Marketing plan for Marks & Spencer PDF

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Marketing plan for the Marks & Spencer Company....

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Marketing plan for Marks & Spencer Executive Summary Marks and Spencer (M&S) began operating as small outlets in the United Kingdom. Over the years, the brand has grown to become one of the most famous not only in the United Kingdom, but also throughout the globe. In the real sense, the company has been preferred by many customers due to the high quality of market offerings that it offers to the consumer base. The company deals with the sale of quality and stylish garments as well as healthy food. Similarly, the company has created loyal clients due to its high ethical standards. Therefore, this paper offers a marketing plan that guarantees success now and in future. Company Overview Marks and Spencer ranks amongst the most famous brands across the globe. The company has become a trusted retailer in places such as the United Kingdom. The company was established as a partnership between Michael and Tom Spencer in the year 1894[CITATION Chi09 \p 2 \l 1033 ]. Currently, the firm employs tens of thousands employees to work in the retail chains that are flourishing in different parts of the world. The company has expanded internationally to foreign markets such as Ireland, Hong Kong, and Dubai. The company deals with the retail of the clothing as well as food sales. Over the years, the management has had a desire to transform the company from being a local retailer to being a leader in the global market. The discussion below provides a marketing plan for Marks and Spencer. Current Marketing Situational Analysis

Currently, the assets of Marks and Spencer are way more than the liabilities as evidenced by the fact that the net assets of the firm have been increasing annually. The management continues acquiring resources that add value to the organization’s production system. Marks and Spencer offers a broad range of quality market offerings, particularly food. In this regards, research indicates that the company does so by abiding to its ethical standards that stipulate the need for selecting the sources of the food products responsibly. The company considers the suppliers of its raw materials to be valuable resources. Additionally, the company hires experts in the field of food production aiming at continuously improving the quality of its finished products. The needs to satisfy the desires and wants of the clients forces the management to seek the finest inputs for the production system. The use of the finest inputs enables Marks and Spencer to operate in a cost effective manner at all times[CITATION Bri84 \p 70 \l 1033 ]. Similarly, the company regards its identity as an important resource. The establishment, growth, and maintenance of the brand name ranks amongst the priorities of the company. The name Marks and Spencer has become a trademark that pulls people towards the business. The sole thought of consuming or rather purchasing products linked with the Marks and Spencer brand is enough to stimulate demand in the marketplace. The reasoning is that the brand is viewed as an illustration of ethics and value in the minds of the consumers. The ethical standards set by Marks and Spencer elevates the entire company to being the most trusted retailer not only in the UK, but also in other foreign markets including Hong-Kong and Dubai. Objectives

According to Kotler & Keller (20), companies must develop meaningful objectives and subsequently identify the market niches that they would like to serve. At such times, the prime goal is to determine the best strategy that guarantees success in future. The underlying company may base the selection criteria on past experience, the current situation, the potential challenges in the future, or a combination of these factors. The corporate objectives of Marks and Spencer include strengthening the product portfolio and expanding the international business. At the international scene, the company targets winning a significant share of the foreign market, opening new stores, as well as boosting the total revenue. Strategically, the firm aims at improving production without compromising ethics and quality. Marketwise, the firm aims at promoting brand awareness and boosting revenue by winning new clients. Marketing Management Strategy Marks and Spencer enjoys the benefits of having numerous sources of core competences that enables the firm to have diversified competitive advantages that elevate it to unprecedented levels of success from time to time. In this regards, Marks and Spencer starts creating core competences by analyzing the current environments that offer the best chance for the strategies to work[CITATION Bev07 \p 137 \l 1033 ]. Additionally, the management is aware of the fact that using marketing tools effectively is a tactic that could ease the process of turning ideas into action in the long run. Overall, the management must have a clear direction concerning the use of marketing strategy for the benefit of the entire organization. For this reason, taking advantage of the employee expertise in the field of marketing is of paramount importance. Similarly, Marks and Spencer has developed and maintained a database that keeps track of the movements, behaviors, and emergent trends linked to the client base and subsequently

gauge the performance of the organization. Databases are valuable marketing tools that are used by multinational corporations committed to serving globally. Nonetheless, Marks and Spencer may incorporate the use of numerous other elements aiming at fueling its marketing strategies. Marketing techniques like market targeting and market segmentation enable business entities to prioritize and specify the needs of the marketing department to keep the personnel focused at all times. The management must gain a comprehensive understanding of the marketing concepts and application of marketing mechanisms to keep Marks and Spencer operating ethically. Marketing Segmentation Strategic marketing brings three core aspects that a company must emphasize. The first of these three aspects involves market segmentation. M&S has developed unique strategies that promote its brand in different markets. Over the years, the company has attracted widespread criticism for overemphasizing doing business with the middle aged customer. Nonetheless, the management reports that it focuses on the above group because of its financial stability. The company segments the market using three distinctive strategies. Firstly, segmentation by age is a tactic that allows the company to identify the health requirements of different age groups and subsequently serving the foods that fulfil the desires of the client base. M&S uses different advertising platforms to target each age group. The content of the message is determined by the needs of the underlying age group. Wedel and Kamakura (21) posit that companies must determine the right bracketing of the client groups. As such, Marks and Spencer understands that healthy living has become a vital element of the modern lifestyle. In recent years, the company has also increasingly applied the economic status of the consumers to segment the market. The use of the economic status or rather

economic class segmentation method allows the company to determine the price range that is both beneficial to the firm as well as acceptable to the consumers. To retain the same degree of influence, M&S must avoid using segmentation tactics that mix demographics without specific common ground. Market Targeting Kotler and Armstrong (35) stipulate that the identification of the ideal customers comes after the marketing personnel are done segmenting the entire market. In this case, M&S is advised to continue targeting clients aged above the age of 35 years because medical practitioners are increasingly recommending the consumption of healthy diets for individuals aged above 35 years. When considering the case of advanced or rather developed economies, a large section of the population above the above mark is consuming healthy diets to stay fit and promote healthy living. The demand for the products offered by M&S is expected to rise because the demographics are aging rapidly. M&S may also take advantage of the consumer base that is increasingly preferring healthy foods only. These are the young people who are aware of the health hazards that come alongside the consumption of unhealthy foods. They are aware of the fact that they can only escape such risks by eating healthy foods. Some have formed health movements that can be transformed into consumer groups because they are increasing in number every day. The key advantage of this group is that they can be used to spread awareness about the products offered by M&S to their peers. In short, they can become brand ambassadors in the long run due to the dedication to the course. They can assert positive influence on people close to them with consummate ease.

Market Positioning According to Kotler & Keller (406), positioning denotes the perceptions that target market end up developing in their minds. As such, the marketing activities in this category target creating positive images concerning how the brand and its products can satisfy the needs of the target market with consummate ease. Market positioning is an undertaking whose success is reliant on the ability of the marketers to complete all stages successfully. The process begins with the identification of the target market. In this case, M&S is aware that the target market comprises of individuals aged between 35 years and 60 years because these are people who are definitely conscious of their health needs. Subsequently, the marketers must create awareness of the specific attributes that make their products the best in the market. M&S emphasizes the health and quality aspects of its products. Similarly, M&S must analyze the perceptions of the buyers in regards to the attributes that make the market offerings attractive. The knowledge gained through this activity is used to establish the mind share of the commodities and services offered by the company. The prime goal of doing so is to create a mindset that encourages everyone who makes the initial purchase to seek additional consumption of the brand’s products as opposed to the specific type of food consumed. The company must ascertain whether the delivery system selected offers the best outlets for meeting the customer. The target customer must have a direct link with the attributes of the market offering. Lastly, the product developed should always satisfy customers’ needs while also fitting into the capacity of M&S. Tactics and Action

The key issue for the firm involves how to beat competition at all times. Luckily, the management feels that the company can do so by focusing on the issues that have a direct influence on the clients. In simpler terms, the company knows that it can only succeed by focusing on the marketing mix. The first issue concerns the product, which has been improved continuously by focusing on quality and healthy food. The company has modernized its stores into spacious, brighter, as well as accessible outlets thereby forming a new M&S experience. The delivery system of the company has been enlarged to include a wide range of cafes and restaurants situated in strategic locations [CITATION Wor06 \p 63 \l 1033 ]. In this aspect, M&S continues offering the right market offerings in the right location to maximize the returns on their production system. The pricing element of the marketing price has always attracted widespread attention from rivals and customers alike. None of these people can understand how the firm manages to offer its products at a competitive price without compromising the quality of the brand’s market offering. The promotion aspect of the marketing mix has also not been neglected over the years. M&S uses product communication strategies such as branding and promotions to create brand awareness throughout the marketplace. At this juncture, it is worth highlighting that the core competencies of M&S include trust, quality, as well as innovation. The company is continuously conducting research on how to improve the delivery system to ensure that the firm not only satisfies the desires of the customers, but also ends up exceeding these needs. Budget In most cases, companies tend to use five different forms of advertising to create awareness, improve reception and acceptance of the underlying product, as well as boost the

sales of that product aiming at earning more revenue. In the real sense, these include direct marketing, public relations, traditional media, advertising, and sales promotion. At M&S, the marketing department is responsible for creating a viable budget that allocates financial resources to teams undertaking these activities. Therefore, the budget below provides a sample budget that could propel M7S to the summit of the marketplace in terms of brand awareness, acceptance, and preference. Item Advertising Traditional Media Public Relations Direct Marketing Sales Promotion Total

Amount ($) 15,000 12,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 57,000

Control After the creation of the budget, the management of Marks and Spencer targets obtaining feedback from the consumer base. The aim of this undertaking is to gain insight into the performance levels of the market offerings. The feedback is also vital because it pinpoints the areas of concern. Subsequently, the management takes the feedback and uses it to make corrective action. Thus, the preferred control system should control the sales, expenditures, profits, as well as the abilities of the marketing personnel both in the markets that it has entered as well as in the new markets. For this reason, Marks and Spencer must have a deep understanding of the needs of the market by creating a strategic business unit in the new markets. The old markets can be served using the prevailing strategic business units without any hiccups.

The competitive nature of the market increases the threats and challenges that the company is bound to face in the long term. As such, the management feels that aligning all business operations with the competition needs offers the best tactic for controlling and regulating the employees. According to Wachman (n.p), success companies tend to justify the needs of the human assets by the contributions that they make in the production system. The managers are responsible for measuring the performance levels of individual employees. Thus, Marks and Spencer would be wise to regulate the control tactics aiming at recording, analyzing, and improving the performance of the employees. The management must promote everything that promotes the performance and capabilities of the staff to create a competitive advantage of the rivals. Recommendations Marks and Spencer is urged to continue advertising its products by stressing about its high quality in every market that the company targets to trigger positive reactions from the consumers. Adaptation of adverts to the local languages in the market enables the company to stimulate the feelings of belonging from the buyers. The move is heralded as a genius move because buyers end up feeling that the product is a local commodity. More so, the company should focus on building long-term profitable relationships with the consumers. The hiring of local residents may also encourage more customers to purchase products associated with the Marks and Spencer brand. Nonetheless, this marketing plan provides a clear strategy for the company to maintain its high ethical operations. Conclusion

Marks and Spencer has grown and developed to become one of the leaders in the industry. Primarily, the company has become one of the most ethical companies in the world by emphasizing on producing quality products, package the products in an environmentally-friendly way. The current macro environment in the developing world is rewarding to investors with enough capital to conduct business ethically. The markets in the developing world are blossoming as individuals and households continue amassing income that continually enlarges their disposable incomes. Luckily, Marks and Spencer is a company that has exceeded the expectations of the consumers by engaging in not only ethical, but also in the production of quality products. Thus, the marketing plan above offers the best way for the company to continue expanding internationally without compromising any of the values that have elevated it to the top of the industry.

Works Cited Bevan, Judi. The Rise And Fall Of Marks & Spencer: ..and How It Rose Again. London: Profile Books, 2007. Briggs, Asa. Marks & Spencer 1884-1984: A Centenary History. 1st. Ontario: Octopus Publishing Group, 1984. Chislett, Helen. Marks in Time: 125 Years of Marks & Spencer. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2009. Kotler, Philip and Gary Armstrong. Principles of Marketing. 11th. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 2005.

Kotler, Philip T. and Kevin Lane Keller. Marketing Management. 15th. London: Pearson Education, 2015. Wachman, Richard. "How change of leadership can cripple companies." theguardian 4 October 2009. . Wedel, M. and W. Kamakura. Market Segmentation: Conceptual and Methodological Foundations. London: Springer Books, 2003. Worth, Rachel. Fashion for the People: A History Of Clothing At Marks & Spencer: A History of Clothing at Marks & Spencer. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2006....