Strategic Marketing Analysis and Planning for Sainsbury

Introduction:

An effective marketing plan is crucial for any organisation to improve its business decision making and internal business environment to grab a high competitive advantage in the international market (Kurian et al. 2019). This study is going to discuss the marketing process and planning of the famous UK based supermarket chain Sainsbury into two parts. The first part of this assignment will discuss the concept of marketing in the 21st century and the roles of marketing in the modern business world. This section will also discuss how Sainsbury conducts its marketing functions in terms is maintaining an effective interrelation between marketing functions with other organisational departments. In this section, the study will present the extended marketing mix for Sainsbury to explain how the marketing team uses market elements of the marketing mix to improve its business objectives and business decision making. The second part of this assignment will present a marketing plan and a media plan for Sainsbury. Under this marketing plan the SMART objectives, situational analysis, market audit, marketing segmentation, a comprehensive media plan and the media budget will be explained. Finally, this assignment will present the suitable recommendation to the marketing team of Sainsbury regarding how to improve its overall marketing functions thereby improving overall competitive position in the market.,

Part 1

LO1: Explaining the roles of marketing and how it can be interrelated to the other business units in an organisation:

Concept of marketing and marketing operation including various areas and roles of marketing:

Defining and explaining marketing in the 21st century:

In the current millennium, the market pace has new and innovative, marketing rules for the business leaders. As stated by Koivisto (2018), marketing can be defined as the selling and buying of goods and services to meet the customer’s demand. As mentioned by Fahad and Tran (2019), in the 21st century the marketplace is not the same as it used to be. Many external forces pose potential influences of marketing rules, decision making and market strategies. These factors are globalisation, technological advancement, political changes, deregulation and socio-cultural changes. All these factors make potential changes in the customers’ perspectives, buying behaviour and preference of customers which make marketers make necessary adjustments in their marketing strategies to cope up with these changes. In the current marketplace, marketers are exposed to the globalisation and internet which enables them to conduct thorough research on the overall market sector (Keegan and Rowley, 2016). Though using social media and the internet, both the sellers and buyers becomes smart by gathering valuable knowledge regarding the marketing process, today marketers can conduct the online research analysis on the customer buying behaviour and the current marketing trend which enables marketers to make necessary changes in their products and services as the changing needs and demands of customers. On the other hand, today’s customers can obtain extensive product and services related information from social media which improves their ability to buy products by comparing their prices and values.

Today’s marketers face severe challenges and competition in the marketplace due to the ever-changing demand and buying behaviour of customers and ever-increasing rivalries in the international and domestic market (Carpenter, 2016). In the 21st century, marketers must understand that customers always expect high-quality products and services as compared to their prices. Today’s customers become highly price-sensitive which pose pressure on marketers to set justified and attractive prices of their products which can convince the customer to invest in the products of the company. In the current era, marketers make changes in the trend in business decision making and market analysis in such a way that can enable the company to cope up with ever-increasing rivalries in the market to grab a good competitive advantage.

How marketing functions work and are interconnected with other organisational departments in Sainsbury:

Sainsbury, the famous supermarket chain in the UK has a well-organised and highly skilled marketing team that functions effectively in coordination with the other departments to enhance organisational productivity. The marketing department of Sainsbury functions in the following way to interrelate with other organisational units:

Marketing functions related to research and development (R&D):

The marketing department of any organisation is strongly involved in research and development (R&D) on products and services (Fahad and Tran, 2019). Sainsbury has a highly efficient and skilled marketing department that keeps conducting thorough research on product optimisation, pricing strategies, services development, customer demand and recent supermarket trend. Thrush conducting an effective R&D function, the marketing team of Sainsbury is able to make an innovative and new marketing plan to promote products and services to the customers to improve their annual profits.

Marketing functions related to finance:

Marketing functions are also associated with maintaining a healthy financial structure within any organisation (Camilleri, 2016). Sainsbury’s marketing department plays a crucial role in providing valuable advice to the finance team regarding the current pricing strategies, expected cost and expenditure for products and services. The marketing and finance department of Sainsbury is well-connected with one another in terms of sharing, receiving and sending all the necessary information regarding the changes that need to be done in the costing and pricing process from product and cut down the expenditure of the company.

Marketing functions are interrelated to the HR department:

The marketing department influences the way the HR team of any organisation performs. In Sainsbury, there is a highly skilled and efficient HR team which is also linked to the marketing department for receiving valuable advice regarding improving the hiring and recruiting strategies (Allan and Ali, 2017). Marketers conduct thorough research on the internal business environment, the competitive position of the company to guide the HR department regarding what hiring strategies the HR manager will apply to recruit the best marketing and management, candidates. I Sainsbury, marketing manager maintain clear and regular interaction with the HR manager to discuss the skill and abilities that need to be developed within the employed to enhance the productivity of the company.

LO2 Compare ways in which organisations use elements of the marketing mix to achieve overall business objectives.

Explaining extended marketing mix of Sainsbury:

The marketing mix is the marketing plan which marketers use to conduct an effective product and service promotion thereby enhancing the brand values and competitors advantages of their company (Camilleri, 2016). Sainsbury’s marketing team uses the extended marketing mix to develop a highly appropriate marketing plan for promoting its products and services. The extended marketing mix has 7 marketing elements such as products, price, promotion, place, people, process and physical evidence.

Product:

Sainsbury is a famous supermarket chain in the UK that sells different categories of products. The marketers of Sainsbury emphasize selling high-end products that have the best quality and values as compared to its price. This company has several supermarket stores across the world which offer more than 30000 product lines, among which more than 20% are from Sainsbury’s brand. Sainsbury sells a wide range of products including foods, stationary products such as:

Bakery products, ready to eat meals, organic food, low-fat foods, dairy products, wheat and gluten

Clothes

Home collections, kitchen products and furniture

Sainsbury’s marketers emphasize not only the product quality and values but also the health benefits of each product. The manufacturers of Sainsbury use biodegradable packaging which is made up of potatoes and other organic products to ensure the health and safety of customers.

Price:

Sainsbury’s marketers use the 'competitive pricing policy which allows this company to set the justified price for each product as per the quality of the products, the marketers of this company believe in the "value for money policy. Under this pricing strategy, marketers position the products at the high-end market by setting justified market prices which not only allows marketers to attract customer attention but also maintain healthy profit margins.

Place:

Place and distribution channels are the two important marketing elements for any organisation which enable marketers to decide how effectively the product and services of the company will reach the customer's eye (Carpenter, 2016). Sainsbury has more than 700 convenience stores and 500 supermarkets across the world. Moreover, some of Sainsbury’s stores are open 24x7 for offering all-time valuable services to its customers. Sainsbury has 2 national distribution centres (NDC) and 13 regional distribution centres (RDC) which enables this company to obtain the raw material frozen food on time.

Promotion:

Sainsbury’s marketers make good use of the below the line (BTL) and above the line (ATL) promotional strategy. Below the line (BTL) marketing strategy is associated with the conventional ways of advertising products through using the concept of ‘tough a feel’ by customers (Camilleri, 2016). Under the BTL process, the marketers Sainsbury’s provide customers with discounts, buy one get one offer and the occasional special offers. This strategy is used by the stores of Sainsbury’s by conducting the offline promotion campaign within the stores. Customers who visit these stores are provided with gifts, and free products or demo products which make customers feel and understand the quality as well as benefits of the products,

The above the line (ATL) strategy is also proved to be the best promotional strategy for the marketers of Sainsbury in which marketers use TV, radio, newspaper, and social media to promote their products and services. The marketer also uses the content and database promotion by using attracting the packaging of products.

People:

Sainsbury’ has highly skilled and efficient professionals who determine customers' buying behaviours and current customer demand. The high skilled marketing managers of Sainsbury’ conduct thorough research on the current market trend to make the necessary changes in their marketing rules and regulation to meet the changing demand of its customers. Sainsbury's marketers emphasize conducting the customer-centric business strategy in which the customer demand and preferences are prioritised. Marketers focus on improving the online business of Sainsbury’s in which customers are provided with the ‘Click and collect’ facility. Sainsbury’s marketers believe in maintaining loyal and trustworthiness with customers by providing the best products and services

Process:

Sainsbury’s marketers implemented highly efficient and automated processes for product manufacturing and service optimisation. Through the installation of highly modern software and useful technologies, Sainsbury improves its overall operation management and marketing process which not only improves its product and service but also improves its productivity.

Physical evidence:

Sainsbury’s has its trustworthy store layout and design which deals with the varied customers’ demands. The use of biodegradable packaging ensures the emphasis of this brand on the health and safety of customers.

Part 2:

LO3: producing the marketing plan for an organisation to meet its marketing objectives:

Organisation: Sainsbury

SMART marketing objectives of Sainsbury:

Situational analysis:

For aching the above-mentioned smart goal, marketers of Sainsbury need to conduct the following situational analysis which will allow marketers to understand the impact that the internal and external business factors pose on the overall operation and business decision making of this company.

Macro environmental analysis (PESTEL analysis);

Microenvironmental analysis: (SWOT analysis)

Market segmentation:

Market segmentation is the marketing approach that marketers use to divide the market based on some characteristics or factors (Opresnik, 2018) These factors are demographic, psychographic, geographic and behavioural factors. Sainsbury’s marketers have made an effective market segmentation plan which they will implement to launch and promote the luxurious range of food products their own brand.

Demographic segmentation:

Under this segmentation the marketers Sainsbury will follow the following aspects:

Gender: both males and females are targeted for selling the luxurious food products of Sainsbury

Age: young people are targeted who belong to the age group 19-45 years.

Region: people in the UK are targeted for launching the luxurious food products

Demographics segmentation:

Under this segmentation, marketers of Sainsbury has selected 4 demographic characters of target customers such as education, income level, social status and occupation (Rayme et al. 2019). People who have a minimum of higher secondary education are targeted for selling the luxurious range of food products. This is because a basic education of target customers is important to make them understand the value, quality and health benefits of the food products of this brand as compared to the other brand. Middle and high incomes level people are targeted for selling these food products. As the food products that Sainsbury is going to launch has high priced as compared to the ordinary food products due to authentic taste and quality, high and middle-income people are targeted. People who belong to white-collar jobs and positive cultural trends are selected.

Psychographic segmentation:

In this segmentation process, marketers of Sainsbury select the 2 psychographic characters by its target customers such as lifestyle and personality. Customers who believe in high standards or traditionalist lifestyles are selected (Shen, 2018). Moreover, customers who are food lovers, liberal and friendly are targeted by Sainsbury for launching its luxurious food products. This is because customers who lead the high standard or traditionalist lifestyle can understand the uniqueness of Sainsbury's products

Behavioural:

Customers who are friendly, positive and liberal are selected by Sainsbury. This is because positive people can easily be convinced by marketers of Sainsbury to buy the food products.

Targeting strategy:

Marketers of Sainsbury target people who are young have positive outlooks and liberal viewpoints (Shen, 2018). Sainsbury’s marketers believe that young and positive customers can easily understand their uniqueness, authenticity and the health benefits of luxurious ranges of food products of Sainsbury. Moreover, Sainsbury targets the middle and high-income customers which can afford the food products, lower incomes people are not targeted because the luxurious food products that Sainsbury’s going to launch is little overhyped as compared to the ordinary food products.

Positioning:

Marketers of Sainsbury used price positioning and function positioning strategy. The functional positioning strategy enables the marketers to enhance the quality, values and health benefits of the food products of Sainsbury. The price positing strategy allows marketers to set the justified prices for each food product to make the product attracted to customers

LO4 Develop a media plan to support a marketing campaign for an organisation.

Marketers of Sainsbury will follow the flowing media plan:

Online promotional campaign:

Marketers of Salisbury will use Google+, YouTube and Facebook to promote the luxurious food products to attract customers' attention. This social media promotion allows the marketer to convey information on luxurious food products to millions of consumers.

Content development:

Through using attractive content on the website, social media and blogs, marketers of Sainsbury can promote their products and services in front of several customers.

Advertisement through the newspaper:

Marketers of Sainsbury can adversative their food products by publishing the ads in famous newspapers in the UK to increase the reach the products information to millions of newspapers readers.

Conclusion:

From the above-mentioned discussion, it can be stated that marketing is the process in which marketers use effective business decision to improve the brain position of an organisation. Marketing functions are essential for any company to maintain a healthy balance among various organisational functions. Therefore marketers must use relevant and realistic market strategies to improve the overall business growth.

Reference list:

Allan, M. and Ali, N.N., 2017. Employing social media websites and their role in determining the targeted audience for marketing within cloth manufacturing sector in Jordan. Innovative Marketing (Hybrid), 13(2), pp.47-55.

Caetano, F.G.V., 2017. Plano de social media marketing para o Bola na Rede (Doctoral dissertation, Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão).

Camilleri, J., 2016. The use of social media marketing in tourism enterprises in Malta (Bachelor's thesis, University of Malta).

Carpenter, A. and Dharmasena, S., 2016. Effects Of Social Media Marketing On Small-Scale Horse Farms In The United States (No. 1376-2016-109779).

Carpenter, A.K., 2016. Social Media Marketing for Small-Scale Hobby Horse Farm (Doctoral dissertation).

Fahad, Z. and Tran, H., 2019. Development of a digital marketing plan by using a combination of digital marketing tools.

Fordred, C.L. and Mearns, K., 2018. Resilience thinking used as a sustainable tourism marketing tool for protected areas. Marketing Sustainable Tourism Products, p.64.

Fyall, A., Legohérel, P., Frochot, I. and Wang, Y., 2019. Marketing for Tourism and Hospitality: Collaboration, Technology and Experiences. Routledge.

Gupta, G., 2019. Inclusive use of digital marketing in tourism industry. In Information Systems Design and Intelligent Applications (pp. 411-419). Springer, Singapore.

Hosie, P. and Pforr, C., 2016. Crisis and post-crisis tourism destination recovery marketing strategies. In Crisis Management in the Tourism Industry (pp. 225-242). Routledge.

Jatav, S. and Mittal, A., 2017. The Role of Service Marketing in India with Reference to the Tourism Industry. In Tourism Marketing (pp. 81-94). Apple Academic Press.

John, S., Larke, R. and Kilgour, M., 2018. Applications of social media for medical tourism marketing: an empirical analysis. Anatolia, 29(4), pp.553-565.

Keegan, B.J. and Rowley, J., 2016. Evaluation and decision-making in social media marketing. Management Decision.

Koivisto, P., 2018. Social Media Marketing Plan for Filippa K Finnish Market.

Kurian, A.A., Asokan, S. and Dham, S., 2019. Social Media Marketing and SMEs: Is it a Winning Combination in Singapore? An Analysis. Indira Management Review, 13(1), pp.9-33.

Macarthy, A., 2018. 500 Social Media Marketing Tips: Essential Advice, Hints and Strategy for Business Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and More!. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Opresnik, M.O., 2018, July. Effective Social Media Marketing Planning–How to Develop a Digital Marketing Plan. In International Conference on Social Computing and Social Media (pp. 333-341). Springer, Cham.

Ozuem, W. ed., 2016. Competitive social media marketing strategies. IGI Global.

Rayme, G., Clark, J., Cohea, T. and Hughes, T., 2019. MARKETING PLAN.

Samimi, A., 2016. Social Media Marketing Plan.

Shen, L., 2018. The New Social Media Marketing Plan for HK Maxims’ Cakes in Mainland China–A Case Study. International Journal of Economics, Finance and Management Sciences, 6(6), p.246.

Tafesse, W. and Wien, A., 2018. Implementing social media marketing strategically: an empirical assessment. Journal of Marketing Management, 34(9-10), pp.732-749.

Tuten, T.L. and Solomon, M.R., 2017. Social media marketing. Sage.

Vaughn, A.L., 2016. Social Media Simple Marketing: How To Guide With Simple Tips & Strategies For Local Small Business Owners. Consumer Solution America, LLC..

Vinerean, S., 2017. Importance of strategic social media marketing. Expert journal of marketing, 5(1).

Yadav, V.K. and Tripathi, D.M., 2016. Social media marketing and effectiveness of brand communication. Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 2(7), pp.1043-1047.

Take a deeper dive into Strategic International Marketing Plan with our additional resources.