ZARA Marketing Essentials: Roles, Strategies, and Plan Evaluation

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of ZARA's marketing strategies, examining the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function within the organization and in the context of the marketing environment. It explores the interrelationships between marketing and other functional units, such as HR, logistics, finance, R&D, and sales, highlighting how these connections contribute to the overall effectiveness of marketing efforts. The report critically evaluates the key elements of ZARA's marketing functions, including brand awareness, customer profiling, and product promotion, and how they relate to other departments. Furthermore, it compares ZARA's marketing mix with that of H&M, analyzing the different tactics each company employs to achieve its business objectives, such as identifying customer needs, improving advertising, and developing appropriate pricing strategies. Finally, the report produces and evaluates a basic marketing plan for ZARA, focusing on target markets and strategic measures to enhance customer engagement and achieve business goals.

MARKETING ESSENTIALS

INTRODUCTION
The proper management of the marketing or promotional operations will help in carrying
out of the measures which will help in carrying out of the services and thus supports a good rise
in overall rise in the functionality of the organisation. The suitable management of the marketing
measures will lead the organisation to improve the awareness of the customers and buyers about
the products and services offered by an enterprise. The current report covers the marketing
measures and strategies that are been followed by fashion and apparel brand, ZARA.
The report will cover the key roles and responsibilities of marketing function on the
organisation and in a marketing context. Besides this, the interrelationship between marketing
and other functional units of enterprise are been evaluated. The key elements of marketing
functions with other business functions and suitable marketing mix is evaluated with tactics
applied for the organisation to achieve business objectives. A basic and evidence based coherent
marketing plan is developed by the organisation with the use of 7P’s of marketing.
MAIN BODY
LO1
a) Key roles and responsibilities of marketing function related to marketing operations of ZARA
The marketing and promotional measures which are been carried out by the organisation
will lead to proper management of services and other operations. It will help in improving the
quality of services and handling of customers needs which will help in meeting the needs and
demands of the organisation in a significant manner. Some of the key roles that are been carried
out by fashion apparel enterprise, ZARA are as follows:
 They will look after the proper development of a marketing channel which is been carried
out by the organisation (Fulgoni, 2016).
 Establishing and improving their brand equity and market presence in order to achieve a
sustainability.
 Identifying customers needs, launching and promoting the goods or services that are been
developed by the chosen enterprise.
Besides this, various responsibilities are been carried out by marketing function of ZARA
are:

 Setting marketing strategy: In order to promote its goods and services among its
customers, marketing department of ZARA will make out an effective strategy for
promoting its clothing goods.
 Carrying out of market research: The promotional department of ZARA will look
after proper execution of a market research that will help in looking after proper growth
measures which are been carried out by the organisation.
 Improve brand value: The marketing function will responsibly play the role in
improving the overall brand value of selected organisation. This is important to improve
the sales of organisation (Malik, 2019).
 Promoting the goods or services: The marketing department of ZARA will look after
the proper promotion of goods or services that is been carried out by the firm In order to
improve clients awareness towards their products.
b) Analyse roles and responsibilities of marketing in context of marketing environment
As with the passage of time, the marketing environment of an organisation is getting
more and more competitive that has created a rift between the sustainability and handling of
operations of the organisation (Brown, 2016). This will help in proper rise in carrying out of the
service measures which are been carried out by the firm. This will help in improving the market
presence of the organisation. Besides this, marketing also supports an increase in other
operations of the enterprise. Some major roles and responsibilities that are been carried out by
the organisation are:
 Tackling the market competition: As the fashion and apparel based market or industry
is facing an abominable competition, marketing department of ZARA is required to take
suitable steps to pulverize these challenge (Anderson and et.al., 2017). As many
organisation's have penetrated within the fashion based industry, ZARA is required to
plan their marketing measures within the organisation in most effective and significant
manner.
 Improves the economy of a company: The marketing department of the chosen apparel
enterprise will lead to increase awareness of their buyers which will lead to improve sales
of the organisation and hence, supports a good rise in execution of the service measures
which are been carried out by the organisation.

 Ensuring proper distribution of the product: The marketing department of ZARA will
identify the customers needs and look after the developing of the effective services which
will help in carrying out of the services and action plans which will help in improving
supply chain of organisation.
c) Significance of interrelationship of marketing with other functional units of the organisation
The marketing department of the organisation will look after the proper assessment of the
operations which are been carried out by ZARA which will contribute to rise the overall
promotions and functionality of organisation (Hair Jr and et.al., 2015). It will interact with
different departments of the organisation to ensure proper carrying out of functionality of
organisation. Some major relationship of marketing department with other units of ZARA is:
 Marketing with HR: The marketing department will ask for the suitable work force for
the promotional activities. For that, it will interact with HR department of the firm that
assists in proper carrying out of marketing campaign of the firm.
 Marketing with Logistics: The marketing department will interact with logistics
department for the raw material and resources that will help in developing effective
marketing activities within the firm.
 Marketing with Finance: They will also communicate with finance department of
ZARA in order to get proper budget and monetary resources which will help in effective
growth and development of the organisation's marketing measures.
 Marketing with Research and Development: The marketing department of ZARA will
identify the customer needs in market and will communicate it to R&D department in
order to develop high quality products and services as per their needs (Baker and Saren,
2016).
 Marketing with sales department: The marketing department will carry out the
extensive product launching which will help in proper evaluation of the customer's needs
and perception towards the newly formed product and the sales that are been observed
within the market.
d) Critically analyse and evaluate key elements of marketing functions and how they relate to
other functional units of ZARA
The extensive processes that are been carried out by ZARA will be observed by the
organisation as it will help the firm to carry out the promotion operations in an effective way.

The major marketing functions which are been observed by the organisation are increasing brand
awareness, setting up of customer profile and improving awareness about the products offered by
organisation (Muralidharan and Raval, 2017). This will extensively interrelate with the
operations of the organisation's other functional units such as:
 In order to increase the brand awareness and meeting up of the needs of the customers,
the HR department will provide suitable work fore. This will assist the organisation to
carry out their promotional measures.
 This will help in proper planning of setting customer profiling by the analysis carried out
by the finance department of the organisation. It assists in improving the sales and
segmenting the target customer base for the organisation.
 Once the needs of customers or buyer will be identified, the production department of
organisation will design and produce effective products and services accordingly (Lane,
2016).
 Also, the sales department will monitor the perception of profiled customer's as per the
needs and requirements of the organisation. This will help in improving the sales and
market growth of the organisation.
LO2
1) Compare the way in which various companies apply marketing mix to achieve their business
objectives
Different companies apply the marketing mix approach in a significant manner per the
operational and market share (ZARA Marketing Mix and Marketing Strategy, 2014). The
difference between the application of marketing mix of the enterprise are:
ZARA H&M
Product It provides the high end luxury
clothings with other products
like perfume, foot wears etc.
besides this, it has its personal
designers who provide the
service of custom made
dresses to their special
It offers reasonable fashion
products for men, women and
children. Besides this, it offers
the accessories like belts,
cosmetics, perfumes and foot
wears.

customers.
Place ZARA has about 6500 stores
in about 88 countries of the
world. This increases the
accessibility of the firm
towards its customers
(Campbell, Martin and Fabos,
2018).
H&M has about 4100 stores in
all the major cities around the
world. Besides this, it also
provides franchising to sell its
products.
price As the high end, luxury
clothing brand, the apparels
and products of ZARA are
relatively costly. However, the
cost strategy is based on the
purchasing power of its
customers in a country.
H&M provides the clothings
and other accessories on a
relatively cheaper price as
compared to that of ZARA.
Their pricing is also dependent
of the franchiser and labour
cost involved.
Promotion It follows a multichannel
promotional measures
including digital and manual
marketing. Also, in the recent
time, social media and
celebrity endorsement
measures are been used by the
firm.
They look after the effective
advertisements and unique ad
campaigns that helps the firm
to promote their goods.
Besides this, seasonal offers
and promotional codes and
social media marketing is also
used.
These measures will help both the firms to derive suitable market share and make an
extensive plan that will help the organisation to carry out the business operations and activities in
an extensive way. These marketing measures will help the firm to achieve their business
objectives of having higher sales and revenue with efficiency (Babin and Zikmund, 2015).

2) Different tactics applied by ZARA to achieve their business objectives
In order to observe the extensive and higher level of achievement of their business
objectives the organisation like ZARA, will look after the proper planning of the strategies which
will help in carrying out of the operations which will help the organisation to improve their sales
and achieve respective business objectives. Some major tactics of ZARA to achieve their market
share are as follows:
 Identifying the customer's needs: The selected enterprise will look after the proper
measures which will help in proper rise in knowledge about the customer needs and
demands which will help in carrying out of the services and achieving their business
objectives.
 Improving the advertisement and marketing: ZARA can opt for the latest and most
innovative promotional campaigning measures which will help the form to improve their
sales and awareness about their product among the customers (Malhotra, 2015). This will
help in developing an extensive market plan and achieve their business objectives in an
effective manner.
 Developing the appropriate product on a reasonable price: Once the customer needs
are been identified, ZARA can look after the developing of high quality apparels and
other products on a reasonable price range. It helps in improving their customer base and
assists in achieving their business objectives.
 Offering the innovative products and services: Providing the innovative and unique
products based on the latest fashion trends can be carried out and followed by the
organisation that will help in proper increase in their satisfaction level and achieve their
satisfaction level. This will assist them organisation to achieve their business objectives
within their target market (Pike, 2015).
LO3
1) Produce and evaluate basic marketing plan for ZARA
The basic marketing plan for the ZARA will cover the details about its target market and
the measures that the firm will take in order to have a good connectivity with its customers. The
basic plan is as follows:
Target market: High class students

Strategic measures taken: The organisation will look after the proper planning of the
operations which are been carried out by the organisation order to improve the sales and carrying
out of the marketing operations which are been carried out by the organisation in a significant
way. Measures like developing school based products, clothing lines etc that will help in proper
planning of services which are been carried out by the organisation.
2) Produce detailed coherent and evidence based marketing plan for organisation
The detailed marketing plan of the ZARA to launch school based clothings and products
will involve following components:
Executive summary:
The present plan will cover the details about the extensive market share and rise in the
sales of the fashion firm top achieve its business objectives. The plan will cover the details about
the vision, mission and objective statements of the firm with the evaluation of its internal and
external environment. Also, the details of the budget will be provided with assessment of sales
evaluation and monitoring processes.
Company overview:
ZARA id a Spanish fashion retailer that was founded in 1975 by the designer Amenico
Ortega and Rosalia Mera. Now owned by Inditex Group it s one of the largest luxury apparel
service provider firm in the world.
Vision:
The vision statement of ZARA states. “To offer high quality luxury apparels and products
of it customers to have a market sustainability.”
Mission:
The mission statement of ZARA describes that the company will operate with the high
quality products and offering innovative products and services on regular time period with high
quality of services and changing customer needs, designs and fashion market trends. Also, to
become a market leader in luxury clothing segment.
Objectives:
 To launch high end school based products and services that will help in improving the
sales of firm's products among youngsters.
 To have a high end customer base that will support the generation of high amount of
revenue for the firm.

 To provide their customers with innovative and unique clothings and other accessories.
STP:
Segmentation: The organisation can opt to carry out the proper segmentation of its customers by
focusing on the high end, luxury preferring buyers (Hisrich and Ramadani, 2017).
Targeting: The targeting will include the school going students from high end customer base
that will look after the proper planning of their measures and developing school based products
for their young customers.
Positioning: Proper marketing, celebrity endorsement and collaboration with educational
institutes can be observed that will help in proper development of apparels within the
organisation.
SWOT:
SWOT
Strengths Weaknesses
 It is one of the largest luxury clothing
service provider of the world with a
global presence in all the major
economies of the world.
 It has a high innovation rate and
launches its products on the latest
fashion trends on a regular interval.
 It follows the limited stock policy that
helps the form to reduce the wastage of
its resources and increase its sales.
 It sales its products through the outlets
as well as on online medium that will
help in carrying out of the services and
meeting their customers needs.
The firm still uses the traditional marketing
medium like TV commercials and Print media
as a major tool to connect with its customer
base. The lack of proper focus on social media
marketing can influence the sales of the
organisation in an adverse manner.
Opportunities Threats
 As majority of businesses are going
online, ZARA can opt to sell out its
 Rise in competition and lack of proper
digital marketing policy can adversely

products and services using the e
commerce sites and social media tools.
This will ensure the firm to have
convenient access to its customers.
 ZARA can increase the number of
outlets in the developing countries of
Asia and Africa.
 In order to meet the needs of the target
student base of its customers, ZARA
can collaborate with different schools
and educational institutions.
impact the sales and performance of the
organisation (Cluley, 2018).
 The economic, social and political
disturbances can impact the sales and
setting up of the proper strategies and
may cause a decrease in revenue of the
firm
PESTEL:
Political: Plantings are required to be made on the basis of evaluation of political events like
Brexit in order to avoid their failure.
Economic: Proper cost strategy and pricing is required to be observed that will help in proper
execution of the rise in sales and revenue generation of the firm.
Social: Demographical and socio cultural aspects are also required to be looked after while
launching a new product (Sawant, 2017).
Technological: proper use of social media and digital marketing tools are required to observed
that will help the organisation to promote their goods and increase their sales.
Environmental: ZARA can opt to use biodegradable fabric and recycle its packaging in order to
reduce its carbon footprint.
Legal: Various employment laws and trade policies are required to be followed in order to have
a hassle free development and launching of school based products.
Budget:
An estimated budget of £20,000 will be required. About 30% of the budget will be used
on the market research and evaluation and rest of the finance will be utilized for product
development and promotional activities.
Evaluation and monitoring measures:

Various KPI's and peer reviews along with customer perception will be developed and
implemented by the organisation that will help in carrying out of the proper monitoring and
evaluation of effectiveness of high end school based apparels by ZARA.
3) Strategic marketing plan using 7 P's
The marketing Mix approqach will help the organisation to carry out the operaions which
will help in proper evaluation of strateguies that are ben followed by ZARA for effective product
development:
Product: ZARA will strategically develop the apparels for the school going, high end customers.
Price: Effective pricing will be followed that will help in proper planning of the sales and
purchasing of their products by the customers.
Place: Outlets and online mediums can be used to induce the accessibility of the customer
towards the firm.
Promotion: Traditional and digital marketing using social media can be observed by the form to
increase connectivity with customers.
People: Suitable staff and designers can be hired in order to develop and sell the apparels and
other products offered by the firm.
Process: cost effective and environment friendly manufacturing processes will be followed.
Physical evidence: This will include the satisfaction level and rise in sales of the organisation.
CONCLUSION
Based on the assessment carried out by the organisation, thi can be said that the proper
implementation of the marketing measures will help the organisation to improve their sales and
other growth operations in an effective manner. The effective assessment of the marketing and
its function in regard to marketing environment and other units of the organisation is been
presented. Also, the strategic implementation of marketing mix and tactics followed by firm are
discussed. At last, a suitable marketing plan is been presented which will help in increasing the
sales of the school based apparel products of the organisation.