This report identifies the segmentation, target market and marketing mix of the famous clothing company Marks and Spencer. The company is the famous clothing company in the industry due to its standard quality products. The company is providing innovative and superior quality clothes in the global market. With 78000 employees, Marks and Spencer is largest clothing company in the international market (Marks & Spencer, 2016). The core objective of the company is to provide high level of shopping experience to the consumers so that they can get high quality products. For achieving business objectives, there are some effective tactics adopted by the company i.e. promotional strategies and attractive pricing strategies etc. This report evaluates the tactics used by Marks and Spencer in the operating market in order to gain profit over the competitors.
Marketing is the most important concept which is crucial to implement the competitive business environment. It is very complex for a company to stay connected with all the customers in broad, large and diverse market. It is well known that the company is associated with all kind of clothing products and it is something the company can serve best (Armstrong & Cunningham, 2012). Marks and Spencer is based on the zeal for difference in creative clothing products to as best to their ability. Marks and Spencer covers overall youth market that follow trending clothing products actively. It is very vital from point of view of the marketers to understand their target market. It is very simple to understand that company can’t cover entire market under one blanket. The target strategy of the company is based on the current fashion trends in the market adopted by the customers (Roger, 2013).
Segmentation is the division of the overall market and customers based on their likes, tastes and preferences. Marks and Spencer determines the market and targets the customers with various criteria i.e. the clothing product lines are helpful to explore the market in the better manner. The product line of Marks and Spencer is helpful in targeting the customers in terms of demographic, geographic and psychographic profile so that their needs and requirements of the customers can be fulfilled (Bickhoff, Hollensen & Opresnik, 2014).
Demographics- In the clothing industry, women are especially targeted by the company Marks and Spencer. Company satisfies this market segment by providing quality products according to their age group. Basically, company targets the age group of women above the age of 20 years. Young girls also seek for colorful and beautiful clothing products as they are more conscious for their styles and looks. It is observed that the tastes and preferences of the customers are changed because of the role models. Along with this, media has played important roles in changing the requirements of the young girls for their fashion clothes.
Geographic- In Marks and Spencer, major geographic segment includes 337 stores in 41 countries global world. The company segments the market geographically i.e. developing stores in countries and follows the strategy of consistent packaging and this makes shopping easy for the customers. There are some environmental factors like climate change, rainfall, humidity and the target customers of Marks and Spencer have changed their trends and patterns based on the climate changes. The pattern of business of Marks and Spencer deals with the change in season (Peñaloza, Toulouse & Visconti, 2013).
Behavioral- Marks and Spencer is using behavioral segmentation to target the customers. For the company, premium customers are the regular customers. Customers come back to the company as they are satisfied with the quality and trendy clothing products. For the company, regular customers are crucial to enhance the profit in the market as the customers have power to buy more products and money. Along with this, loyal customers are helpful for the company to enhance the sales. Due to the quality products, strong brand image of the company can be maintained. Marks and Spencer has loyalty and trust of the customers because of the low cost strategy with high quality products (Chakravarthy & Coughlan, 2011).
Target market can be explained as the procedure of reaching to the possible customers from diverse marketplace. If any company is working in the international market then it is important for the company to attract new customers in the operating market. If the company is operating in the global market, it is important for the company to do proper research of that market. Basically, target market can be considered the place where company seeks to put up for sale its products and services to the potential consumers. This is important part of the marketing strategy of the company. For Marks and Spencer, there are various competitors in the clothing retail industry i.e. Zara, GAP, and H&M which are leading companies. The target market of Marks and Spencer are young and business class people. In current time, people are seeking for quality in the clothes. Customers want to wear such clothes in which they feel relaxed. One of advantage of targeting youth and office people is that they understand new trends in fashion. They know about their monetary capabilities to buy the clothes. So, they always play a significant role for the company to enhance the sales (Boone & Kurtz, 2013).
Main customers of Marks and Spencer are large part of youth who are highly attracted towards the clothing and new fashion products. Youth including men and women are the key target customers of Marks and Spencer. Along with this, female customers are targeted by the company in order to create awareness about new trends of fashion. Further, target customers of the company include middle income groups which are targeted by selling high fashion low cost products (Taleghani et al, 2011). These customers are one of the potential customer bases for the products of the company. Marks and Spencer is providing low cost products in order to cover average income group which is the largest segment in the market. The company is targeting me, women and children and believing that fashion clothing is not only for average size people. So, the company is targeting people of all body types and believing that everybody deserves to wear clothes relted to current fashion trends (Martínez, 2012).
The marketing mix of Marks and Spencer includes 4Ps i.e. product, price, place and promotion and explains the marketing strategy of the company. Marks and Spencer has unique marketing strategies in order to attract the customers in all over the world. The company has wide range of products based on the needs and requirements of the customers.
The products of Marks and Spencer can be categorized into three lines of business i.e. general merchandise, food and financial services. The product lines of broad products include clothing for women, handbags, footwear, and various accessories. Further, food business include wide range of ready food items including perishable, ethnic food, meats, alcoholic and nonalcoholic food. In the eclectic section of food, there are salmon en croute, chocolate covered ginger biscuit, mushroom risotto, and chicken tikka sandwiches. In current time, the company is changing its food products and introducing juice and coffee bars in various stores.
Next, company also provides financial services to the customers including personal loans, store credit cards, unit trusts, personal equity plans and life insurance. Credit cards provided by Marks and Spencer are only received by the company in its various stores as Marks and Spencer does not take cards of various cards such as Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. Customers always into their Marks and Spencer’s credit cards and get up to 20 times of buying power. This is the best increasing segment of the business process of Marks and Spencer. So, Marks and Spencer wide range of products targeting every person from middle age people to kids. The company has expertise to deliver high quality products consistently (Cavusgil, 2012).
Marks and Spencer is following value pricing strategy. Initially, Michael Marks put all the products in one side of the stores with a sigh saying ‘don’t ask the price, it’s a penny.’ Since Marks and Spencer is focusing on middle class customers and adopting value pricing tactic (Peck et al, 2013). The company is able to maintain the values by establishing strong relations with the suppliers. By maintaining relationship with the suppliers, company is able to meet quality values of the products while providing them to the customers. Because of its strengths, Marks and Spencer has managed to keep moderately prices of the products (Gilligan & Hird, 2012).
Marks and Spencer has adopts two basic formulas in the business. First formula of the company is general merchandise stores including the product line of foods, on the other hand, second includes clothing products. Company has established its stores on the main areas of big cities as the company wants to create significant gathering around the capital cities. The company has covered precious global group with footholds in prime cities and districts in all over the world. Now, company is aggressively focuses on building distribution networks by online marketing in order to supply its growing international processes (Terpstra, Foley & Sarathy, 2011).
Because of some negative factors such as lack of products, providing wring size, Marks and Spencer need to re-brand for attracting the customers and start a fresh. This is done by changing the appearance and designs of the stores. The company is focusing colors and products including enthusiasm and freshness. The windows displays are creatively designed with vibrant colors and innovative design products. The arrangements of the stores grab hold the interests of the customers, especially female youth which is the important target market of the company. This is also an advertisement technique of Marks and Spencer which also comes under the re-branding of the stores in order to gain new brand image among the customers (Fifield, 2012).
Marks and Spencer is engaged with various advertisements like television, print advertisements and online advertisements. For the marketing plan, Marks and Spencer can adopt some promotional methods in order to enhance the brand awareness among the customers.
Print media-
Newspaper is the most popular advertisement medium in every country. There are some newspapers which have high readership rates. Along with this, they are mainly read by working class people.u In order to target youth market, Marks and Spencer can also advertise in the popular magazines.
Television-
This is the most successful medium in order to reach mass-market. Marks and Spencer can consider buying period in programs that have higher viewership. For instance, China Central Television (CTV) claims that there are around 600 million audiences for daily evening news and this is making it most watched news program across the world. During the running of popular programs, advertisements can also be shown by the company. Marks and Spencer can create eye-catching advertisements with the cool graphics and catchy tunes. Along with this, famous national or international celebrities can also be used for TV advertisements in order to grasp the attention of the customers. These advertisements will be helpful in attracting those customers who also like Marks and Spencer as a good brand (Pavlou & Stewart, 2015).
This medium is used in all over the world in order to get message and create the interest for the brand. In every country, 1/3 of the population is active on online and social media sites and this reveals that online advertisements will be successful for the company. Internet is the good way to target the young people for the clothing products. FaceBook is the popular website to attract the customers in all over the world. Marks and Spencer must try and join the social media sites in order to create alertness, provide information to youth about the specific brands and products and motivate them to purchase those products (McCoy, Everard, Polak & Galletta, 2007). This is an effective way to stay connected with the youth, and to get know the suggestions and viewpoints of the customers. By this way, Marks and Spencer will be able to get the overview of the needs and necessities of the customers in the market and create products to satisfy them.
References
Armstrong, G., & Cunningham, M. H., (2012), Principles of marketing, Australia: Pearson publication
Bickhoff, N., Hollensen, S., & Opresnik, M., (2014), The Quintessence of Marketing: Strategic and Operative Marketing Planning—Segmenting, Targeting, Positioning. pp. 47-11
Boone, L., & Kurtz, D., (2013), Contemporary marketing, USA: Cengage Learning
Cavusgil, S. T., (2012), International Business: The New Realities. Australia: Pearson Education
Chakravarthy, B., & Coughlan, S., (2011), Emerging market strategy: innovating both products and delivery systems, 40(1), 27-32
Fifield, P., (2012), Marketing strategy (2nd edition), Berlin: Reed educational & publishing Pvt Ltd
Gilligan, C., & Hird, M. (2012), International Marketing Strategy and Management, (Vol. 17)
Marks & Spencer, (2016), Annual Report & Financial Statements, London: Marks & Spencer Plc
Martínez, P., (2012), The Consumer Mind: Brand Perception and the Implications for Marketers, USA: Kogan Page Ltd
McCoy, S., Everard, A., Polak, P., & Galletta, D., (2007), The Effects of Online Advertising. Communications of the ACM, 50(3), 84-88.
Pavlou, P. A., & Stewart, D. W., (2015), Interactive Advertising: A New Conceptual Framework Towards Integrating Elements of the Marketing Mix, pp. 218-222
Peck, H., Christopher, M., Clark, M., & Payne, A., (2013), Relationship Marketing, Burlington: Linacre house, Jordon hill
Peñaloza, L., Toulouse, N., & Visconti, L. M., (2013), Marketing management: A cultural perspective, USA: Routledge
Roger, A.K., (2013), Marketing In Asia. (2nd). Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill Education.
Taleghani, M., Biabani, S., Gilaninia, S., Rahbarinia, S. A., & Mousavian, S. J.,(2011), Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review :The Relationship between Customer Satisfaction and Relationship Marketing Benefits, 1(3), 78-86
Terpstra, V., Foley, J., & Sarathy, R. (2011), International marketing. Naper Publishing
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