UK Marketing Environment - Case Study Example

The macro marketing environment on the other hand refers to the broader influences on the business such as the politics of the day, social trends, technology, economy (e.g. recession) etc which have more impact on the business. It is important to note the fact that often when businesses analyze the marketing environment they make two very costly omissions. First, they assume that the physical environment is not part of the macro marketing environment and secondly, they focus so much on the present generation of customers, employees and other stakeholders ignoring other potential customers, shareholders etc who may not necessarily belong to the present generation.

This paper seeks to highlight the general marketing environment for the UK based discount stores such as Aldi, Lidl and Netto in terms of their marketing mix and product portfolio management and thereby recommending the possible actions in future marketing activities. A few examples of discount stores in the UK include the Aldi, Lidl and Netto and when talking of supermarkets, then Tesco Plc and Wal-Mart Store Inc.'s Asda come at the top of the list. These discount stores and supermarkets mostly sell merchandise generally with few instances of brand names.

Some of the merchandise sold include; The current marketing environment is greatly influenced by the c. Most of the marketing approaches of the discount stores and supermarkets have ventured into price cuts to attract customers in a bid to maintain their market segments, sales and competitive edge in their competitive markets. For instance, Tesco reduced the price of 3,000 every day items such as fresh meat and baby food and 5,000 every day essentials. Further, the above named two supermarkets have, since January stepped up promotions to prevent customers from turning to discount retailers such as the Germany's Aldi Group and Lidl.

Therefore, the discount retailers such as Lidl, Aldi and Netto are up against market giants and the pace of the marketing competition has been set by the present recession in the UK economy. It for a fact that Tesco Plc, the UK largest chain of supermarkets, saw its market share on expenditures on groceries slide to an all time lowest in three years as customers turned to Asda and discounters Aldi Group and Lidl. As Tesco's market share dipped, Asda's and those of the discounters increased. Asda posted an annual market share increment of 17.

3% up from the 17% as Aldi and Lidl boosted their share on grocery spending to 2.9 % up from 2.6% and 2.3 % up from 2.2 % respectively (Jarvis, 2009).Actually, as per the current marketing environment in this recessive period, the retailers and discounters will have to need weaker rivals and an increased discount-product ranges to survive the recession. This is where marketing mix and a widened product portfolio will be required to help deal with the hostile marketing environment for the discounters.

The retailers and discounters are currently faced with shifting consumer behaviour and marked fluctuations in the currency powers and the share prices. All