MARKETING MIX ASSIGNMENT
Introduction
– Short summary of the importance of this document in the context of the assignment (your company)
The document shall be focussing on profiling the company that has been selected. This study would be initiating an overall summary of the organisation based on its company information and any historic data. The organisational vision, mission, and strategies would be evaluated in the document along with the marketing mix the organisation follows. The importance of marketing mix and the way marketing mix can be proven beneficial for organisations can be evaluated in the study.
– Short summary of the organisation (i.e. size, scope, and operations)
The Morrison also known as the Wm Morrison Supermarkets is the 5th largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. Founded in the year 1899 by William Morrison, the company has grown a lot bigger with around 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland and Gibraltar (Statista.com, 2022). It is a well-known retail company that manufactures markets and supplies various products through online and offline stores. By supplying local jobs, goods, services, and facilities assisting food banks, delivering food fast to the most vulnerable via doorstep deliveries, and going above and beyond, Morrisons give back to the areas (Morrisons-corporate.com). The business operations take place through the process of sourcing and processing half of the fresh food that are sold in their own manufacturing facilities and stores, giving them control over provenance and quality.
– Organisational vision and strategy
The prime vision and mission statement of Morrisons is to make and provide food that they are proud of where everyone’s effort is worthwhile and many people are able to enjoy eating. Morrisons strategy is to be more competitive which helps them help customers in making every penny worth spending and also helps them in saving money on everyday items (Morrisons-corporate.com, 2023).
– Identifying who their target audience is (e.g. age, gender, and other aspects)
Morrisons focuses on selling quality fresh food across the UK and its main target market lies within the segmentation of people who look for price, convenience and freshness. Their main target market is Households in the UK especially young families who underline within low to middle-income levels.
Application of the 7p’s marketing mix
– Short summary of this section (e.g. introducing the 7P’s marketing mix theory)
The marketing mix is one of the familiar marketing strategy tools that is used by companies globally. As opined by Kwok et al. (2020), the marketing mix was traditionally limited to 4Ps’ which were later upgraded to 7Ps. The 7Ps consist of Product, Promotion, Price, Place, People, Process and Physical evidence. The 7P’s marketing mix theory was originally invented by E. Jerome McCarthy and it was published in 1960 in one of his books called Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach. Initially, the 4Ps marketing mix was traditionally designed for businesses which were more focused on selling products rather than the services provided (Jain and Jain, 2020). Later on, 7Ps was introduced to cover all sectors including product, customer service and more.
Defining the 7P’s marketing mix
– Explaining what it is, its importance, and why an organisation would use it
The 7P’s marketing mix can be defined as a planned approach that can be used by various organisations for marketing. It is one of the frameworks that help in setting up clear objectives based on the present citation that any organisation might be facing. The 7Ps makes companies to review and define the essential factors that have an impact on the marketing of their goods and services (Do and Vu, 2020). The 7Ps framework for the marketing mix can be termed as a framework. With the help of marketing mix, it institutes helping customers in choosing goods and services rather than electing the products from the rivals
Product Strategy:
– Identifying the types of products within the organisation (e.g. standardisation or adaptation)
Morrisons is well known for its large variety of fresh products that are available at the store and it follows standardisation marketing. The company has varied product divisions that are available which include, Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten Free, Organic, Milk Free, Halal, Kosher, Wheat Free, Lactose-Free, Nut Free, Egg Free, Yeast Free, Fat-Free, Soya Free, Fairtrade and Sesame Free (Morrisons-corporate.com, 2023).
– How the type of product may affect consumer perception (in theory)
Product has been proven to serve as one of the reasons affecting consumer perception. The way the product is presented to the customers and the way the customer views it, wholly determines the perception of the customer which eventually affects customer buying behaviour.
– How your company may affect consumer perception (e.g. Product life cycle theory)
Morrisons focuses on maintaining a permanently low prices strategy which affects consumer perceptions. Product life cycle management is the process for planning the consistent support and sustainment of a product can be done. In the introduction phase, the product is introduced to the customer. The growth phase determines whether the product will be a success or a failure. The maturity stage is the profitable stage while Decline Stage accompanies market share losses.
Promotion Strategy
– Identifying typical communication tools (e.g. One-way and/or Two-way communication methods)
Morrison focuses on the Two-way communication method which includes customer care services and email support. As opined by Stojanović et al. (2020), Two-way communication is the communication tool that is used by companies where both parties are involved in transmitting the information.
– colour theory (i.e. how the brand appeals to its target audience)
The colour theory helps in creating a logical structure for colour and encompasses definitions, concepts, and design of the applications. Morrisons is capable of appealing to the target market through the colour Green. Green symbolises balance, harmony, health, growth, freshness, and prestige.
– Methods of Promotion in media (e.g. Product placement, Internet and Virtual Marketing, and others)
Morrisons is well known for its good mix of social media and print advertising for its customer base. They focus on performing campings with the use of beautiful images in various fonts, styles and colours.
– Challenges involved within their marketing activities (e.g. Creative challenges in international marketing, and others)
The challenges of Morrisons include:
- Lacking behind in having multi-channel outlets.
- Keeping up with ever-changing customer expectations
Price Strategy
– Approach to pricing (e.g. Price skimming, market pricing, penetration pricing, and others)
Morrisons uses a variety of pricing techniques based on consumer demand and market developments. In the UK market, they consistently employ cost-leadership techniques to make sure that consumers won’t have trouble purchasing their goods due to price.
– Identifying internal and external factors that influence pricing decisions (e.g. Firm-level and product factors, environmental and market factors, and others)
The following are the internal factors that influence pricing decisions in Morrisons:
- Image of the firm
- Product life cycle
- Promotional activity
- Competition
- Customers
The following are the external factors that influence pricing decisions in Morrisons:
- The country economy
- Government regulations
– Channel of distribution (how it influences their pricing strategy)
Morrisons has various digital partners for distribution which include Amazon, Deliveroo and GoPuff. Other than that, a 25-year agreement was signed with Ocado for licensing in-store picking technologies and logistics services (Morrisons-corporate.com, 2023).
Place strategy
Morrisons has always been focused on operations in the UK. Presently, the company has several outlets all over the UK with more than 600 stores with 150 convenience stores. There are various distribution channels that the company has within the UK. Along with that 7 regional distribution centres and 1 national centre is present. There are various online platforms where Morrisons deliver food. The organisation also has a powerful supplier network of more than 500 suppliers across UK, allowing them to have access to a sufficient supply of food.
People Strategy
– Recruitment and Selection process (e.g. utilising Belbin’s roles to choose the right people)
As per Belbin’s team roles, there are nine clusters of behavioural attributes that have been identified in the process of achieving effective team progress. Choosing the right person is one of the essential works that is done by an organisation’s management teams (Rahmani et al. 2021). Belbin’s team roles theory focuses on finding the strengths and weaknesses of candidates for choosing the right person as a team member. Morrisons focus on hiring only well-skilled employees who are capable of managing various issues during operations.
– Training and Development
All employees who are recruited under the roles of Technical, Supply Chain and Own Brand Procurement are provided with Ethical Trading policy and code training. In addition, more than 10,000 colleagues in Morrison’s Manufacturing, Procurement and HR have been provided with modern slavery training workshops in collaboration with the GLAA (Morrisons-corporate.com, 2023).
– Compensation
There are various benefits the employees of Morrisons get, they include:
- Colleague discount card
- Life assurance scheme (Morrisons.jobs, 2022)
- health care cash plan
- Employee assistance program
- Money off
- Company pension
- Colleague bonus scheme
Physical Evidence Strategy
– The environment in which the service/product is delivered (e.g. furniture, materials, resources, and others)
Physical evidence focuses on giving clear indications of the nature of the experience offered by a business. Morrisons’ management consistently prioritises creating eye-catching packaging for increasing the exposure of their product offers. They spend huge money on package quality as well. Their user-friendly websites help customers in viewing high-quality pictures from different perspectives on the product package. They are capable of showing all the possible categories of the products available via online websites for increasing visibility.
Process Strategy
– Discussion of the procedures and the flow of activities that are required to provide their product/service to their customers (e.g. Simplify, convenient, reduce waiting time)
It can be said that Morrisons has various operation processes that play an essential role in making the overall process productive and compatible in terms of the retail sector. At Morrisons, they focused on creating changes for improvement in the logistics and supply chain process for ensuring the best productivity through convenience. The company has a good online delivery process for making the overall organising easy and reliable
– Consumer Behaviour (e.g. The wheel of consumer behaviour model, consumer attributes and characteristics)
The wheel of consumer behaviour model is a model that is used to understand consumer behaviour and guide marketing strategy. The supermarket has been seen as capable of engaging in the reinvention of the wheel.
Conclusion
From the above report, it can be concluded that Morrisons is one of the renowned supermarket chains existing in the UK. The supermarket chain has gained popularity with its motto of providing fresh food to customers at a reasonable price range. The report has proven beneficial as it has profiled the importance of the 7Ps marketing mix and the reason behind the companies using the framework. The 7Ps marketing mix of Morrisons has been evaluated in the report with a proper focus on the framework used in the company.
Reference List
Do, Q. and Vu, T., 2020. Understanding consumer satisfaction with railway transportation service: An application of 7Ps marketing mix. Management Science Letters, 10(6), pp.1341-1350.
Jain, M.R. and Jain, S., Analyzing and Exploring the Effectiveness of Each Element of 7Ps of Marketing Mix.
Kwok, L., Tang, Y. and Yu, B., 2020. The 7 Ps marketing mix of home-sharing services: Mining travelers’ online reviews on Airbnb. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 90, p.102616.
Morrisons.jobs, 2022. Benefits. Available at: https://www.morrisons.jobs/early-careers/more/resources-benefits [Accessed on: 7.1.2023]
Morrisons-corporate.com, 2023. Company History – Morrisons Corporate. Available at: https://www.morrisons-corporate.com/about-us/company-history/ [Accessed on: 7.1.2023]
Morrisons-corporate.com, 2023. Morrisons Wholesale partners with British Corner Shop. Available at: https://www.morrisons-corporate.com/media-centre/corporate-news/morrisons-wholesale-partners-with-british-corner-shop-to-expand-global-distribution/#:~:text=As%20well%20as%20its%20international,GoPuff%20and%20bulk%20order%20customers. [Accessed on: 7.1.2023]
Morrisons-corporate.com, 2023. Our customers – Morrisons Corporate. Available at: https://www.morrisons-corporate.com/globalassets/corporatesite/corporate-responsibility/annual-report/customers.pdf [Accessed on: 7.1.2023]
Morrisons-corporate.com, 2023. Training. Available at: https://www.morrisons-corporate.com/morrisons-sustainability/ethical-trading/training/ [Accessed on: 7.1.2023]
Rahmani, F., Scott-Young, C., Tadayon, A. and van der Walt, J.D., 2021. Team composition in relational contracting (RC) in large infrastructure projects: a Belbin’s team roles model approach. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management.
Statista.com, 2022. Morrisons store count 2009-2021 Statistic – Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/382340/morrisons-number-of-stores-united-kingdom-uk/ [Accessed on: 7.1.2023]
Stojanović, E.T., Vlahović, M., Nikolić, M., Mitić, S. and Jovanović, Z., 2020. The relationship between organizational culture and public relations in business organizations. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 21(6), pp.1628-1645.
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