MARKETING PLAN OF MARKS AND SPENCER

Marketing Plan of Marks and Spencer

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION3

MARKS AND SPENCER OVERVIEW3

TASK 14

Concept and process of Marketing4

M&S and Marketing Concept5

TASK 27

Segmentation targeting and positioning7

Segmenting7

Targeting7

Positioning8

M & S Segmenting, targeting and Positioning9

Segmentation9

Targeting9

Positioning10

Task 312

Extended Marketing mix12

M&S Extended Marketing Mix13

People13

Process14

Physical evidence15

TASK 415

Marketing Mix and Marketing Segments15

RECOMMENDATIONS18

CONCLUSION20

BIBLIOGRAPHY24

Marketing Plan of Marks and Spencer

Introduction

Marketing concentrates primarily on the consumers. After determining, the consumer's needs and wants for a product, the marketing department or firm must then create a marketing strategy that will educate the consumer of a particular product. Then the marketing process becomes an ongoing cycle. Marketing includes planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the decision-making regarding product lines, pricing, promotion, and servicing. The marketing department or marketing firm has to account for numerous factors when launching a new product or product line(Swain 2004 pp.46-65). So many factors and decisions need to be reviewed and executed in regards to marketing. This report uses the various concepts of marketing and applies it to “Marks and Spencer”

Marks and Spencer Overview

Marks and Spencer (hereinafter called M&S) is one of UK's leading retailers of clothes, food, home products and financial services (Kippenberger 1997 pp.90-109). M&S has a record of success and profitability since its establishment with well known reputation for its innovative, quality products and reasonable price which offers customers value for their money. M&S sales and services been declined in mid to late 1990s(www.marksandspencer.com).

Task 1

Concept and process of Marketing

The marketing concept is the philosophy that firms should analyze the needs of their customers and then make decisions to satisfy those needs, better than the competition. Today most firms have adopted the marketing concept, but this has not always been the case(Kippenberger 1997 pp.90-109).

After World War II, the variety of products increased and hard selling no longer could be relied upon to generate sales. With increased discretionary income, customers could afford to be selective and buy only those products that precisely met their changing needs, and these needs were not immediately obvious. The key questions became:

What do customers want?

Can we develop it while they still want it?

How can we keep our customers satisfied?

In response to these discerning customers, firms began to adopt the marketing concept, which involves:

Focusing on customer needs before developing the product

Aligning all functions of the company to focus on those needs

Realizing a profit by successfully satisfying customer needs over the long-term

The marketing concept relies upon marketing research to define market segments, their size, and their needs. To satisfy those needs, the marketing team makes decisions about the controllable parameters of the marketing mix.

M&S and Marketing Concept

Many changes have occurred in recent years. The movement for this change has probably been Strongest in organizations such as the large, globally companies in their search for international integration of their promotions(Stockport 2000 p45-52).

One of the big organizations in the retail business is Marks and Spencer (M&S). It is one of the UK's leading retailers of clothing, foods, home ware and financial services, serving 10 million customers a week on over 300 UK ...