Marketing Audit of Mark and Spencer

Marketing is a fundamental component that contributes most to the development and extension of business regardless of its size, whether large, medium, or small. Thus, market analysis is needed to recognize the purchaser’s behavior and market conditions to adapt valuable insights on the market trends upon further business development (Clarke, Goodwin and Whiteley, 2017). The current task report examines appropriate statistical surveying that assists Mark and Spenser Group with recognizing its development and several marketing opportunities. Therefore, PESTLE, SWOT analysis, crucial marketing strategies, and position of the company are carried out in addition to the Ansoff matrix.

Company Overview

Marks & Spencer Group is a major British company with offices in Singapore, the United Kingdom, concentrating on selling clothing, food, and home goods, most of which are under its label. Furthermore, this company is serving the clients with their great food products and diverse food products as well. As far as apparel, M&S is one of the significant stores that produce top-notch garments items from ladies’ wear and men’s wear to kids wear (Šályová et al., 2015, p.364).

Nonetheless, this association is more acclaimed due to the ladies’ attire and undergarments. M&S attempts to follow a specific value framework to maintain the outstanding quality of the products. M&S plc is known for its 1,382 stores worldwide and about 460 stores in Europe (Clarke, Goodwin and Whiteley, 2017). The association has branches in the Middle East and Asia. Through the online business, M&S shares their interaction with the local franchise in commercial centers (Dolnicar et al., 2018, p.233). M&S has a good record of profitability and success due to its strong foundation, a fantastic image of its creativity, innovation, and quality items that offer incentives for their customers’ cash.

Marketing Audit of Marks and Spencer (M&S)

For M&S to maintain its current position in the market, the market audit is fundamental to discover the authentic market patterns and on which marketing plans and strategies have to be implemented and applied (Camilleri, 2018). This will comprise the external environment, the internal environment, and the current marketing strategy of the organization.

PESTLE Analysis

M&S Group PESTLE analysis is a strategic tool for analyzing an organization’s macro environment, which assists in assessing economic conditions and steadily developing its business (Oraman, 2014). PESTEL means Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural, Economical and Legal Political Environment which harm the macroeconomics (Zhang et al. 2017, p. 1522).M&S Group provides excellent and detailed information about the challenges that the entire group will face when operating as an organization. This model enables the organization to establish the external macroenvironmental factors that affect the decisions made in the organization. It enables the organization to assess its market growth and decline, its position, and the direction of the business.

Political Factors

Political factors are crucial in evaluating the variables that influence M&S Group’s long-term productivity in a specific country. M&S Group operates in an industry sector across a dozen countries, exposing it to a range of alternative climate and institutional system threats.

However, spanning countries increase political threats through making advances in an exceptional retail market (Šályová et al., 2015, p. 364). The development of free trade agreements among various nations has caused political threats to the M & S Group. M&S takes advantage of the large EU market that permits its goods to cross borders without being constrained by taxes or tariffs. Although free trade has existed for a long period, particularly within Europe, the United Kingdom may face challenges harnessing these benefits following the actualization of Brexit.

M&S believes that it is essential to collaborate and work closely with the public authority to secure an association’s authentic advantages. They respond to government inquiries on their platform, which is open to the public. The organization enjoys full support from the public authority as it has rich noteworthy qualities and reasonable methods for trade practices (Gürel, 2017, p. 979). The two principal factors influencing the organization are taxes and political stability. For example, when the UK decided to terminate their European Union membership branded “Brexit,” this political move is expected to be followed by certain pretty strict charge embargos (Clarke, Goodwin and Whiteley, 2017, p. 315). These may result in the organization’s lack of streamlined commerce strategies with European providers, leading to higher product costs for end customers.

Economic Factors

Economic factors are the determinants of an economy’s productivity that influence an organization and have lengthy implications. The aggregate expenditure and demand in an economy are influenced by macro climate variables such as inflation, savings, foreign exchange fluctuations, and the state of the economy. The United Kingdom is one of the largest economies in the world but is still an open democracy; since the government has stable finances and effectively maintains a low inflation rate, the UK’s financial and money-related approaches are appropriately supervised (Clarke, Goodwin and Whiteley, 2017, p. 315). The organization has a strategy in place to provide elevated goods to its customers.

On the other side, the financial crisis can lead to a decrease in demand for M&S’s high-quality goods as a result of consumers’ reduced discretionary income, further restricting their ability to spend on luxury items or attire. Although M&S is a supermarket behemoth, the latest market trend in the United Kingdom is for smaller retailers. As a result of the lower markup rate, M&S can maintain its premium status. As a result, most people in the UK are shopping at their local store instead of Marks and Spencer’s high-end products. Budget stores pose an imminent threat to Marks and Spencer’s target market, and the brand has had little time to formulate a strategy to combat this threat.

Social Factors

Society’s way of doing things and culture impact the life of an association in an environment. Having existed since the 1800s, M&S is an easily recognized name among the youths and the old. A large portion of the populace connects the brand with the past (Marks and Spencer, 2019). Without a thorough patch-up of the business persona, M&S is projected to lose a more significant part of clients from the most recent ages as new and popular corporate stores spring up consistently. Change from people born after WW2 into generation X and recent college grads necessitates that M&S change strategies to suit the current generation’s needs.

The clothing line sold and demographic and location primarily determine the space allocated to it. Assume, for example, that a few shops in London do not stock the Classic Collection, instead opting for the stock Limited Collection and a complete Autograph set (Šályová et al., 2015, p.364). In any case, the brand can counteract this factor by dominating the ready meals market. Consumption of frozen meals has increased dramatically in the UK and around the world. M&S is now one of the leading manufacturers of frozen meals in the UK.

Technological Factors

Present retail outlets are adapting and changing in response to emerging technology. M&S understands the value of innovation in running a successful company and delivering streamlined, adaptable, and simple client-focused products. Identity is among the most common retail trends today, especially in grocery stores. The business trend aims to save retailers cash that would have been spent on clerks while allowing consumers to check out faster. M&S has successfully introduced several self-service checkout frameworks in its stores, like the UK food retailers. Another significant advancement in the retail sector is online shopping. M&S has established a substantial internet availability, selling nearly all of its products online, including clothes, essentials, and home goods. M&S uses the traditional online shopping method of selling items directly to consumers for their garments. Unlike many other big retail supermarkets in the World, Marks and Spencer do not sell food.

Legal Factors

The corporation is impacted by health and safety rules, environmental issues, consumer rights, antitrust legislation, and other legal considerations. Over the years, M&S has been tied to several legitimate legal problems. As the century progressed, this regulatory wrangling has made it difficult for businesses to retain a clear picture. M&S, but on the other hand, provides training programs on a variety of subjects, including nutrition, and changes them every year to keep up with the new laws and enactments.

M&S has been chastised for allegedly ignoring the safety of its employees by referring them to the risk of asbestos contamination. Because when M&S stores along Canal Street were undergoing renovations, authoritative books containing cancer-causing content fell to the floor. On the other hand, the corporation could not resolve the whole issue and chose not to investigate it further (Zhang et al., 2018, p. 1522). They were convicted on a second degree, one of which was focused on the 1974 Work Health and Safety, which forced them to ensure the laborers’ safety. Those who became tried and convicted of both offenses and each was fined 500,000 pounds. The change of Britain’s monetary laws due to Brexit is another legal factor that would directly affect the brand.

Environmental Factors

The attainment of tighter environmental rules and guidelines being implemented at both the European and global levels and increased market pressure on strategic approaches are a primary point of Marks and Spencer. Significant international retailers and brands must examine the life pattern of their products to be transparent about their principal and tactical environmental activities and be responsible. M&S promotes itself with a luxury brand, and as a result, they are very concerned about the environmental effects of the company (Clarke, Goodwin and Whiteley, 2017, p. 315). Plan A, M&S’s ethical and ecological plan that serves as the foundation for how the company does business both within and outside the company, has helped the company remain at the top of things by purchasing wisely, reducing waste, and assisting partner networks.

With the current climate crisis close by, Plan A from M&S has been respected, and different other retail markets in the UK have followed accordingly. Fairtrade, which is an activity made to compensate foreign producers, also affects the climate (Loredana, 2017, p. 164). The above statement is made based on more modest makers, who attain the most outputs from fair trade while using manageable strategies compared to their bigger competitors. Therefore, M&S sells appropriate trade products, which permits more modest retail organizations to incur less production cost enabling environmentally friendly production techniques.

SWOT Analysis

The SWOT evaluation will be used to assess the internal factors of the organization’s running and the organization’s capabilities (Gürel, 2017, p.999). The results attained intend to outline and assess the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. SWOT Analysis is employed as a form of administration analysis beneficial to corporations like Marks and Spencer. The study is evaluated and compared to those of competing organizations in the industry. This model enables the M&S Group to build more on what it does best, to address what its lacking, minimize its associated risks, and helps the group in making use of the available opportunities for its success.

Strengths

As a leading organization in textiles and fashion, Marks and Spencer have numerous strengths allowing the organization to succeed in the clothing industry. These strengths are valuable in holding a significant part of the market share while diversifying its operations to more fields. Some of the corporation’s strengths include;

• Private labels: as well as selling premium brands, the organization also has products for a wide range of categories. These labels have served their purpose of acquainting clients with the M&S brand.
• The excellent brand image: the organization, Marks and Spencer, positions at the top of the industry targeting the premium section. Thus, engaging a precise demographic of clients who have a deep-seated trust in products from a Marks and Spencer store,
• Multichannel presence: M & M&S has both physical and online stores and diversifies alternatives. (Šályová et al., 2015, p.364).
• Diversity: Marks& Spencer encourages variety and consequently has workers who embrace all identities, religions, and members of the LGBTQIA community. The corporation additionally takes the initiative to monitor and end-all discriminative practices affiliated with their organization.

Weaknesses

• Failure to penetrate effectively in foreign markets: too much dependence on UK markets makes it helpless against economic conditions in foreign nations.
• Supply chain Scalability: Though the company has been focused on offering global availability for their products by using online shopping platforms, their production network remains relatively small, preventing full market penetration.
• Financial performance challenges (Marks and Spencer, 2020). The organization’s share in the way of assets and liquidity suggests poor financial management and planning.
• Consumer loyalty: Frequent item reviews lead to a loss in client certainty

Opportunities

• New Segments: New segments of fashion come up regularly, given that it is an evolving business. Within Asia, a tremendous demand for traditional wear exists, which Marks & Spencer is currently unable to capitalize on.
• M&S can develop their website to provide an alternative to their targeted market to purchase the organization’s brand products without visiting their outlets

Threats

• Competition: Other retail stores offer tough competition due to their discounted prices which affects M&S’s strong sustainability in the market (Zhang et al., 2018, 1522).
• M&S, being a global retailer, is vulnerable to currency fluctuations, especially with the unstable political environment in various business sectors.

Marketing Strategies

To influence potential customers’ interest and purchasing behavior of potential customers, M&S has made several marketing strategies by awaking them about their refined products and services (Kotler and Armstrong, 2017). Following are the marketing strategies:

1. Product description: M&S embraces different promotional tools and procedures to expand information regarding the qualities of the products they supply and their policies in the global market. It incorporates Hoardings, television commercials, using models and superstars, among other measures. Currently, the organization has begun to bargain in monetary administrations to attain a greater portion of the global market to increase the corporation’s revenue (Loredana, 2017, p. 164). Marks and Spencer mainly focused on two portions of marketing: demographic and psychographic marketing that aims to assist the middle- and lower-income earners in gaining access to the organization’s products. These measures directly benefit the profits and market statistics relating to the organization.
2. Brand perceptions: These are characterized by what the corporation presently symbolizes. M&S maintained its product’s position in such a compelling manner that it won’t attract clients towards products but also towards the organization image. This can be upheld by brand communicators like advertising, packaging, verbal exposure, and other promotional techniques (Malhotra et al., 2017). Brand image is essentially influenced when the organization effectively augments the fulfillment level of its clients through their quality items and administrations, thus, achieving a better brand image than its competitors in the market.

Strategic Position

The corporation operates in a competitive field where numerous elements that influence the organization’s power exist (Marks and Spencer, 2019). Their ability to provide a wide array of products, including garments, food, beauty, and domestic use products, needs to focus on numerous contenders. M&S should tread carefully in the way of innovations, sociopolitical, and financial variables. Therefore, the organization should invent and promote revolutions in fashion to lead the market. One of the primary factors influencing the organization’s changing market demographics includes internet sales, as they have no power over it (Maha, 2017).

Ansoff Matrix

Ansoff product/market framework is utilized to recognize the introductory course for M&S. The framework assists in understanding the essential alternatives available to Marks and Spencer concerning the products on sale and the issue of market inclusivity. Research into their essential capacity (Loredana, 2017). Under Ansoff, the following points are considered:

1. Market Penetration: In this methodology, the organization aims to develop existing items in the current market section to share the global market. Marks and Spencer lack an assortment of products; therefore, if they can manage to decrease their products’ cost and expand the modes of selling, they will accomplish competitiveness among their adversaries.
2. Product development: In this system, the organization accomplishes action by acquainting new items with current market sections. It very well may be performed by M&S through the development of their brand using per una methods as it is already well developed (Loredana, 2017, p. 164). Additionally, Information Technology advancement and entering into the financial administrations and banking area can help M&S in accomplishing product development.
3. Market Development: In this technique, the organization accomplishes development by arriving at its current products to new market portions (Marks and Spencer, 2019). M&S can accomplish it by extending its business activities to new nations and entering new sections such as clothes for teenagers and kids wear.
4. Diversification: In this strategy, the company achieves growth by expanding into new companies by developing new items for new business sectors (Dawes, 2018). M&S can similarly diversify in beauty products, food, and home appliances partner with other retailers, making it easy to expand its new product in the new market segment.

Market Segmentation

Market segmentation is beneficial for an organization to analyze the information related to customer perspectives and preference changes (Deepak and Jeyakumar, 2019). M&S uses demographic and psychographic segmentation for marketing its products and services. M&S utilizes this since they deal with different products sold in various countries, making it easy to investigate the necessities and inclinations of multiple fragments.

Under demographic segmentation, the populace is partitioned based on income, age, gender, etc. (Dolnicar et al., 2018, p. 224). This helps the administration of Marks and Spencer to break down the inclinations and necessities within their target market as indicated by their qualities. An example of this is Marks and Spencer looking into developing a stable client base for the middle-income group due to adapting financial models that allow for the moderate cost (Camilleri, 2018). Furthermore, the retailer association offers items and services for each age group from children, grown-ups, ladies, and garments sections for 30 or more age groups.

Under psycho-graphic, the population is differentiated based on the living standards, lifestyle, and disposition of individuals. This engages simplicity in the differentiation of client needs based on their different needs and affordability. This allows for the formation of other adverts that use various marketing initiatives (Pitt, Bal and Plangger, 2020). A clear illustration shows the differentiation between cultural attire and conventional clothing popular in India, following the diversification of products to incorporate all the different dress styles in the region.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is significant for all corporations, regardless of their size, to carry out a market evaluation initiative on a particular timeframe to dissect their current industry status at a given time. However, the administrative personnel should be required to lead PESTLE, SWOT Analysis, and Ansoff matrix strategy. It is needed to appropriately recognize the division of the market to identify and satisfy all necessities and prerequisites of different parts of the markets under research.

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