Marks and Spencer's Current 4 P's of Marketing - The Marketing Mix

1. Product:

Marks and Spencer's garment products are known for their first-class quality, reliability, style, and variety. Since its incorporation in 1984 and international expansion in 1974, Marks and Spencer's has never compromised on these important factors; the reward of which is in the form of loyal customers all over the world (marksandspencer.com, 2011).

2. Price:

Marks and Spencer's charges a medium to high prices for its garment products (reasonable price to very expensive price). But most of its products have premium prices which only target a specific upper class of consumers (businessteacher.com, 2011).

3. Place (Distribution):

Marks and Spencer's has its 600 plus retail stores in the whole United Kingdom and a well established international presence (marksandspencer.com, 2011). So its products are easily available in the cities and towns of UK as well as other developed countries. Moreover, Marks and Spencer's sells its garment products on internet through online shopping portals, like Amazon.com and its own website (hoovers.com, 2011).

4. Promotion (Communication):

The promotion of Marks and Spencer's products is done through all the marketing mediums; like advertisements on television, internet and social media, major newspapers, fashion magazines, Marks and Spencer's broachers, etc (hoovers.com, 2011).

Marks and Spencer's Garment products - Evaluation of the importance of different factors by current, potential, and prospective customers

1. Marketing environment factors:

Marks and Spencer's develops its marketing strategies keeping in view the different marketing environment factors. These factors directly or indirectly affect its business operations so they require to be managed in a well-organized way. These include:

o        Changing customer preferences: with income, fashion, and substitution effect.

o        Economic conditions of different countries: inflation, unemployment, recession, stability of exchange rates, government behavior, etc.

o        Strong competition with local and international garments brands

o        Day by day increasing costs of production: raw material prices, plant and machinery, maintenance, etc.

2. Target Market:

No organization can become competitive if it does not specify what its target market is (Sarah Gwan, 2011). Currently Marks and Spencer's has categorized its target market in major groups only. For example; in Gender, the two main categories; males and females have no sub-categories. Each customer himself has to explore which product is made for him.

3. Products:

Marks and Spencer's is among the top quality garments manufacturers in the world. This thing has developed a strong brand image of M&S in the minds of people. So they expect Marks and Spencer's to keep providing such top quality and stylish products forever. Also, they want to see more variety in the current garment product offerings.

4. Promotion / Communication:

Now the customers have become more knowledgeable and style conscious. They choose every product after exploring all the alternatives (Sarah Gwan, 2011). So the retailers of garment products have to expend a great amount on their marketing efforts. Marks and Spencer's also has to allocate a big portion of its marketing budget on promotional activities. This is essential to keep the image of the brand alive.

5. Place / Distribution:

Just making a product and running a marketing campaign for it is not enough. The products must be available at convenient places for the target customers (Sarah Gwan, 2011). Marks and Spencer has its presence in all the big cities and towns of its target markets. This is important to capture a target market before the competitors do so.

6. Pricing:

Not all customers belong to a single income class. It is more profitable for competitive organizations to make their products acceptable and affordable for as many income classes as possible (Sarah Gwan, 2011). Marks and Spencer's makes garments of varying prices, but they are not affordable for low income people and target only the upper income class.