Marketing Function: Analysis And Plan For M&S

Strengths

·       Higher brand recognition and brand value. This helps them to further penetrate in the new markets and push new products.

·       Diverse product portfolio also helps them to cater to wider range of customers (McNally, Durmusoglu and Calantone 2013).

·       They are having more number of stores compared to some of their major competitors.

·       Updated product offerings in terms of new age fashion.

Weaknesses

·       Not having the status of market leader.

·       Having the perception that M&S do not offers trendy products.

·       Number of ethical issues dented the brand image of M&S (Slade and Prinsloo 2013).

·       Cost of operation is increasing without having the chance of increasing the prices due to the higher level of competition.

Opportunities

·       Entering in the raw and processed food market will help M&S to increase their market share.

·       There are number of countries where M&S is not having presence. Thus, entering in these sectors will help M&S to increase their market share.

·       Online retail market is showing good growth in the recent years.

·       After United Kingdom, M&S is having the most market presence in India and China. Both these countries are witnessing favorable market and economy growth. Thus, the market opportunity for M&S is getting increased.

Threats

·       Increase in the cost of operation will further reduce the profitability for M&S.

·       Emergence of new competitors in the marker will further reduce the profitability.

·       Economic crisis will cause negative impact on the business potentiality of M&S. This is due to the reason that economic recession will reduce the purchasing power of the customers and their retail expenditure will get reduced.

Political environment

·       M&S has to face different and diverse set of regulations in the global business scenario.

·       Trade policies and agreements between the countries will determine the effectiveness of their global business.

·       Brexit is having negative implications on the business of M&S in the United Kingdom (Jensen and Snaith 2016).

·       Number of countries especially India and China are having different regulations in terms of foreign investments in the retail sector. Thus, it will be difficult for M&S to operate effectively in the foreign markets.

Economic environment

·       Per capita income in the basis of global economy is increasing. Thus, the market potentiality for M&S will also get increased.

·       However, competition is also increasing in the global market and thus the profitability will get affected.

·       Fluctuation in the taxation rate in the global scenario is also having adverse implication on the business of M&S.

Social environment

·       Increase in the concept of the globalization is helping in having global trend and preference pattern for the customers around the world. This is helping M&S to offer their global products in different regions.

·       However, rapid change in the social trend and pattern will have negative implication on M&S. This is due to the reason that it will be difficult for M&S to change their product portfolio frequently.

·       Ethical issues such as poor working condition in the outsourced countries are having negative impacts on the business of M&S.

Technological environment

·       Huge development and investment are required for M&S in order to compete in the market.

·       Online marketplace and customer relationship management are the major areas for investments.

·       It will cause M&S to incur most cost in their business operation.

Marketing activities

First 3 months

Next 1 months

Next 5 months

Last 3 months

Market research

 Y

Budget allocation

 Y

Marketing and promotional activities

 Y

Feedback and evaluation

 Y

CAMPAIGN TYPE

QTY

PROJECTED COST PER UNIT

PROJECTED SUBTOTAL

National Marketing

 SUBTOTAL

 $     1,400.00

Banner Ads

4

 $                 350.00

 $                       1,400.00

 $                                  –  

 $                                  –  

Local Marketing

 SUBTOTAL

 $    20,600.00

Newspaper

6

 $              3,000.00

 $                     18,000.00

In-Store Marketing

4

 $                 400.00

 $                       1,600.00

POP

2

 $                 500.00

 $                       1,000.00

 $                                  –  

Content Marketing

 SUBTOTAL

 $    12,000.00

Sponsored Content

 $                                  –  

Landing Page

12

 $              1,000.00

 $                     12,000.00

White Papers / ebooks

 $                                  –  

 $                                  –  

Social Media

 SUBTOTAL

 $    10,500.00

Twitter

20

 $                 150.00

 $                       3,000.00

Facebook

20

 $                 150.00

 $                       3,000.00

Pinterest

10

 $                 150.00

 $                       1,500.00

Instagram

10

 $                 150.00

 $                       1,500.00

Google+

5

 $                 150.00

 $                          750.00

LinkedIn

5

 $                 150.00

 $                          750.00

Advertising

 SUBTOTAL

 $    11,700.00

Online

4

 $              2,500.00

 $                     10,000.00

Print

2

 $                 850.00

 $                       1,700.00

Outdoor

 $                                  –  

Radio

 $                                  –  

Television

 $                                  –  

 $                                  –  

 $                                  –  

Web

 SUBTOTAL

 $     6,400.00

Development

1

 $              6,400.00

 $                       6,400.00

Pay-Per-Click Marketing

 $                                  –  

SEO

 $                                  –  

 $                                  –  

 $                                  –  

Market Research

 SUBTOTAL

 $     6,000.00

Surveys

6

 $              1,000.00

 $                       6,000.00

Segmentation strategies

·       It is recommended that geographical segmentation for M&S should e more diverse in nature in order to enhance their global presence (Cross, Belich and Rudelius 2015).

·       It is also recommended that demographic segmentation of M&S should be shortened. This is due to the reason that they should target younger section.

·       Younger section is more influenced by trendy fashion products. Thus, the potentiality in this segment will be more.

Targeting strategies

·       It is suggested that M&S should offer innovative designs in the fashion sector. This will help them to offer trendy products over their competitors.

·       Customer loyalty programs will also be beneficial. This is due to the reason that initiation of the customer loyalty program will ensure higher percentage of customer retention (Kim et al. 2013).

·       Localization approach should be taken in order to target the customers from different regions effectively.

Positioning strategies

·       It is recommended that M&S should be positioned as more mass market offerings in order to have more set of target customers.

·       They can also have a sub brand to target the mass market.

·       The products should be positioned as properly priced premium products.

Marketing mix elements

M&S

Product

·       M&S should come up with private label products in the food and home product category. This will enhance their sales revenue (Dawes and Nenycz-Thiel 2013).

·       More localized products based on the market trend and patterns of different markets should be introduced.

·       Sports products are one of the most potential sectors that M&S can offer in the market.

Price

·       Both market penetration and premium pricing strategy should be initiated in order to target the both segments.

·       The pricing should be done in the way that it will carry the premium tag compared to the competition as well as will be affordable (Davcik and Sharma 2015).

·       Price skimming strategy can also be initiated in order to gain the major share from the new products and increase the life cycle of the existing products.

Place

·       M&S should be available in third party retailers also in order to increase the visibility.

·       Third party online marketplace should also be involved.

Promotion

·       Social media marketing should be given more concentration.

·       Cross selling and up selling can also be initiated.

·       Celebrity endorsements should also be initiated according to the local choices.

Process

·       Co-creation model can be initiated for the online customers in order to provide personalized services.

Physical evidence

·       Packaging should be given more concentration in order to enhance the visibility.

People

·       Employees should be given training according to the local social trend.

·       Polycentric approach of staffing should be initiated to have local employees in place.