Unit 3 Marketing Essentials Level 4 City College

Task1

P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing functions.

As described above, marketing is a process through which company facilitates their distribution of products and services, so that they can satisfy demands and needs of customers. T.K Maxx is a subsidiary company which opened their first store in 1994 and selling wide variety of products (William and Zikmund, 2012). They haves stores in many countries as mentioned above and is expanding their business in other countries also, where they have no branches. In order to increase company’s market share, they have appointed three new board members so that they can provide their ideas and advices which can be implemented in marketing plans.

Marketing department of company employs many employees and professionals who put their great efforts in order to attract large number of customers towards their products and services. They first identify the demands and requirements of customers than they prepare their marketing strategies according to that, so that they can satisfy more and more customers at a same time. As company has recruited experts with greater experiences, they can better analyse the market and give valuable suggestions and help to company to expand their business and increase their market share. They use different marketing functions which help them to prepare better marketing plans. Following are some marketing functions:

Market information: First and the foremost step is to collect relevant information about target market, needs and wants of customers, etc., help marketers to analyse and develop their strategies including all these vital information. Analysis is a very essential part for an organisation (Baack, Harris and Baack, 2013). After proper analysis they can further proceed for developing good market strategies. T.K Maxx collects all information about their market and analyse it precisely and formulate their plans in such a manner that can extract more money from products and services which they are selling and also satisfy their customers on the other hand.

Market planning: It is basically done in order to achieve company’s marketing objectives. These objectives basically includes increasing market share, increase market presence, dominate the market, etc. T.K ensures that whatever they plan should achieve all their set objectives.

Exchange functions: Buying and selling are known as exchange functions. T.K Maxx ensures that they offer sufficient quantity of products and services to their customers in order to meet their demands. To enhance selling and buying, marketer uses various advertising and promotional tools.

Product designing and development: It is necessary for company to develop and designing attractive products in order to attract more and more customers (Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne, 2014). As T.K Maxx had wide variety of products, then can offer unique ranges to seek attention of people towards their products and can increase their sales. This will thus lead to more revenues inflowing in the company.

Distribution channel: This channel allows company to distribute their products and services to different parts of country to reach target market as well as customers on time. It is necessary for company to find out bet distribution channel and facilitate their supply through those channels in order to ensure timely availability of products to customers. Accomplishment of this task can be done through transportation, inventory control, warehousing and order processing.

Setting price: It is really a tough task to decide the accurate price of a product. As customer mainly prefer economic and affordable products and in that case high price can be a fop idea. T.K Maxx has affordable ranges of products and due to this reason customers prefer them over other rival companies. To set a definite price, effective planning is done by managers.

Above are some main marketing functions which have different role and responsibilities that help company to decide their best marketing plans and market their products in target market. By implementing necessary marketing functions, T.K Maxx can achieve all their set marketing objectives and also gain strong position in global market (Joshi, 2012). Managers of T.K focus mainly on buying behavior of customers and pricing strategies which help them t provide affordable good to customers. They keep on making modifications in offers and products they deliver to retain interest of customers and also focuses on providing products with best quality.

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P2 Roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the organizational context.

Marketing functions help organisation to utilize various resources in order to distribute their products and services to customers on time. These functions are very common in an organization and include research of market area, development of product plan, formulation of procedures and processes, finances, sales of product, customer service etc. These functions are responsible for growth of an organization and mainly consists strategic management, sales support system, finance team, marketing research, product developments, distributions systems, human resource departments etc (Brady, 2014). Every department plays important roles in order to make their company successful. An enterprise is successful when their entire department has good communication between them and exchange important information on time. Following are some department which helps company to achieve their targets.

Research and development department: This department is an essential part of a company. They perform all the necessary research on target market as well as customers in order to know their needs, requirements, preferences, likes, dislike, market growth, market share, etc. They run their research with the help of different techniques and provide company with essential information so that they can implement them in their planning and earn maximum profits. They also give knowledge about competitors and their hold in the market. They provide marketing department with all market information so they can formulate best marketing plan in order to maximize their market share. T.K Maxx is able to perform better because research and development department provide them with necessary help and information.

Financing department: This is also one of the key department of company. They provide them with necessary funds which they can use to expand and establish new stores in different areas or regions. They can give then financial assistance due to which they can implement their business projects (Rossi,Allenby and McCulloch, 2012). Financial department keep track of all records including profits and loss and other investments and provide necessary information to production department in order to set appropriate price for the products. They also provide funds to marketing department in order to facilitate promotion and advertisements of products and services. This helps them to attract large number of customers and encourages more selling.

Human Resource department: This department is referred to as backbone of a company which handles, manages, and coordinates all the activities going on in the company. They give organisation with best talented and qualified candidates which can increase profitability of company and can lead company towards its success. With their fresh and innovative ideas they can lead in competitive market and establish their brand. Other functions of human resource department is to provide company with appropriate resources and material which they can use to manufacture new products and services and also they keep track on new changes which are taking place in external environment (Clow and James, 2013). HR Mangers formulate and implement best strategies within their company in order to achieve their business targets and also implement positive changes which help company to remain updated. Another function is that, they provide training and development to new as well as existing training which lacks appropriate knowledge and skills required to perform a job. They assist marketing department by providing them crucial changes and candidates which can help them in every way possible.

Product development department: This department is responsible for developing and designing innovative and creative products according to needs and demands of customers. Company should pay attention to desires of consumers and what they want from a products and keeping this in mind they should design their products. This attracts more and more customers which help company to enhance their selling and ultimately more profitability. Product department should also check whether their products meet all the quality standards or not. They should not compromise with quality of products as this can lead to decrease in sales and ultimately loss to the company.

Marketing department: This is the crucial department as they are mainly responsible for distributing the final products to customers. Marketing managers formulate and develop many strategies which are suitable for them and scrutinize best strategy out of them. They also choose the best distribution channel for their products and services which can ensure timely availability of products to customers (Silver and et al, 2012). With this consumers become more satisfied with their service. T.K Maxx also operates their business online; in this they can provide fast delivery to consumers and also offer them products with highest quality. This is how they will can customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Above are some department which plays crucial role in developing and marketing their products in order to achieve ultimate success. It is really important to have good communication and cooperation between them. This help company to achieve its target and goals on time. With assistance of every department, company can achieve their desired success. If anyone department is not functioning well, this will result in huge loss which the company has to bear.

Task 2

P 3 Comparison of ways in which organizations apply the marketing mix.

Marketing mix is basically applied in marketing plans in order to achieve set business goals and objectives. The organisation uses different methods for application of marketing mix among their enterprise. It is mostly based on product and services of company, market demographics, size of market and company’s size. It help marketers to understand better about products (Lovelock, 2011). Common applications of marketing mix involve 4 P’s f marketing which involves product, price, place and promotion. This was later extended to 7 P’s of marketing which include following:

Product: It is an item which has the capacity to fulfill the requirements and demands of people. It can be tangible or intangible as it can be in the form of goods or services. Enterprise should choose right type of product for a particular demand in market.

Price: It is referred to the cost which a consumer wants to pay for a particular commodity. It is very important component of marketing mix. Company should set price according to buying patterns of customers.

Place: Placement or distribution is very important part of marketing mix. Company need to find out best pace and distribution channel to make their product available to buyers (Babin and Zikmund, 2015). They can include several distribution strategies such as, intensive, exclusive, selective distribution and franchising.

Promotions: It helps company to promote their products in global market. It also helps consumer to know about new products in market. Promotion is comprised of various elements like: sales organisation, public relations, advertising and sales promotion.

People: Main aim of company is to reach and satisfy their target people and according to that they design and manufacture their products (Huang and Sarigöllü, 2014). If company succeeded in satisfying target customers, they can achieve desired success and will able to make large number of loyal customers.

Process: Organization processes and procedures affect the execution of the service. So, they have to make a well defined process in place to minimize cost of production. Processes also help workers to operate in a standard manner and utilize resources in effective manner.

Physical evidence: Organization should have physical evidence that their services was delivered to target markets. It also pertains to how a business and its products are perceived in market place.

Marketing mix also includes 4C’s which was given by Robert F. Lauterborn and those are mentioned below:

Cost: Price is not only the cost which is incurred at the time of purchasing. It is a part of cost ownership.

Consumer wants and needs: Company should design products according to desires of buyers in order to satisfy them (Armstrong and et al, 2015). Marketer’s should carefully study the consumer wants and needs and develop their products according to that.

Communication: According to Lauterborn, communication is “cooperative” whereas promotion is “manipulative”. Managers should aim to create an open dialogue with potential clients based on their needs and wants.

Convenience: Product which is manufactured by company should be available on time so that buyers can access those products. Marketer should plan their distribution of products according to availability of target customers.

The 4P’s, 7P’s or4C’s plays a vital role in marketing mix plan. Marketer should develop their plans by implementing marketing mix accurately. This will help company to achieve their marketing objectives in effective manner (Ahmed and Rafiq, 2013). It is important to devise a plan that balances profit, brand recognition, client satisfaction and product availability.

T.K Maxx formulate their plans by implementing all necessary market function and mix so to ensure that the customers are getting their products on time and are satisfied with the products. Through this company will make loyal customers from all round the world. They can also manufacture unique products and make modifications in existing products in order to retain their customers (opolšek and ÄŒurin, 2012). To build a strong hold in the market and lead from other rival companies, organisation has to make their marketing strong and efficient. More the satisfied customers, more the company will be successful.

Task 3

P4 Basic marketing plan.

Company Overview: T.K Maxx is a subsidiary of TJX Companies and was founded in 1994. It is headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. The company is operating in many countries such as United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Austria, etc. and has numerous stores across the globe. They provide great product varieties like jewellery, furniture, clothing, bedding and domestic, furniture, giftware and lot more. Their aim is to provide products to customers at low and affordable prices so that consumers prefer them first over other rival companies.

Vision and mission statements

Vision: Their corporate vision is to grow a global off price and Value Company.

Mission: To deliver to the market every day a rapidly changing assortment of quality brand name merchandise priced 20% and 60% less than the regular price of specialty stores and departmental stores.

SWOT Analysis:

STRENGTHS	WEAKNESSES
· TJX is the parent company of T.K Maxx and is one of the best brands across the world. · Manufactures excellent products. · Company is blessed with strong and an expert workforce. · Annual sales are good. · Revenue generation is high. · Strong market share and position. · Wide variety of products. · Internationally recognized as Apparel Company. · Excellent customer rewards. · Provide service in many countries and have thousands of stores. · Company has strong marketing team.	· Not enough global presences as compared to other rival teams. · Many departments’ stores have few categories.
OPPORTUNITIES	THREAT
· Company can increase their number of products as they are currently offering. · There is increase in the demand of home based products. · They can expand their business in other countries also. · Chance to explore foreign market and can penetrate into by using brand marketing. · Customer oriented strategies.	· Inventory issues. · Rise in fuel can lead to increase in transportation costs. · Threat from new entrant. · Competition form already existing brands. · Strict government policies for import and export.

STP Approach

Segment	Middle/ Upper Middle class people.
Target Group	Middle/ Upper Middle class people.
Positioning	Designer brands at affordable prices.

Competitor Analysis: JC Penny, Nordstrom, Ross stores, Stage stores, Burlington coat factory.

Marketing Budget:

Particulars	1st Year	2nd Year	3rd Year	4th Year	5th Year
Initial money	5000	8000	10000	13000	15000
Investment	2000	3000	5000	7000	9000
Total	7000	11000	15000	20000	24000
Marketing outlay	Â	Â	Â	Â	Â
Promotion	4000	7000	8000	10000	14000
Sales publicity	5000	6000	10000	11000	13000
Total	9000	13000	18000	21000	27000

Controlling and Monitoring

At this step, company monitors all their business activities and ensures that all are carried out effectively or not. If not, then company can prepare corrective plans in order to improve or eliminate particular errors. This will help to prevent any future problems and loss of company. At this stage, company will ensure that their activities are effective enough or not to achieve long term objectives or tasks.

Conclusion

From the above assignment it can be concluded that, marketing plays an important role in distributing company’s products and services to target customers. To ensure timely distribution, company has to choose best distribution channel. This can be done when the organisation have strong marketing department. Marketing managers can identify their target market and according to that, they can devise their best market plan. In order to make more effective market plans, marketer can implement different marketing functions and 7P’s and 4C’s of marketing mix. It is necessary for T.K Maxx to retain their market position and they can do by providing their products at economic prices and effectively distributing their products to all round the world. They can expand their business in other countries also and attract more and more customers by their unique products. Marketers can perform their research on external market to identify threats and opportunities which can pose negative and positive influence on the company.

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References

• Baker, M. J. and Saren, M. eds., 2016.Marketing theory: a student text. Sage.
• William, K. and Zikmund, B.J., 2012. Essentials of marketing research.London: Cengage Learning.
• Baack, D. W., Harris, E. G. and Baack, D., 2013.International marketing(Vol. 3). Sage.
• Silberschatz, A., Galvin, P. B. and Gagne, G., 2014.Operating system concepts essentials. John Wiley & Sons, Inc..