Marks and Spencer Advertising Strategy

The main source of data presented in this paper is the official website of Marks and Spencer. The details of links are provided at the end of this paper under the title of References.

M&S are one of the UK's leading retailers of clothes, food, home products and financial services. Some 10 million people shop with us each week in over 375

Marks and Spencer Group (M&S) is the premier retailer in clothing, foods and home ware within the United Kingdom. The company’s commitment to quality, value, service, innovation and trust is a key contributor to their success as a high street retailer in the UK. Their current core UK operations centre around three divisions, food, general merchandise (including clothing and home ware), and the financial services industry. Therefore Tesco plc is the prime UK retailer to analyse and compare growth, financial performance and the financial status of M&S Plc in line with other competitors within the same industry.

Part A of this report examines the resources and capabilities of Marks & Spencer (M&S) up to the mid 1990's and how they lead to creating a superior competitive advantage (CA) over all competitors.

This report will demonstrate, apply and evaluate knowledge and understanding of key managerial disciplines of the chosen high street retailer, Marks and Spencer, in different real-world global contexts. According to the report by Deloitte, the retail industry is undergoing immense changes and faces a tough competitive

Marks & Spencer is a large company listed on various stock markets, which a widely spread operations in many countries. The size of operations of the company and high reputation in the

They apply both digital and non-digital approaches to best reach their customers as well as attract potential customers. With every new advancement of social media and technology, the company follows behind to stay in trend with their target

Marks and Spencer (M&S) p.l.c. is one of the largest retailers in the United Kingdom with a selling space of 12.5 million square feet, was established in 1884 as ‘Penny bazaar’. M&S sells clothing, food, footwear, gifts and home furnishings in its 760 stores around the world. The company’s wholly own and franchise stores operates in Europe, Hong Kong, Far East, Australia, Middle East, the Bahamas and Bermuda making a total of 34 countries.

Digital media is becoming powerful in the way grocers are communicating and engaging with consumers today. The use of paper, leaflets, newspapers and posters or it can be known as ‘‘traditional advertising’’ is now being switched to digital media platforms. Millennials are utilising digital platforms such as websites, apps and social networking sites as a new way to advertise (The Voice of Food Retail, 2016). Aldi uses Facebook as a form of promotion for advertisement purposes and to increase their brand awareness by providing incentives likewise inspiring followers to interact with their daily posts (Evonimie, 2015). Another social media platform used by Aldi is Twitter in order to interact with shoppers. By interacting through social media,

We cannot deny how big of an impact social media has on our lives now, not only on people but businesses too. It has opened a whole new door to the business world and given them a big opportunity to interact and attract a larger amount of customers. It’s given us a new and faster way of communication by exchanging pictures, stories, news, blogs, online discussions, etc. In exchange businesses have benefited by a long shot just by the click of a button. With the help of the Internet a company no longer is dependent on a particular customer base to survive because now it can reach out to a worldwide audience within seconds. It’s imaginable the countless business attributes of all social media to this day and still is growing. Social media

2. Richard M. Johns (2006). The Apparel Industry. 2nd ed. UK, London: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. 1-124.

This document/report throws light on the business environment of Marks and Spencers and the analysis of strategic position, strategic direction, success criteria and backed up by future recommendations for the company based on all the mentioned aspects. The frameworks used to analyse the company are:

Marks and Spencer Company is one of the biggest retailers in UK, which it has known by providing the finest qualities of goods and services including clothing, home product, foods and groceries. In currently, M&S Company operates 852 UK stores, 480 international stores and e-commerce platform includes approximately 83,069 employees, while M&S Company is one of the UK’s leading market positions in Menswear, Women-wear and Lingerie products (Mark and Spencer 2016.

Clearly social media can have a direct impact on consumer purchasing patterns, and it has increased the amount of online shopping for several companies. Authors Chung and Austria examine in their article Social Media Gratification and Attitude towards Social Media marketing Messages, the effect that this phenomenon has had on online shopping value: “According to the “2010 Social Media Report” from ForeSee results, 69% of online shoppers use social media. Fifty-six percent of shoppers indicate that they visit e-retail websites on a social networking site and that website visiting affects consumer purchase intention” (?). Costumers find it convenient to visit a company’s Website after seeing an ad in any popular social networking site. It requires minimal effort form the customer and it signifies an important portion of sales to a company. However, Social Media has not only had a positive financial impact on a company, but as it rapidly grows it has now

Marks and Spencer (M & S) was started by Michael Marks and later joint by a partner Tom Spencer in 1884. It is one of the largest British retailers that sold clothes, home furnishings, food, gifts etc. and was formerly known as St. Michael. It has markets in Europe, Far East, America and Asia. The company suffered a series of losses and a dip in the market share from a few years before the stepping down of the then CEO, Sir Richard Greenbury, in 1999. In 2001 the company underwent a drastic strategic change and the