MARKS & SPENCER

Marketing Planning Report: Marks & Spencer

Marketing Planning Report: Marks & Spencer

Introduction

Marks & Spencer was created in 1884 by Michael Marks who was a Russian. He started his business from a small stall in Leeds, and ten years later he moved to Manchester. He formed a partnership with Tom Spencer, who was his former cashier. It took them another ten years to take their small venture into one of the biggest operations of Britain.

Marks & Spencer is major retail outlet and one of the biggest in Britain. It has 885 stores in United Kingdom, around 600 in domestic regions and 285 international stores. It has diversified its business portfolio and now deals in food, home ware, furniture and technology. There focus is to provide increase return for their shareholders but also market share in the retail industry. However, today there has been pressure on their clothing which is their major market. They are faced with immense competition from low priced outlets. This is largely due to worldwide economic crisis. The main objective of the company is to expand in international markets and then maintain their lead in the fashion industry. M &S future marketing activities will focus on United Kingdom, developing their brand, improvement in stores and to boost clothing, home and good business. From the year 2010 till 2013, online ordering of Christmas food and concept of e -boutique is launched. This will ensure more interactive and inspirational shopping experience for its customers. In some stores, they have equipped sales staff with IPads to give personal assistance to customers. Further, they aspire to progress through design and build platforms to equip them with capabilities for Multi-channel E-commerce. Moreover, central to their plan is to diversify in other markets to reduce their dependency on UK economy.

The Marketing Plan

According to the CEO of the company that marketing is only successful if a customer gets what they are promised. Their performance in women wear is commendable. He claimed that customers don't want to see something in the advertisement they like only to go to stores and not find it. Secondly, the models of different shapes, sizes and ages had also helped boost sales. Previously, only a celebrity brand ambassador with a particular body type was promoted. The marketing plan of Marks and Spencer focuses on continuous improvement to their digital and mobile technology range. Their marketing efforts will be largely on mobile because that's where the future lies for them. Food line is also central for their marketing objectives, and there is a launch of at least three hundred new product lines. They are not currently taking online food delivery on board. The objectives are to understand what the customer wants and provide it that exactly. The product will target a classically stylish person, superior style and good looking clothes. Also, central to their marketing plan is refurbishing their stores to suit the new concept at M&S. the idea is to create excitement for the customer to ...