Impact of Changing Market Conditions - Marks and Spencer - Case Study Example

Changing Market Condition Changing Market Conditions Several rapid economic changes all the time more affect many businesses globally either optimistically or unenthusiastically. Technology and globalization has to the highest degree contributed to undeniable changes in the commerce world and the impact is felt ubiquitously. These economic transformations affect all aspects of business such as marketing, financial management, production process, inventory management methods and modern investment techniques. Global economic and market changes require productive and optimistic response from the organization in order to catch up with the present inclusive demands of doing business. The management style has consequently changed from the old approach to the contemporary technique to fit the current business demands. This essay explains the impact of shifting market circumstances on the actions of firms and customers In light of new and present economic occurrence. Marks and Spencer (M&S) which is amongst the leading and widely recognized British chain stores in UK with numerous shops and employees worldwide and deals in range of products such as home stuffs, outfits and foodstuffs is used as an example in this writing. Companies across the world connect to their customers via social media and websites with an intention of reaching wider market. M&S has actually used various social media such as twitter, face book, and blogging in accessing the large number of customers it enjoys both locally and globally. Considering easier and faster accessibility, face book has provided a very good channel for interacting with customers worldwide. Firms may display their products and services on the face book as they explain their use and benefits. Most companies market their products and services through face book due to its universal use. M&S has used face book in marketing most of its garments online hence reaching different people with different tastes and preferences. In addition, M&S has been able to market its foodstuffs by displaying their colored pictures on the face book thus look attractive (Tsafarakis, Grigoroudis & Matsatsinis 2011, p. 1253-1256). Twitter has also provided a very good opportunity of marketing products. Individuals working for companies may decide to twit the existence of their products to the public hence increasing the marketability of the product and service. The M&S employees have successfully managed to twit the arrival of new clothes to their potential customers thus maintaining (Issues of Marks & Spencer 2013, n.p). Moreover, companies largely use websites due to their easy right to use to market their products and services by including pictures, costs, location, and physical address. Consumers have been able to identify the locations of M&S within their reach from the websites. The websites enable customers to learn about existence of some products and their costs. A consumer may straightforwardly access a company’s website from any point of the world. M&S has unquestionably maintained its global market and growth by intensive marketing via different methods such as use of websites. With the ever-increasing use of Smartphone, iphones and high-speed internet, nearly everyone in the UK effortlessly access social media and websites thus providing a good base for using these Medias in marketing. Companies reach a large number of people within the shortest time possible and the employees are able to interact freely via the social media thus leading to consumer’s satisfaction. A firm can call or email its customers, especially the fashion industries to inform them of the new arrival in the market. The constant communication between the organization and the customers via social media and mobile phones strengthens the bond connecting the company and the consumers. The improved link between the firm and its client’s boosts the company’s market share with increased number of loyal customers. M&S has managed a huge market base due to intensive marketing (Zhang &Duan 2010, p.853-858). The consumer’s voice is for the most part heard presently by a good number of businesses as most companies persist on the need for consumer-generated content. M&S listens widely to what consumers want before offering its products for sale in order to maintain a higher volume of sales. M&S ensures that all foodstuffs, households, and clothing align with the society’s need in different countries (Issues of Marks & Spencer 2013, n.p). The increased competition among businesses has led to production of more refined products that align with the societal needs. The idea of responding to consumer requirements has boosted consumer’s democracy. Firms design their products to fit the escalating customer demands in order to attract a large number of clients. An exhaustive research is therefore carried out to determine the customers’ tastes and preferences by directly finding out from the consumers themselves (Lyus, Rogers & Simms 2011, p.39-41). The success of a firm principally depends on how the company motivates and make possible the user generated content method. A corporation that largely considers the consumer’s contentment will be very much marketable than a company that do not consider the consumer requirements while designing its products. Firms are, for that reason, industriously make their products in accordance with the consumers’ needs to enhance their marketing, and eventually increase the sales volume. These corporations profoundly depend on customer criticism in designing their products. Businesses are able to keep an eye on worldwide events and developments to foresee the coming customer’s attitude and behaviors to consumption. The main aim of firms should be geared towards solving consumers’ day-to- day problems. Market cover and the need to augment the market divide increasingly bother companies in UK. M&S has invested in diverse parts of UK and different countries worldwide to enlarge its market share. The ever-changing technology and innovativeness impose a great threat to the already established companies. Most firms embark on constant innovativeness and huge investment on technology to maintain the competitive advantage. M&S has profoundly invested in technology especially in sales and advertisement worldwide. M&S uses e-commerce to sale most of its products online thus commanding a large market base. More skillful and clued-up personnel are employed to smoothen the progress of the company’s market aggressiveness. M&S is not exceptional in employing competent staffs to make possible its daily operations. Nearly all companies are adamant on quality in all the business sections such as marketing and satisfying customer demands. In fact, most companies have resort to out-sourcing distribution and marketing services. The existence of well-established marketing firms with exceptionally high level of expertise has greatly aided scores of companies in advertising their products. SWOT analysis has been chiefly useful to M&S as they hub on their internal factors such as strength and weaknesses in providing services to its consumers. M&S has profitably applied their strength in easy accessibility and strong communication technology in focusing on its consumers by developing values and cultures that satisfy the customers’ needs such as coming up with groceries stores. A great strength of M&S is the ability to provide superiority and experience rather than concentrating on cost. M&S branches also operate 7 days a week with full banking services integrated in them thus providing continuous services to its clients (Issues of Marks & Spencer 2013, n.p). Consumers’ have tremendously benefited from the current market changes due to several reasons such as availability of information, production of variety of products and the new marketing technologies. Competition has enabled most companies to provide efficient and high quality products to gain competitive advantage. The competition has made consumers to gain from various products provided in the market. Furthermore, the prices of services and goods are affordable to consumers due to competition among the companies. Clients can easily access goods and services by simply making calls or sending emails to the companies since some companies such as LG offer door-to-door services. In addition, loyal customers can be able to return goods that do not fit their needs after purchasing them from their clients (Pleshko & Heiens 2011, p. 121-125). The presence of social media provides a good ground for interaction between a customer and the firm hence a consumer may raise his grievances and be acted upon by the company thus benefiting even future customers. Client generated content enables consumers to be special in a way since their wants and needs form a bigger part of product constituent. Consumers, regardless of their physical location, are able to access different services and purchase variety of products from firms that are not near them. The transactions can be done via ecommerce such as online buying. For instance, a customer in Canada may be able to buy a cloth online from M&S Company. Consumer exploitation has been greatly reduced by providing information such as safety warnings and nutritional labeling which helps a buyer to make an informed pick prior to buying a product. This graph shows relationship between consumer demands (A) against firms’ production of user degree content (B). The units are in percentages (Zona Land Education, n.d, n.p). The graph shows that the relationship between user-designed content is directly proportional to the consumer demand of a particular product. Works Cited Pleshko & Heiens, R 2011, ‘A Contingency Theory Approach to Market Orientation and Related Marketing Strategy Concepts: Does Fit Relate to Share Performance?’Academy of Banking Studies Journal, 10(1), P. 119-133, Retrieved 14 March 2013, . Tsafarakis, S, Grigoroudis, E & Matsatsinis 2011, ‘Consumer Choice Behaviour and New Product Development: An Integrated Market Simulation Approach,’ The Journal of The Operational Research Society, 62(7), Pp. 1253-1267, Retrieved 14 March 2013, . Lyus, D., Rogers, B & Simms, C 2011 ‘The Role Of Sales and Marketing Integration In Improving Strategic Responsiveness To Market Change,’ Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 18(1), Pp. 39-49, Retrieved 14 March 2013, . Zhang, J & Duan, Y 2010, ‘The Impact of Different Types of Market Orientation on Product Innovation Performance. Management Decision,’ 48(6), Pp. 849-867, Retrieved 14 March 2013, . “Oxbridge Writers” 2013, “Issues of Marks & spencer,” Retrieved 14 March 2013, . Zona Land Education n.d, ‘Direct Proportion and The Straight Line Graph,’ n.p, Retrieved 14 March 2013, . Read More