Marketing Process and Planning Assignment Sample

Introduction To Marketing Process and Planning Assignment

Profitability and the sales of the organization are depending on the marketing strategy employed in the firm. Marketing is very crucial in the working of the organization and helps maintain the stability of the company. This report is based on Weezy Company which operates as an online retail business in UK. The report will also include the importance of the marketing strategy in the success of the company. The interrelation of marketing with the other units in the business will also be described in this report. The marketing plan and the media plan for the company will also be described in the report.

LO1

P1. Explaining the role of marketing in the organization:

Marketing plays an importance role in the working and the success of the firm. It helps in determining the long term stability and the growth opportunities for the company. Various important roles of the effective marketing in the organization could be understood through following points:

• Increase the sales: Marketing helps in inclusion of the effective strategy to promote the products or services in the market. These include involving various advertisement and the social media marketing tools which will help in improving the sales of the product.
• Enhance profitability: With appropriate marketing strategy the company will able to retain the current customer base and will attract new prospects as well (Rangaswamy, et. al, 2020). This will help in increasing the sales which eventually leading to improving the profitability of the organization.
• Establish Relationship: Under marketing the product will be launch after analysis the current needs and the preference of the customer. This will help in establishing relation between organization and its customer by satisfying their needs.
• Increasing reputation: Effective marketing will help in improving the satisfaction level of customers by providing the goods and service according to their needs. This will help in improving the goodwill and the reputations of the firm.
• Creating Awareness: Marketing will help in creating awareness in the market related to the company goods & services. This will eventually lead to attract more customers toward the organization's offering by displaying the features and the advantages of the products.

P2. Explaining marketing relationships with other Business units:

In Weezy, marketing is interrelated with various other function of the organization. This could be understood through following description:

• Marketing and production: The Company aims at offering the product which could satisfy the needs and the preference of the customers. Marketing and the production department work together which help in determining the current need through the research & development and aim at launching product on time to create the competitive edge.
• Marketing and Finance: The marketing could be effective implemented through the adequate amount of the finance in the organization (Zhou, Movado and Saunders, 2019). The finance department will be liable to allot the efficient funds for the advertisement and the distribution function.
• Human resource management and the Marketing: The marketing department needs to ensure that the recruitment of the employees is done in fair basis. This will help in acquiring the personnel which are having effective skills and the capabilities. Marketing department co-ordinates with research team which helps in identifying the needs and preferences of the customer on which further decision could be taken (Relationship of marketing and the finance department, 2019). The marketing department of the organization ensures that the employees are trained enough which could able to achieve the sales target and help in increasing the sales.

Marketing mix and its importance

Marketing mix refer to as employing various tools to create a brand which provide product that could satisfy the need of the customer. This includes using adequate pricing strategy and selecting the suitable promotional channel for promoting the product. This also included selection of the distribution channel through which all the customers could have access to company's product.

Importance of the marketing mix

• This will help in satisfy the need of the customer by launching product after conducting research program.
• This will help in determining the exact pricing for the product. This is the most important factor which will help in assessing the profitability and sustainability of the organization.
• Marketing mix helps in deciding the exact promotional strategy which the company should implement to attract more customer in the market (Lahtinen, Dietrich and Rundle-Thiele, 2020.). This will help in analyzing all the promotional strategy available determines the best which could result in increasing the sales of company.
• This tool will help in providing the good and service to wide areas of the customer by choosing the appropriate channel of distribution.

LO2

P3. Comparing the ways in which different organizations apply the marketing mix to the planning process for achieving business objectives

For successful working of the organization and increasing the profitability of the company the current marketing plan has been used. This marketing plan is including the 4 P's of the marketing which is helpful in getting the appropriate outcome. The 4 P's of the marketing will include:

• Product: The Company had conducted the research program and identify that the use of the frozen food has been increased in the UK. The company is providing various type of grocery product includes clothing, self care and the food.
• Price: For attracting more customers toward the brand penetration pricing strategy will be implemented by the company. This will help in offering at the cheaper rate at the initial stages which will help in increasing the sales by influencing more customers to buy the product.
• Place: The product will be offered thorough the online platform via company's official website. This will help in reducing the cost to customer due to no involvement of the middle man in the distribution channel.
• Promotion: It is the most important stage as this will help in determining the sources through which the product of the company will be promoted. For promoting the product digital marketing method will use as the frozen food are mainly prefer by the young generation which stay along due to the business or study purpose. Advertisement on Instagram and Facebook is the important part which will use in promoting on social media sites. For Weezy, it is more economical method as this does not involve high cost and have huge impact in influencing the customer.

The marketing mix of the company WEEZY is different from the other retail company such as Tesco and Sainsbury. Following are the point of comparison:

LO3

P4. Developing a marketing plan

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Online Grocery industry in the UK has been growing at the faster rate in the current situation. The current report is based on the marketing plan of the Wheezy Company which is planning to launch healthy and energetic bars in the market. Brexit has negative impact on the working of the organizations in the UK and leding to the increasing the inflation. The Company is able to create the loyal customer base but lacking behind in providing the healthier option to the individual. The company is aiming at increasing the sales by 10% at the end of the current year for which the marketing plan have been produced. The company is using the cost effective strategy for determining the price and social media marketing for promoting the product in the market. KPIs and the benchmarking technique have been used to determine the efficiency of the marketing plan.

SITUATION ANALYSIS

Pestle analysis

• Political factors: Rule and the regulation for the working of the UK retail industry has been impact by the Brexit. This had created political instability and uncertainty in the country (Pestle analysis of the retail industry in UK, 2023). The government has continuous change in the tax policy if the country impacting the cost for the organization.
• Economic factors: The inflation rate in the country has been increased which have changed the spending pattern of the customers. There is high fluctuation in the currency because of the brexit.
• Social factors: The Company is impacted by the changes in the needs and preferences of the customer. These will include the changes in the lifestyle, attitude and the buying habits of the customer which impact the profitability of the company.'
• Technological factors: Regular up-gradation in the technology made it necessary for the company to invest in the new technology. Increasing the use of the digital method to complete the routine task and identify the upcoming trends in market.
• Legal factors: The organization needs to compile its operation with the legal requirement of the retail industry. The company needs to follow the standard if the FSA target and the food safety.
• Environment factors: The UK government has paid emphasis in the zero wastage policy which the company needs to follow (Achinas, et. al, 2019). The packaging of the product should not include the plastic and material must be recyclable.

SWOT analysis:

• Strengths: Company is operating on the online mode so it has covered a large number of customers. Provide goods at the cheaper rate as no middle man include in the process of the distribution which helps in attracting more customers. The company is able to create the customer loyalty by properly attaining their feedbacks and solving queries.
• Weaknesses: The Company is unable to provide good according to the customization because of the small areas of operation. The offering is not including the healthy food options which do not attract individual with the healthier lifestyle.
• Opportunities: Today, most of the individuals are focusing toward the healthier option in the food & drink sections (Phadermrod, Crowder and Wills, 2019). The company did not have much option for the healthier and the energetic food & drinks. Products in these ranges should be introduced by the company which will help in attracting and gaining new customers.
• Threats: In UK there is high amount of the competition in the retail industry which made it difficult for the small company to maintain their existences. As the company is following the penetration pricing strategy it will difficult for them to increase their profitability.

Porter 5 forces analysis:

In the retail industry there is a threat of the new entrance in the industry as they are not so many complicated laws which need to follow for entrance in the market. In the retail industry buyer have strong bargaining power as the retail industry is operating in perfect competitive market (Arifin, et. al, 2019). The supplier does not have high bargaining power due to availability of large amount of competitors in the market. There is high threat of the substitution in the retail industry.

Market Objectives

The company is aiming at increasing the profitability to have sustainability in the industry. The goals could be achieve by the objective of increasing the sales by 10% at the end of the year.

MARKETING STRATEGY

Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning:

• Segmentation: The Health bars will be segmented on the demographic basis. Hence, customers will be segmented on the basis of age and lifestyle.
• Targeting: The main target will be the individual with the age group of 14- 40year who are focused towards living a healthy lifestyle.
• Positioning: The bar is consisting of the protein and the fats in a balanced amount which will help in maintaining the energy level. The Product will be provided at the lower price than the competitors pricing.

Marketing Mix:

There are 7 P's of marketing which have been used to successful identification of the need & preference of the customer. It aims at launching the product which will be useful in satisfying their needs. The marketing mix related to new product launching by Weezy is as follows:

• Product: The Company has undertaken the market survey through which they have identified that the individual in UK are more concerned toward the healthier and energetic bars. To fulfill the need of target market company has decided to launch the range of the healthy juice and bars.
• Price: The Company will be using the cost Leadership pricing strategy which helps in determining the exact cost for the product (Jindal, et. al, 2020). The profit margin will be added to the cost of production which will help in determine the price of the product for the consumer.
• Place: The healthier bar could be store for the longer time without the fear of being spoiled. The company will be using the online mode of the distribution for making the product available to the customers.
• Promotion: Under this, the company is aiming at including the digital method for promoting three products (Li, Larimo and Leonidou, 2021). Social media marketing is the crucial strategy which will help in attracting more customers through giving advertisement on Instagram and Facebook. The company will also promote their product through the advertisement on the TVs. Influencer marketing will also be used which will help in aging the most of the young generation.
• People: This includes various stakeholders which are been impacted by the profitability of organization. The customer feedback and queries will be solved by the implication of the websites where they can share their views. The company will focus on providing effective financial and non-financial incentives which will helpful in retaining the employees in the organization.
• Process: The Company is using direct selling method for offering products to the customers. This includes no involvement of the intermediaries in the distribution process which will help in reducing the cost for the consumers.
• Physical evidence: The product will be sold with the primary packaging which will also be done with the material which does not impact the environment.

LO4

P5. Producing a media plan that includes the rationale for the selected media activities

Action program

For marketing purpose, SMM is chosen because now people are highly active on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. Thus, by uploading stories, promotional messages on such sites Weezy can attract target market to the significant level.

Controls and monitoring

The company will use the benchmarking technique to identify that the objective which has been set are achieved or not. Various Financial, Operational, and the HR key performance indicators will use as the standard on which the performance will be monitored. Deviation will be identified and the appropriate measure will be undertaken for reduce the differences.

Conclusion

It has been concluded from the report that the marketing plays a crucial role in the development and the profitability of the company. It helps in increasing in sales and the profit of the company which helps in ensuring the sustainability of the company. Marketing is interrelated to the finance, human resources and the production department of the company. The company is including the penetration pricing method and the digital marketing strategy for effective marketing mix.

References

Books and Journals

• Achinas, S., Horjus, J., Achinas, V. and Euverink, G.J.W., 2019. A PESTLE analysis of biofuels energy industry in Europe. Sustainability, 11(21), p.5981.
• Arifin, F.A.S., Syah, T.Y.R., Indradewa, R. and Pusaka, S., 2019. Sales and Marketing Strategies Duck Nugget Product Using Porter's Five Force and SWOT Analysis. Journal of Multidisciplinary Academic, 3(4), pp.71-75.
• Jindal, P., Zhu, T., Chintagunta, P. and Dhar, S., 2020. Marketing-mix response across retail formats: the role of shopping trip types. Journal of Marketing, 84(2), pp.114-132.
• Li, F., Larimo, J. and Leonidou, L.C., 2021. Social media marketing strategy: definition, conceptualization, taxonomy, validation, and future agenda. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 49, pp.51-70.
• Phadermrod, B., Crowder, R.M. and Wills, G.B., 2019. Importance-performance analysis based SWOT analysis. International journal of information management, 44, pp.194-203.
• Lahtinen, V., Dietrich, T. and Rundle-Thiele, S., 2020. Long live the marketing mix. Testing the effectiveness of the commercial marketing mix in a social marketing context. Journal of Social Marketing, 10(3), pp.357-375.
• Rangaswamy, A., Moch, N., Felten, C., Van Bruggen, G., Wieringa, J.E. and Wirtz, J., 2020. The role of marketing in digital business platforms. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 51(1), pp.72-90.
• Rosnizam, M.R.A.B., Kee, D.M.H., Akhir, M.E.H.B.M., Shahqira, M., Yusoff, M.A.H.B.M., Budiman, R.S. and Alajmi, A.M., 2020. Market opportunities and challenges: A case study of Tesco. Journal of the community development in Asia, 3(2), pp.18-27.
• Zhou, J., Mavondo, F.T. and Saunders, S.G., 2019. The relationship between marketing agility and financial performance under different levels of market turbulence. Industrial Marketing Management, 83, pp.31-41.

Online

• Pestle analysis of the retail industry in UK. 2023. [Online] available through:< https://www.scribd.com/document/117023053/pestle-analysis-of-retailing-industries-in-united-kingdom#:~:text=PESTLE%20Introduction,several%20households%20in%20the%20UK.>
• Relationship of marketing and the finance department. 2019. [ Online] available through:< https://imm.ac.za/the-relationship-between-marketing-and-finance/#:~:text=A%20relationship%20between%20the%20two,not%20be%20a%20marketing%20budget.>