Principles of Marketing Management, Undergraduate assignment, University level assignment , Assignment solution, Plagiarism free, Cheap rate, BTEC-HND, UK, Business report
There is no alternative to prepare an effective marketing plan in order to spread the
unique features of the new product. This report has been produced with the purpose
of generating the proper guideline to prepare a marketing plan. For any type of
business organization, the marketing audit report is very significant because
of maintaining the standards of marketing management. In this report, the author
has chosen IKEA in order to prepare a marketing audit report. IKEA was
established in Sweden at first. IKEA is a multinational business retailer (Fahy and jobber, 2015). Kitchen appliances, furniture, home appliances and
so on are designed sold to the customers. IKEA is one of the world’s largest
furniture retailers. In this report, the author has analysed various aspects to
prepare the marketing audit report of this company.
Background of the company
IKEA is a furniture
retailer being a multinational company. This company distributes ready to
assemble furniture, kitchen appliances and home accessories worldwide. The
company was established in Sweden. At present, the headquarter of this company
is in Delft, Netherland. IKEA serves customers all over the world. There are
more than 433 locations for this company. The company has more than 211000 employees.
The founder of IKEA is Ingvar Kamprad. This multinational company is a private
limited company.
The environment of
IKEA is very well as the staffs seem it very convenient to work in such a good
working environment. There are unique standards of the company by which the corporate
responsibility and compliance are maintained (Fahy and
jobber, 2015). The
administration of IKEA is attentive to serve various groups of the company who
are related to carrying individual duties. The organizational structure of this
company is some regards sophisticated. The decision-making process in
centralized by the upper management who are responsible to arrange and
distribute the functions to the related parties. The company lessens the cost
by allowing the customers to get the assembled products.
Marketing
audit
A systematic analysis
of the marketing environment of a business in order to identify the goals of the
marketing objectives and strategies are successfully going or not. Marketing
audit assists the marketing manager of IKEA to prepare the marketing plan. The
short term and long term goal are followed to bring success to the company. There
are several marketing aspects and the marketing manager of IKEA has to analyse
the concept and factors of marketing audit in a disciplined manner. Marketing
audit provides the basis for developing ideas and strategies for the company.
The significance of Marketing Audit
There are
significant guidelines for marketing to be developed by IKEA. Marketing audit
helps the management to comply with the general guidelines of marketing. The
marketing department of IKEA can arrange different aspects and procedures to innovate
new policies for the organization. The policies developed and undertaken by the
company are analysed in preparing marketing audit (Fahy and jobber, 2015). Thus any flaw can be rectified by the marketing
department with the help of a marketing audit.
Macro Analysis
PESTEL
analysis
Political factors: The organization has to work in certain places in the country
where the company spread the activities. The growth and development of the business
are affected by such factors. Every country has separate political issues. Sometimes
the operations are affected by several political issues. IKEA has been greatly
affected by the political issue in the UK. There are several political
controversies in UK for which the activities of IKEA have got affected. IKEA
has been linked in a controversy. In 2002, there were some products prepared by
IKEA that had been producing in the prisons of East Germany during 1970-1980.
This incident hampered a lot to demote the reputation of IKEA. It has been
taken a long time to regain the lost position and fame.
Figure 01:
PESTEL analysis
Source: (Pomering and Johnson, 2018)
Economic factors: IKEA is a multinational retailer group. So, there are
lots of destinations in the company. The company has to maintain separate
economic terms of every country the company belongs to. However, the company
has got burnt from economic issues. The recession of 2007 showed that furniture
retailer like IKES was affected severely. At that time, several people lost
employment and as a result, the buying decision of the daily goods was the prior
condition (Pomering
and Johnson, 2018). So, any kind of luxury product like furniture was
ignored. As a result, IKEA was affected severely. However, with the passage of
time, the situation is now is positive for the company. At present, another
issue makes the management in a crucial situation and it is the rate of inflation
especially in the UK.
Social factors: Organizations especially the multinational companies
have to comply with the social factors properly as to operate the business with
the standards of the locals. The social beliefs, ethics, morals and other
standards have to be followed and maintained by any type of organization. Social
values must be respected. Otherwise, the firm cannot survive in the long run. Even
IKEA suffers a lot from social factors.
Technological factors: Technologies are being improved day by day. The
organizations have to implement modern technologies to deal with the changing
environment. The growth and development of the business are largely attributed
to the advanced technological factors. The functions of the business are
improved by proper technologies used by the firm (Fahy and
jobber, 2015). IKEA needs to improve the technological aspects. The
website of the company should be made user-friendly. The company needs to
improve the display system of products to the customers so that it can be
convenient for the customers.
Environmental factors: IKEA is aware of maintaining environmental compliance.
The eco-friendly system has been inaugurated by the company. Renewable energy
is used in order to lessen the wastage of the resources. Wind panels and solar
system have been launched. Eco-friendly materials are used to protect the
environment.
Legal factors: IKEA is a multinational company and it is obvious to
maintain the legal aspects properly. The rules and regulations must be maintained.
Otherwise, several issues may be faced by the company. All the laws related to
protecting the rights of the various groups and labours have to be maintained.
Microanalysis
Internal
analysis
There are several
internal elements of the organization that are analysed for determining the
capability of the firm. The position in the market can be acquired. The internal
analysis helps the management to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the
firm (Fahy and jobber, 2015). Competitive advantage can be enjoyed from the internal
analysis. In order to prepare the strategic plan, internal analysis is very
helpful. Thus the sustainable growth can be ascertained by internal analysis.
Value chain
analysis
Value chain analysis
is the process of identifying the internal capabilities of the firm. This
strategic process is used to evaluate the internal functions of the firm. There
are several functions of the firm. Value chain analysis is used to identify the
most important functions of the firm. IKEA can be greatly assisted by value
chain analysis for attaining long term goal.
Figure 02: Value chain analysis
Source: (Fahy and
jobber, 2015)
Segmentation, Targeting and positioning:
Segmentation: The firm has several markets where the products can be
distributed to that large scale sale can be occurred. Segmentation is the
process of dividing the markets into several categories so that the
distribution of functions can be done properly (Fahy and
jobber, 2015). The firm can
segment the markets by several measures such as demographic, behavioural, geographical
and so on. The administration of IKEA has segmented the markets by geographic
and demographic matters.
Targeting: Every business organization has a group of target
customers for which all the functions are arranged. Such focused groups are considered
very important for the firm and the firm prefers to focus more so that the
targeted customers can be satisfied with the products and services the
customers got from the firm. IKEA has also some targeted customers.
Positioning: Every organization wants to position the firm in a
proper way to the customers so that the business can be considered as a reputed
brand to the minds of the customers. The customer if IKEA is very satisfied
with the performance of the firm as quality furniture is served by the company.
Strategic group’s analysis
There are several same types of organizations that belong to have the same
products. In this case, strategic group analysis is very helpful because of
combining all the strategies and procedures of the firm. Under strategic group
analysis, all the companies have to follow and maintain the same rules and
regulations. In this case, plans are maintained equally by all the other firms
also (Sadgrove, 2016). There are several
competitors like producing the same products as IKEA. Walmart, Amazon and many
others are such competitors of IKEA.
Every business organization wants to develop marketing strategies so
that the business can be profitable and can survive in the long run. Some
significant strategies make the difference for which the buying decision of the
customers can be influenced. One of the important strategies is the pricing
strategy. The firm has to set price in an effective manner (Fahy and jobber, 2015). The customers want to get
products at a minimum price as many alternatives s are present there. For
setting the price and attracting the consumers, the firms are seen offering
different designs so that the customers can understand why the price is
different.
So, it is obvious that setting at the lowest price can accelerate the
sales of the firm. On the contrary, the products having a higher price have to
suffer and the sales are relatively low also. In order to gain a competitive
advantage and make proper profit, firms have to gather effective pricing
strategy (Pomering
and Johnson, 2018). However, it should be remembered also that setting low price does not
mean to cut quality. Customers must be ensured that the firm has not
compromised the quality to keep the low price. Customers are getting quality products
at a cheap rate- this has to be ensured (Sadgrove, 2016).
Perceptual
mapping with Ikea
Products are prepared for the customers and here the customers are the
king. The choice and demand mobilize the firm to produce the desired products. Perceptual
mapping is a visual term by which a firm can understand the position of the
firm in the market (Sadgrove,
2016). It is a practical assumption by which a firm makes a survey to get
understood the perception of the customers about the firm. The customers will
rank and recommend goods to others for a firm if the customers get the desired
goods at a cheap price. Thus it can be said that perceptual mapping is very
helpful for a firm to know the market condition and improve product quality.
Figure 03: Perceptual
Mapping of IKEA
Source:
Close competitors
There are several close competitors of IKEA. Walmart, Amazon, Ashley and
many others are the close competitors of IKEA. Among the top 10 competitors, IKEA
stands 5th in terms of having employees and 4th in terms
of revenue generation (Sadgrove,
2016). The biggest competitor is said to be Ashley. Those close competitors
are working toe to toe with IKEA to grab the market. Thus IKEA has to bring new
strategies regularly.
SWOT of IKEA
Strengths:
Ø The mission and vision are
very clear.
Ø The strategies taken by the firm are effective to gain success.
Ø IKEA has suitable plans and
innovations to increase sales.
Ø The firm has become a leader in the industry.
Weaknesses:
Ø Sometimes it is very
difficult for the management to control the activities of the firm due to larger
in size.
Ø The higher price of raw
materials affect growth.
Ø Scalable quality control is
regarded as a major weakness.
Figure 04: SWOT
Source: (Farrell and Speh, 2017)
Opportunities:
Ø The firm has scopes for entering
in narrow markets.
Ø The firm can be the cost
leader.
Ø Green business technology
is used which is regarded as a great scope for attracting customers.
Threats:
Ø The competitors are
following the same strategies as IKEA.
Ø More and more competitors
are emerging.
Conclusion
A proper marketing plan is very necessary to make the customers
understood about the products and services as the organization has launched. In
this report, the author is concerned about preparing a proper marketing audit by
selecting IKEA so that the concept can be clear and convenient. It needs to
determine that several strategies have to be brought to gain a competitive advantage.
Strategic priorities are very much
important for the organization because it deals values and standards of
quality. It will help the organization to maintain brand value and maintain the standard of quality of their furniture. The author has evaluated the
microanalysis and macro analysis of IKEA. IKEA can improve the strategies by
preparing a proper marketing audit so that the business can be advanced and
successful.
References:
Fahy, J.
and Jobber, D., 2015. Foundations of marketing.
Ferrell,
O.C. and Speh, T.W., 2017. Marketing
Strategy, Loose-Leaf Version. Cengage Learning.
McDonald,
M. and Wilson, H., 2016. Marketing
Plans: How to prepare them, how to profit from them. John Wiley & Sons.
Pomering,
A. and Johnson, L., 2018. Building sustainability into services marketing:
expanding decision-making from a mix to a matrix. Sustainability, 10(9), p.2992.
(Pomering and Johnson, 2018)
Sadgrove,
K., 2016. The complete
guide to business risk management. Routledge.
Schaltegger,
S., Burritt, R. and Petersen, H., 2017. An introduction to corporate environmental management:
Striving for sustainability. Routledge.
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