Assignment Sample on BFA439 Sales and Negotiation skills
Introduction
Marketing and sales are two important factors which are interrelated to one another, signifying success of a company in a competitive market. Successful marketing strategies are likely to increase the sales and profit of an organization to provide it with competitive advantages. In this aspect, the retail sector in UK is flourishing with the economic benefits and successful marketing techniques used by major brands. Unilever is such an organization in the retail market of UK which has been running successfully over the years due to its efficient and strategic marketing principles. Effective marketing of products and a widely visible market presence has been the main reasons behind Unilever’s successful market establishment and fulfilment of organizational goals.
SWOT and PESTEL analysis
SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis helps in identifying internal factors of a company in the present competitive business environment. According to Gürel and Tat (2017), the internal marketing environment can be assessed with the discussion of major strengths, opportunities and others through the successful incorporation and analysis of SWOT. For this reason, SWOT analysis has been analysed in the context of the chosen organisation, Unilever as follows:
| Strengths
● Unique brand name and image with positive reputation
● Improved R&D integration with management of supply chain (unilever.com, 2021). ● Strong brand portfolio management ● Desired financial strategy and performance |
Weaknesses
● Poor performance in grocery market segment ● High dependency on retailers ● Communication gaps due to lack of improved business network and connectivity (unilever.com, 2021).
● Weakness due to much dependency on distributors |
| Opportunities
● Improved demand for premium grocery items ● Opportunities in the segment of skin care products ● Partnership opportunities with global dealers and distributors (unilever.com, 2021). ● Potential growth opportunities in the emerging and competitive markets |
Threats
● Regional as well as global competitors ● Divergent market conditions ● Tough competition in the global business environment and market (unilever.com, 2021). ● Privatization of all label brands of strong retailers |
Table 1: SWOT analysis of Unilever
(Source: Created by Author)
From the above-mentioned SWOT analysis of Unilever, it can be observed that the company has a strong presence in the global business market and competitive environment. For this reason, the company has become successful in managing marketing operations through the effective delivery of products and services as per the requirement of customers. As per the view of Buckley and Casson (2019), marketing and sales operations of any small to multinational organisation can be assessed with the proper investigation of its internal factors that have a direct impact on managing business activities properly. Due to this, Unilever has focused on the activity of managing its supply chain and R&D operations without facing major challenges. Moreover, as the chosen organisation has been receiving enough growth opportunities in the global market, the company would become successful in managing major weaknesses and threats that are discussed in the table.
PESTEL of UK
UK’s PESTEL analysis is constructed to identify and judge external market environment of UK that might play a key role in Unilever’s success factor.
| Factors | Characteristics | Impact |
| Political |
|
Moderate |
| Economical |
|
Negative |
| Social |
|
Positive |
| Technological |
|
Positive |
| Environmental |
|
Negative |
| Legal |
|
Moderate |
Table 2: PESTEL of UK
(Source: Created by Author)
Analysis
External environmental factors and industry trends in UK suggest a moderately successful position for Unilever to succeed. As per the discussion of Chege and Wang (2020), PESTEL analysis of a particular country determines the value and efficiency of the industry it performs in and influence of the external environmental factors as well. External factors such as economic condition of a particular nation, political stability and social structure plays a key role in determining success for an organization. In other terms, social stature and literacy levels are also determinant aspects that create success for a marketing campaign depending on social perceptions and cultural values (Yu et al., 2017). UK’s stable political environment causes beneficial aspects for Unilever to progress in the market. However, impacts of Brexit movement followed by economic recession of Covid-19 are responsible for creating challenging business conditions in the country.
A country’s unstable economic environment is likely to harm the overall success rate of organizations, in this case Unilever. Thus, negative business impacts and low profit can be estimated due to poor economic condition of UK. On the other hand, the social structure of UK suggests a high living standard of people having good income rates that might be a positive aspect for Unilever. 99% of literacy rates is proof that intelligent advertising might impact their buying behaviour to increase the profit level of Unilever. However, greater importance in UK’s retail industry can be obtained due to the country’s progress in technology. Technological influence in modern digital marketing techniques is likely to influence innovation and creativity for a modern customer of Unilever. According to Alalwan (2018), digital marketing factors are a growing trend which can effectively influence a target market and convince them to buy products in a creative and innovative manner. Moreover, legal and environmental factors of UK are also likely to influence Unilever’s business in a competitive market.
Marketing mix discussion
Unilever strategically applies its marketing tools to popularize its products and services in the retail industry of UK as well as globally. A complex marketing mix is applied by Unilever, considering effective product differences and variations among international markets (Mandler et al., 2021). 7Ps of marketing can be utilized in this case, to identify the market success factors of Unilever in the retail industry of UK, through effective product placements.
| Product | Price | Place | People | Promotion | Process | Physical evidence |
| Main products marketed by Unilever are consumer goods and services in the retail industry. Its products range from foods, refreshment. Home and personal care appliances (unilever.com, 2021). | Unilever has a unique pricing strategy that revolves around market-oriented pricing and premium pricing factors. | Primary places for product selling in Unilever are local retailers, kiosks and stores. It aims to create its market presence in the digital market through efficiently built interactive websites. | Targeted market constitutes every citizen in need for a consumer goods ranging from the age group of 18-65. Target population also consists of | Unilever promotes its products through advertising campaigns, sales promotion, direct marketing tactics, personal selling as well as effective public relations. | Products are delivered with a highly structured logistics and supply chain management system. Sales and payment systems are integrated with a successful IT infrastructure | Product authenticity is reserved with Unilever’s trusted brand logo and trademark, which assures customers of genuine products. |
Table 3: Marketing mix of Unilever
(Source: Created by Author)
Product variations secure profitability through attracting a huge number of customers having different tastes and choices for a product. In this respect, market oriented pricing strategies provide opportunities to strategically handle costs and customer demands depending on current market criteria of the area (Liu and Atuahene-Gima, 2018). This strategy benefits the organization in terms of obtaining higher success rates due to UK’s high living standards and economic costs of products compared to other such markets. In contrast, a digital market presence of Unilever might benefit it to attract more target customers and increase their sales. In contrast, product advertising in social media platforms is likely to provide the company with a wider audience and greater market reach (Ali and Anwar, 2021). Moreover, authentication of the products and successfully obtaining customer loyalty through effective marketing strategies are likely to deliver desired results and fulfil organizational goals.
Reflection on sales and negotiation skills
Sales & negotiation sessions and skills have delivered potential scope in improving marketing and sales operations. After dealing with the negotiation skills, I have become successful in enhancing my decision-making skills with problem-solving approaches. Hence, I have learned about the skills of building rapport, listening to anything properly and communicating with others smartly. As per the statement of Khadhraoui et al. (2017), negotiation skills can be developed with regular practice of observation and synchronization of daily useful activities. In this case, the chosen company, Unilever, has applied these negotiation and sales skills for ensuring effective sales and marketing of existing products and services (unilever.com, 2021). For this reason, I have gathered experience and knowledge regarding the activity of improving performance and productivity with improved negotiation and sales skills. Therefore, it can be said that negotiation and sales skills that have been applied by Unilever has helped me in improving my negotiation and sales skills with improved performance.
Conclusion
Marketing and advertising benefits on increasing profit levels and sales of an organization. Hence, it can be concluded from the study that successful market integration processes and efficient marketing tactics helps Unilever to focus on strategic growth in the international as well as UK market. Successful R&D operations of Unilever can direct towards key market trends to properly integrate it and raise its market value in a competitive perspective. In this context, negotiation benefits and skills of staff for proper customer management might help them to gather customer loyalty for positively impacting a target population. This study also concludes that a unique marketing strategy and marketing mix model could help Unilever to sustain in a highly competitive retail industry of UK.
Recommendation
Effective product marketing factors can be obtained through the following recommendations for Unilever:
- Unilever needs to focus more on growing in a digital space and expand their market in a global perspective through successful digital integration in their modes and systems. Social media platforms might prove to be a beneficial aspect in this category to help the company attract larger customer segments (Dwivedi et al., 2021). IT infrastructure and modern digital marketing tactics could be incorporated by Unilever to enhance its product marketing.
- Creating Advertisements to which the target market can connect and associate themselves might be effective for managing sales and promotion of Unilever in the competitive market of UK.
References
Ali, B.J. and Anwar, G., (2021). Marketing Strategy: Pricing strategies and its influence on consumer purchasing decision. Ali, BJ, & Anwar, G.(2021). Marketing Strategy: Pricing strategies and its influence on consumer purchasing decision. International journal of Rural Development, Environment and Health Research, 5(2), pp.26-39.
Buckley, P. and Casson, M., (2019). Decision-making in international business. Journal of International Business Studies, 50(8), pp.1424-1439.
Chege, S.M. and Wang, D., (2020). The impact of entrepreneurs’ environmental analysis strategy on organizational performance. Journal of Rural Studies, 77, pp.113-125.
Dwivedi, Y.K., Ismagilova, E., Hughes, D.L., Carlson, J., Filieri, R., Jacobson, J., Jain, V., Karjaluoto, H., Kefi, H., Krishen, A.S. and Kumar, V., (2021). Setting the future of digital and social media marketing research: Perspectives and research propositions. International Journal of Information Management, 59, pp.102-168.
Gürel, E. and Tat, M., (2017). SWOT analysis: a theoretical review. Journal of International Social Research, 10(51), pp.78-89.
Khadhraoui, M., Plaisentm, M., Bernard, P. and Lakhal, L., (2017). The impact of marketing skills and negotiation skills of universities technology transfer office on technology transfer success. Journal of Marketing and Management, 8(2), pp.38-46.
Liu, W. and Atuahene-Gima, K., (2018). Enhancing product innovation performance in a dysfunctional competitive environment: The roles of competitive strategies and market-based assets. Industrial Marketing Management, 73, pp.7-20.
Mandler, T., Sezen, B., Chen, J. and Özsomer, A., (2021). Performance consequences of marketing standardization/adaptation: A systematic literature review and future research agenda. Journal of Business Research, 125, pp.416-435.
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statista.com, (2021), Unemployment rate in the United Kingdom from May 1992 to April 2021, by country, Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/279990/unemployment-rate-in-the-uk-by-country/, [Accessed on: 21st June 2021]
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Yu, T.K., Lin, M.L. and Liao, Y.K., (2017). Understanding factors influencing information communication technology adoption behavior: The moderators of information literacy and digital skills. Computers in Human Behavior, 71, pp.196-
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