target market (Cooper and et. al., 2014). The target
market can be a certain age group of individuals may be young ones, children etc. Wilkinson
offers conducts surveys for the determination of products that are required by some particular
target marks (Cornwell 2014).
Price
This element acts a very important one for the marketing mix. Wilkinson has determined
targets that's why they focus on a price that a customer can be willing to pay. Too low price will
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not provide any profit to the company (Creusen 2015). Pricing higher than the other market
suppliers can lead to the decreased sales also (Pike and Page, 2014).
LO 2
P3 Comparison of marketing mix of different organisation.
Marketing mix refers to the process thorough which companies are able to promote their
services and products into market (de Jong, Marston and Roth, 2015). It helps in increasing sales
of their products and maximising profitability. Growth of the organisation directly depends on
this process (Perry and Pyatt, 2015). Wilkinson Sword is a manufacturing company of UK. They
are offering various services, to influence customer marketing mix should be implemented
effectively. This approach consists of 4p's named as price, promotion, place and product (Dudu
and Agwu, 2014). In order to have detailed analysis of the services 7 P's are also considered. The
analysis is based on the steps like people, physical evidence and process, (Desai, 2013).
Following are details of marketing mix analyses of Wilkinson Sword:
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(Source: 7 P's . 2017)
Product
In this element of marketing mix, various factors are considered that helps in describing
the features of services (Dvorak and Mansfield, 2013). Wilkinson Sword is a personal care
manufacturing company therefore, to analysing design, technologies, efficiency and quality of
the services (Van der Wagen, 2015). It helps in determining effectiveness of the product
(Edwards, 2016). If the services are not good necessary steps can be considered. This is
considered as one of the important step of this process (Hashim and Hamzah, 2014). It helps in
improving quality of services and helps in maintaining reputation and brand values in market.
Also helps in expanding their market across the world (Hacker, Gambone and Hobel, 2015).
Price
This is considered as one of the essential and important step of this approach. With the
help of effective pricing companies are able to attract maximum number of customers (Mehta
and Chugan, 2014). It creates huge impact on the marketing action and strategies of company.
Wilkinson Sword consider it one of the important factor for the growth of company (Montecchi
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Illustration 1: 7 Principles of marketing mix

and Nobbs, 2017). Before, implementing prices of products various researches and analysis is
done by company. On the basis of generated outcomes pricing penetration and skimming are
implemented (Perry and Pyatt, 2015). With the help of this approach the organisation is able to
attract maximum number of customer and helps in providing competitive advantage to the
company.
Place
In this step system process that are included in order to generate effective services are
considered. This is considered as one of the important step. Wilkinson Sword belongs to the
manufacturing unit (Pike and Page, 2014). Therefore, it helps in analysing the quality of services.
If the services are not able to meet needs and demands of the user, in that necessary steps are to
be taken in order to improve effectiveness of the services. It helps in maintaining customers and
organisation relationship by providing satisfactory services (Wirtz, Tuzovic and G.
Kuppelwieser, 2014).
People
All the people that are connected with the organisation are considered under this (Tyson,
2014.). In this internal and external individual are considered. Wilkinson Sword considers both
the groups equally important for the growth of the company (Seifert and et. al., 2015). With the
help of internal group company is able to produce services and present them into the market.
They are considered as fundamental element of the company (Pride and Ferrell, 2016). On the
other hand, external group refers to the customers that are connected with the company. They are
also important for the growth and maximising profitability of company (Van der Wagen, 2015).
Physical Evidences
If organisation is providing services to their users, they should also provide some
evidence of their services. This process is considered under this marketing elements (Wirtz,
Tuzovic and G. Kuppelwieser, 2014). With the help of this strategies organisations are able to
maintain their reputation in market and also provides flexibility to their services (PESTLE
analysis. 2017). Through this approach, Wilkinson Sword provides coupons to their users so that
they can get special discount while next purchasing (Yee and Yazdanifard, 2013.). It helps in
attracting users also maintains brand image into market. It enables customers to complain if they
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are facing any issue with the services, due to which they are able to make necessary changes into
the process (Brennan, Binney and Nguyen, 2014).
Promotion: Through this step company is able to maintain processing of their manufacturing
unit and also identify effectiveness of distribution channel. It is considered as essential in order
to analyse the effectiveness of the process.
Process: In this step various training and development strategies are considered for the
development of the employees. It helps in maintaining effectiveness of the process. For
effectiveness of this weakness of the employees are identified first.
Comparison of marketing mix of Wilkinson Sword with Sainsbury.
Following is the marking mix analysis of Wilkinson Sword with Sainsbury:
Basis Wilkinson Sword Sainsbury
Product The organisation is providing
services related to the personal
care (Laurell and Parment,
2015).
They are providing various
services related to financial
and banking sector (Merchant,
P., 2017).
Price In order to attract maximum
pricing penetration and
skimming is considered by the
company (7 P's of marketing
mix. 2017).
They are considering various
research and audits before
implementing pricing. It helps
in attracting maximum
customers (Pride and Ferrell,
2016).
Place They are providing services in
12 countries around the world
(Hosseini, Etesaminia and
Jafari 2016). Along with this
they are considering internet to
provide online services.
They are providing services
across UK (7 P's of marketing
mix. 2017). Along with this
they are also considering
internet sources in order to
provide flexibility and
simplicity to their users
(PESTLE analysis. 2017).
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