Understanding of the Concepts Involved in Managing Marketing - Essay Example

? Understanding the Concepts Involved in Managing Marketing Executive Summary The leading organizations in global market are trying to capitalize on the advantages that have been created due to globalization. In this present era of globalization the companies are trying to implement advanced technology in order to increase their core competency and business outputs. Due to huge competition in global market organizations are recruiting skilled employees and implementing several unique marketing strategies. The companies should be knowledgeable enough about various elements of marketing process in order to demonstrate the understanding of managing marketing. There are different elements of marketing process such as marketing mix strategy, targeting strategy, market segmentation and product positioning. Market segmentation is used to identify the different segments of consumers with respect to different product line (Kotler, 2008). Targeting strategy is used to recognize the target audience for the particular products. Product positioning is used to identify the region in which the products will compete in a market place. These different elements of marketing process are elaborated in this study in order to understand managing marketing. Introduction Effective marketing strategies and marketing principles increase the core competency of an organization. UK is known for the leading fashion retail chains. Leading companies like Zara, Top Shop, Marks & Spencer, and Miss Sixty are the leading fashion retails in UK (Moore, Bruce and Birtwistle, 2012). Marks & Spencer, the large UK based fashion retailer is being selected in order to achieve the objective of the study. Marks & Spencer is one of the leading multinational fashion retail headquartered in London. In UK the organization operates with 718 retail outlets. Moreover they have near about 361 fashion retail outlets in 40 countries. Marks & Spencer offers high quality, fashionable and stylish outfits for people. 2000 global suppliers supply cloths for Marks & Spencer. Representing garments of high quality is the biggest strength of this organization. The fashion retail chain is the leading provider of Women wear in UK market. Moreover, the company is gaining high market share in menswear and kids-wear. Apart from business the organization has engaged with several social welfare activities. Marks & Spencer recycles the water, solid waste and concentrates on the reduction of carbon emission in environment by implementing the effective five year eco plan for organization’s green credential. . By providing effective marketing strategy and product of high quality with effective customer services, Marks & Spencer has able to produce enormous number of footfall every week. It is the major achievement for the company as a leading fashion retail chain in global market. Marks & Spencer enjoys the advantages of more than 21 million footfalls every week in all the retail outlets. The study will reveal the market segmentation, target marketing and the marketing mix that has been applied in the business of Marks & Spencer. Moreover, the study will determine the competitive advantages of the organization. Followed by these some valuable recommendation plans are being provided in order to overcome the Managing marketing issues. Finally the study ends with conclusion. Problem Statement and issues in Managing Marketing The study is all about the issues related to the marketing orientation and recommendation plans in order to overcome those issues. The problems or the risk factors are identified below. The risk of failure in terms of newly developed products. In adequate customer service, marketing orientation and query controlling may affect the business performances. Difference between Product and Service Marketing Product marketing can be defined as marketing of tangible goods, which can be felt or seen while service marketing defines the marketing of intangible goods (Bhattacharya, 2009). Service marketing may differ from a person to person while marketing of product is for all. Product marketing is being implemented for mass while service marketing may be implemented on individual basis (Verma, 2012). For an example Marks & Spencer do the promotional activities of several garments. It is called product marketing. On the other hand distributing gift cards, lucky draws and distributing platinum cards are the example of service marketing. Product selling may not require effective customer service but selling services need adequate customer service (Radic, 2012). Marketing Mix Marketing mix of an organization is the backbone of any company’s marketing strategy. Every leading organization needs to analyze the marketing mix efficiently in order to do the strategy formation (Jobber, 2012). This marketing tool has been implemented in order to identify the current situation in terms of marketing strategies and implemented activities and marketing strategies in every five year. Marks & Spencer used to reconstruct its marketing plan in every five years. Moreover, the organization has developed the new strategies and plan for the next five years in order to maximize the profit. Due to possible changes in the environment of business and global economy, Marks & Spencer has applied this marketing mix strategy. Moreover decrease in per capita income, low purchasing power of middle class people, change in consumers’ buying behavior and change in taste and preferences of the people have forced Marks & Spencer to implement this marketing strategy. Apart from these four basic apparatus of marketing mix that includes price, product, place and promotion. The implementation of marketing mix strategy will help the organization to compete with the local fashion retailers in different international market as well as in domestic market. Price: Marks & Spencer has offered premium pricing for its stylish and fashionable clothes. Pricing strategy of Marks & Spencer has developed by considering the target segment of customers especially their buying behavior and buying power (Haig, 2011). The customer of this segment believes that cloths of premium price are superior in quality. In order to retain these customers, Marks & Spencer has to maintain premium pricing for the fashionable clothes. This company has segmented all the outfits according to the price level of variety of cloths. The organization had offered its cloths in both premium and economical prices. Product: Marks & Spencer concentrates on the product differentiation in order to diminish the risk of short product life cycle and decrease in demand of garments and apparels. There is variety of fashionable kids-wear; women wear and menswear are placed in every retrial stores of Marks & Spencer. Outfits which are offered by the organization are recognized as the outfits of high quality, attractive in design and of different price levels. Therefore people of every segment such as people of medium level of income and higher level of income are the target audience of Marks & Spencer. People of higher income level choose the premium priced products brand as they think these are of better quality. Marks & Spencer has adopted the Change of trend and style of fashion industries professionally in order to do the mass segmentation. Place: Marks & Spencer has selected busy location in order to establish their retail stores to target prospective consumers. Every retail stores of Marks & Spencer are located in central areas of metro cities where there are high footfalls of the customers of different income level. The fundamental objective of the Marks & Spencer is to manipulate the potential buyers for replicate purchasing with the help of visual merchandising inside the outlets. Promotion: The major objective of effective promotion of the company is to attract their prospective target customers who are demographically segmented as the people of 30 plus age with executive occupation and high disposable income. The promotional campaigning are developed and designed only to take awareness of the people under this segment who does not bother to pay high price for the cloths of superior quality and satisfying services through buying experiences. Marks & Spencer has also adopted the effective e-commerce business strategies in order to increase the online purchase activities. 3Ps of Service Marketing People: Here people mean the employees of Marks & Spencer. The employees of Marks & Spencer are well trained. Moreover the professional and experienced outlet employees enhance the buying experience of the loyal consumers (Handy, 1996). Process: Advanced and modern purchasing processes, which includes loyalty cards, efficient and fast billing process and well-organized customer services through the personal selling activities of elite fashionable garments for people of all ages is one of the important strength of Marks & Spencer. Physical Evidence: Physical evidence includes high-class ambiance of the brand and superior service design of every outlet of Marks & Spencer in UK. These service marketing strategies provide similar buying experience and physical evidence to the customers in every retail outlets of Marks & Spencer in UK. Marketing Mix for different segments Market segments can be categorized by the different income level of people, different cultural background and different age group of customers. Marks and Spencer’s stylish and fashionable outfits target the customer of different cultural background because in this competitive global market companies need to do proper market segmentation according to the cultural differentiation of people. Considering this the firms can create huge brand awareness in the mind of various people of various cultural backgrounds (Schiffman, 2010). The taste and preferences of consumer change along with their age. Marks &Spencer have the clothes for the people of all ages. From children to old age people can get various ranges of clothes. Moreover, the promotional campaigning and eye-catching advertisements suits for the different product and services. Market Segmentation There are several key elements in marketing strategies. Market segmentation is one of those key elements that have been implemented in maximum time. Marks & Spencer have successfully done the market segmentation in order to lift their brand image in customer’s mind. The corporation has the utmost focus on the middle aged people. They need to pay concentration on all the variables market segmentation’s purpose (Tse, 1985). Marks & Spencer has done the market segmentation like the following ways: Behavioral Segmentation Maximum numbers of Marks & Spencer garments are of effective quality and supreme value which are available at reasonable economical price as well as premium price. The varieties of outfits are being purchased by the consumers for special events and occasions. The company has successfully retained his loyal consumers. The company has the profile of reflective users who follows the Pareto’s ruling. The 80% sales of the Marks & Spencer come from the 20% of loyal consumers of the organization. Profile Segmentation A customer who is well cultured and has a good educational background with higher earnings level comes under this segment. Moreover, Marks & Spencer has the most important customer base whose average age is between 35-54 years. The company’s prospective consumers are family focused and most importantly they are very active and rich. Geographic Segmentation Marks & Spencer has situated their retail outlets in the centre Areas of metro cities in order to generate huge brand awareness in customers’ mind. Moreover they choose only rich, wealthy metropolitans and customers of urban areas. Psychographic segmentation Marks & Spencer had most importantly concentrated on the middle aged ladies who are lively, energetic and healthy as they are potential consumers of the organization. In terms of individuality of people Marks & Spencer have a large customer base that has the superior self-esteem level. Consumer Behavior The buying behavior of consumers depends upon the relationship of individuals with the help of marketing mix. Moreover, income level of people and socio-cultural factors play a significant role on buying behavior of consumers (Pride and Ferrell, 2011). Marks & Spencer offer the outfits for every gender segment and they have a variety of product ranges regarding different price level with superior quality. Therefore the strong brand awareness about the garments in customer’s mind helps Marks & Spencer to construct a large customer base in global market. Target Marketing The target marketing strategy of Marks & Spencer is like the Multi segment targeting. They have a variety of outfits for the people of every gender. The organization does not implement narrow targeting strategy. In terms of income level of people Marks & Spencer offers economic priced clothes as well as premium priced clothes. Now in terms of gender of people Marks & Spencer has a huge market share in ladies-wear and menswear segment. Moreover, parents in UK like to purchase fashionable and colorful outfits for their children due to the availability of a variety of kids-wear in Marks & Spencer outlets. Marks & Spencer target the people of medium and high income level as well as all categories. Moreover, the organization targets the consumer of all genders. Marks & Spencer is one of the leading fashion retail brands in global market. The organization has concentrated on few important aspects in order to lift the brand image in clothing industry. The organization has efficiently implemented the product positioning strategy. Marks & Spencer has positioned the outfits with high respite and supreme quality. Moreover, the organization has the product range for the people of higher income level as well as people of medium income level and the company has implemented this product positioning strategy in international markets too. Mark & Spencer have successfully retained the old customers. They also have effectively done their new customer acquisition by successful product positioning strategy. Moreover the major objective of the company is to pose their promises before the products. It is feasible that service of high quality can create a large customer base of a company, which is being practiced by Marks & Spencer. Therefore by the effectual product positioning and targeting strategy Mark & Spencer has become one of the leading fashion retailers in global market. Competitive Advantages Marks & Spencer have developed their stylish fashionable outfits according to the consumer needs. Moreover, the organization has introduced cloths according to the socio-cultural background in different areas. It is another key factor that they have launched products according to the various income levels of people. Marks & Spencer is admired for women outfits and they have targeted the people who have high disposable income and the people of medium income level. These can only happen by the effectual product development. Marks & Spencer is enjoying the competitive advantages by the implementation of competitive strategies. The company has implemented the uncomplicated pricing policy and the famous ST MICHAEL logo has increased the brand image of Marks & Spencer in customers’ mind. The company was successfully founded and held good reputations for the shareholders. Several fashionable garments were gaining high consumer value due to superior product quality. Moreover, differentiation in products and prices and the effective value chain model helped Marks & Spencer to dominate in market place. Marks & Spencer have calculated other factors basis on unique individuality of retail marketing. These are effective customer services, visual merchandising and personal selling. The international business of Marks & Spencer is being operated on franchisee basis. It is one of the most significant benefits of Marks & Spencer to recognize different market preferences in an enhanced way. Recommendations The risk of failure in terms of newly developed product should be reduced by the effective marketing orientation strategy that includes effective market research. Moreover the marketing orientation helps the company to identify the current market trend of the products. A successful product-led approach ca results higher profit for a company. Finally the customer feedback strategy can help the company to overcome the problems in product or services. Marks & Spencer has successfully implemented these marketing orientation strategies in order to achieve large market share by the effective market segmentation. Dealing with customers’ need it is not sure that company can achieve huge market share by the marketing orientation strategy. Now-a-days corporate perception and branding are important for a company to attract customers. In the present era of globalization market trend is changing rapidly. Company needs to diversify their products and services by reducing operational cost in order to cost control. Conclusion Marks & Spencer is one of the leading multinational fashion retail headquartered in London. . The fashion retail chain is the leading provider of Women wear in UK market. Moreover, the company is gaining high market share in menswear and kids-wear. Apart from business the organization has engaged with several social welfare activities. Marks & Spencer recycles the water, solid waste and concentrates on the reduction of carbon emission in environment by implementing the effective five years eco plan for organization’s green credential. Marks & Spencer have successfully done the market segmentation in order to lift their brand image in customer’s mind. The corporation has the utmost focus on the middle aged people. Due to possible changes in the environment of business and global economy, Marks & Spencer has applied this marketing strategy. Moreover decrease in per capita income, low purchasing power of middle class people, change in consumers’ buying behavior and change in taste and preferences of the people forced Marks & Spencer to implement this marketing strategy. Market segments can be categorized by the different income level of people, different cultural background and different age group of customers. Marks and Spencer’s stylish and fashionable clothes target the customer of different cultural background because in this competitive global market companies need to do proper market segmentation according to the cultural differentiation of people. Maximum numbers of Marks & Spencer garments are of effective quality and supreme value which are available at reasonable economical price as well as premium price. The varieties of outfits are being purchased by the consumers for special events and occasions. The company has successfully retained his loyal consumers. Marks & Spencer have developed their stylish fashionable outfits according to the consumer needs. Moreover, the organization has introduced garments according to the socio-cultural background in different areas. It is another key factor that they have launched products according to the various income levels of people. The company has implemented the uncomplicated pricing policy and the famous ST MICHAEL logo has increased the brand image of Marks & Spencer in customers’ mind. The risk of failure in terms of newly developed products could be reduced by the effective marketing orientation strategy that includes effective market research. Moreover the marketing orientation helps the company to identify the current market trend of the products. The unique marketing mix strategy and appropriate market segmentation have increased the brand value of Marks & Spencer. References Bhattacharya, C. (2009). Services Marketing. New Delhi: Excel Books India. Haig, M. (2011). Brand Failures. London: Kogan Page. Handy, C. (1996). Gods of Management. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Jobber, D. (2012). Principles and Practice of Marketing. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. Kotler, P. (2008). Principles of Marketing. New Delhi: Pearson Education India. Moore, C. Bruce, M. and Birtwistle, G. (2012). International Retail Marketing. London: Routledge. Pride, W. and Ferrell, O. (2011). Marketing. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Radic, R. (2012). The complete Guide to Selling and Marketing to Affluent Customers. Florida: Atlantic Publishing Company. Schiffman, L. (2010). Consumer Behavior. New Delhi: Pearson Education India. Tse, K. (1985). Marks & Spencer. London: Pergamon Press. Verma, H. (2012). Services Marketing. 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