Role of Marketing Functions - ALDI

TASK 1

P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing functions.

As mentioned above, marketing is a process which enables company to sell their items in different markets in order to satisfy their customers. Aldi is operating in many countries with thousands of stores selling different types of products and satisfying customers worldwide (Babin and Zikmund, 2015). Due to this, they have attained a great brand image in markets of United Kingdom. It requires strong marketing skills and efforts of marketing department to reach to this extent and to hold a position in competitive market.

Marketing department of company employs employees and managers which perform their respective roles and put great efforts in order to develop better marketing plans which can maximize their sales as well as attract large customers at the same time. Marketing department plays crucial roles in order to ensure success to the company and this is done by marketing products and services mad by organization (William and Zikmund, 2012). It also includes timely distribution of those goods to customers and should have the capacity to satisfy all requirements of customers. They can take help for Human Resource department in order to get talented and skilled candidates which have the zeal to do something for their company. Aldi recruits candidates which can make profits out of available resources. They also hire experts and professionals which can guide them and provide them with valuable suggestions which can profitable to the company. Aldi uses different marketing functions to make their marketing plans more effective and better and some of them are mentioned below:

Marketing information management

It is the practice of monitoring the market, organizing and analyzing the results of data collection and developing strategies according to that. The information is provided to markets and they develop best strategies out of that information (Baker and Saren, 2016). MIS is gaining importance in every organisation as it provides great and useful information which give better idea about needs and demand of customers and recent market trends, etc. MIS distribute every type of important information to associated people on time.

Financing

: It helps in providing necessary funds to company for carrying out their activities. It is an important marketing function because finances are involved at almost every step of marketing and without it; marketers are unable to implement their strategies. This enables company to earn profits after implementing strategies. Company can take help form different financial institutions which includes banks. They can provide appropriate strengths to company.

Selling

: It involves buying of products by customers and selling by company. Organisation can sell their products in different markets in order to attract customers form different segments. Another way to sell the product is to directly communicating with potential buyers.

Promotion

: It is an effective marketing function which helps company to advertise and promote their products in global market through various promotion tools and techniques. Various promoting tools are advertising, personal selling, publicity, public relations. It is crucial for company to advertise their products, on through this customers will come to know about particular products and buy them. This is the way through which firm attracts large number of customer towards their product or services. Marketing department can plan their promotions and launch events and can provide sample of products for customers. They can also take advantage of internet and e- commerce websites in order to spread across the world. This is a great media to connect with millions of customers at the same time.

Pricing

: It is an important marketing function as this will decide selling of a product or service or not. Customers mainly prefer those items or services which are economic and reasonable and avoid referring high prices. So company should set price according to buying habit and capacity of customers (Scarborough and Zimmerer, 2011). This will not only benefit organisation but also satisfy their customers and will lead to increase in sales. Setting the correct prices for a commodity is a difficult task for company but they can consider customers perception and spending habits. They cannot keep prices too high, this will lose customers nor too low which can give a perception of bad quality. Accurate price is set after research and trials on market.

Product / service management

: If the company has set the prices and done the research on target market, then their goal is to manage their product or services. This involves feedback given by employees after tringg product or services and implements any changes and re- launch again in market. It is the duty of company to launch new product in certain period of time and keep their existing products up to date.

Distribution management:

This ensures proper and timely management and distribution of products or services to customers. This requires effective management of supply chain and identifying different channel of distributing products. Distribution management involves various activities and processes like inventory, supply, logistics, packaging, etc.

Above mentioned were some important marketing functions which are crucial for company to implement in their marketing plans. This will help company to increase their sales of product and will maximize the profitability. With the help of these functions, company can achieve goals of marketing and make a strong hold in the market. It requires great dedication ad effort by marketers to analyze all features related to marketing, any lack or miss can result in severe losses to company. Proper research is required to develop marketing plans and this will make the process easier. They will give them with best ideas and can market their product in that direction.

P2 Roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the organizational context.

Marketing functions are crucial for organisation to implement within their marketing strategies as they make them more effective and profitable. It also ensures timely distribution of products and services to target market as well as customers which is very important. These function are now days are implemented by every organisation and mainly includes include research of market area, development of product plan, formulation of procedures and processes, finances, sales of product, customer service etc. Aldi is operating in many countries and this has been possible with hard work of personnel working in the company, specially marking department as they are directly link with selling and marketing of products worldwide. They have been effectively utilizing marketing functions and making more effective and better strategies (Perreault, Cannon and McCarthy, 2015). These functions are mainly responsible for Aldi’s growth and mainly consists strategic management, sales support system, finance team, marketing research, product developments, distributions systems, human resource departments etc. Each department has their own importance and plays numerous roles and activities in order to ensure that company achieve its success and ultimate vision. Following are some department which helps company to achieve their targets.

Human resource department:

This department is referred to as backbone of a company which recruits, handles, manages, and coordinates all the activities going on in the company. This department also provides marketing department with important information which they can use at the time of decision making process. The main responsibility of Human Resource Department is to provide company with highly talented and qualified candidates which can increase their sales as well maximize the profits. They provide marketing department with highly skilled marketers which have the vision and knowledge to develop effective marketing strategies and can result in more benefit to the company (Dibb and Simkin, 2013). Other responsibility of HR department is to provide appropriate and necessary resources and raw materials to different department which can be used at the time of implementing actual strategies and also ensure minimum wastage of resources by them. They also provide information about recent changes in external market and according to that company can develop their further activities. Aldi have efficient HR department as they are managing a lot of activities and employees very effectively and perform their responsibilities sincerely.

Product development department:

This is another very important department, which is responsible for developing and designing innovative and creative products according to needs and demands of customers. If the production department develops products which have the capacity to fulfill all requirements of customers then they will ultimately enjoy increase in sales and profits. It is crucial for Aldi to focus on customers’ needs and develop their production strategies according to that. With these types of products, company can attract as many customers as possible. If there is increase in customer, there will be increase in sales and profits. Company can also make modifications in existing products and re launch it again in existing as well as new markets to increase sales. It is responsibility of production manager to check whether their production teams are meeting all the quality standards as stated. They should not compromise with quality of products as this can lead to decrease in sales and ultimately loss to the company.

Research and development department:

This department is an essential part of a company. They are concerned with all the research work which is required for the company to develop their strategies and activities. Research can be done on customer’s likes and dislikes, market trend, different market segments, competitors, market growth, etc (Rebore, 2011). They can run their research with the help of different techniques and provide company with essential facts and figures so that associated people can implement them in their planning and earn maximum profits. With the help of research, company comes to know about their competitors and their hold on market share. It is crucial for every company to carry out necessary research in order to get crucial information about market and customers. Aldi perform their research on certain time interval in order to stay updated with recent changes and competition in market.

Financing departmemt:

This is one of the key departments as it is mainly concerned with providing finances and funds to company in order to implement their theoretical procedures in practical. Every company requires huge amount of cash in order to implement day to day activities and is important for company to have that much of finances available with them. They can their funds from selling their products and services to customers in different markets. Increase in sales ensures increase in funds coming to the company. Finance department also records profits and loss and other investments and provide necessary information to production department in order to set appropriate price for the products. Finance manager provide necessary funds to all departments and manages their finances effectively and avoid wastage of money.

Above are some departments which plays crucial role in developing marketing plans and providing marketing department with necessary funds to carry out their marketing and timely distribution of products and services to customers. It is necessary for company to have good communication and relations between each department in order to increase the efficiency of company (Martin, Campbell and Harmsen, 2014). This also creates healthy and good working environment. With the help and efforts of department, company can achieve their goals and objectives in efficient manners and also accomplish them on time. If a department lack behind or unable to function well, then this can result in heavy losses to the company and can lose their market position.

TASK 2

P3 Comparison of ways in which organizations apply the marketing mix.

Marketing is described as offering right product customized as per consumers demand at right time at place and at right place. For efficiently catering its consumers need and demands a company critically uses its marketing in order to attain its set business goals and objectives. It is based on goods and services of firm, size of market and company, its market demographics and other factors. It involves 7 P’s of marketing i.e. product, price, place, promotion, people ,process and physical evidence.

Product :

Product is that tangible and intangible attribute that is manufactured or offered by a firm to satisfy demand of certain group of people. Aldi being one of global leading brand in discounted supermarket stores put immense attention to provide affordable products with high quality assurance. To capture large market share and cater demands of all its consumers Aldi offers a wide variety of products ranging from food items to household, health , beauty, pet food and so on (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2011).

Price:

It is referred amount that customers are willing to pay for a given commodity. It forms an important determinant in success of a firm as it significantly impact people’s decision about how much to pay and whether to pay that much or not. Thus, a company generally set its price keeping in mind in various factors like competitors strategy, buyers purchasing capacity etc. Aldi enjoys a strong and loyal customer base which is due to its efficient pricing strategy which offers high quality products at reasonable prices (Fill, 2011). It uses unit price strategy which enables consumers to easily compare prices with other business rivals. To penetrate the market it keep prices of its new product low so that consumers are willing to buy it to try it once giving an opportunity for company to enter market and gain share quickly.

Place:

It includes positioning and distributing a product in allocation where it is easily accessible to potential customers. It includes in depth analysis of a company’s target and nature and type of product as it directly influences consumers decision to buy it from any location. For instance if product being sell by a firms of limited edition of some exclusive brand available at a particular store only then people will readily travel to that particular location irrespective of time spent, distance traveled which might not be the case if a product been offered is normal consumer able good. Thus firm to find out most appropriate channel of distribution to make its product available to its potential buyers (Blythe, 2012).Aldi be global market leader in discounted supermarket stores having large consumer base and variety of products makes its open more than 8000 stores in 18 different countries worldwide. To make its products available to its consumers anytime and very time without delay company stores bulk of products in its warehouses to ensure that its availability to consumers where ever they demand for it. To make sure that products quality is maintained while they are stored it make use eco friendly equipments in its stores. They can include several distribution strategies such as, intensive, exclusive, selective distribution and franchising.

Promotions:

It is one of the most important component of marketing mix as it plays significant role in boosting product sales by attracting consumer to buy it through various elements like sales promotion, advertising, direct selling and so on. It is basically the use of right type of communication medium for persuading or attracting target market segment to purchase a particular product or service by highlighting its main features. Aldi claims its promotional strategy to be te most cost effective leading to company spending negligible amount on its sales promotion. One of the most prominent feature of its promotion is that Aldi maintain regional appearance and name its stores in accordance to it. It also introduces several weekly and daily offers like Super Buys which are available only till limited time period (Baines, Fill and Page, 2013).Aldi also make extensive utilization of email marketing where in it notifies it consumers about its upcoming offers, discounts and new product launches through email.

People:

People forms focal point of any business firm. Being it its consumers to whom a firm produces its products or services or either being it its employees utilizing whose capabilities efforts and skill business achieve its targets , a company has to keep in mind satisfaction level of both these groups. Employees are the face of company the first people with whom a consumer interacts therefore it is important for affirm to hire proficient employees who can deliver superior services to clients at various levels like at help desk, through customer care services etc. Aldi to assist its customers and to reduce their decision making time in choosing out among various products has smartly designed its stores layout. Its stores are divided into various sections having where different products are displayed reducing need of employees on every floor (Huang and Sarigöllü, 2014).Also to increase working efficiency of its employees and reduce waiting time of consumers to stand in a queue, Aldi provided for sitting facilities for employees at billing counters which make it easy, comfortable and quick to scan products as computer screen is rightly align in front of them.

Process:

Process is a amalgamation of time, activities, schedules and routines to plan out to minimize the efforts a consumer has to put for availing a service or getting a product. The aim is to have a well sequential process of business activities wherein consumers are actively engaged without getting bored or tired. Aldi by its convenient and properly coordinated store layout make it convenient for people to easily find out products reducing no of employees required to assist a consumer. Moreover as Aldi deals in limited no. of high quality brands at affordable prices it makes buying decision easy for customers without getting too much confused among variety of brands reducing their selection time (Mintz and Currim,, 2013).

Physical evidence:

It is the way in which services and products are been perceived in market and are delivered. Organization should have physical evidence that their services was delivered to target markets. It also pertains to how a business and its products are perceived in market place. Aldi being among world renowned discounted supermarket chain having simple process, standardized and quality products and global pricing enjoys a huge market share and customer base. Being the only stores who maintains same price for its groceries round the world Aldi is able to secure and maintain an edge over its business rivals.

TASK 3

P4 Basic marketing plan.

Company Overview:-

Aldi is one of the world’s top most privately owned and managed chain which is having its operations running in more than 20 countries having 10,000 stores with a turnover of more than €50 billion. It was founded in 1946 with its headquarters base in Germany. Apart from dealing in grocery products like fruits, vegetables Aldi also offers daily necessity households like beauty products, clothing range, kitchen and garden equipments, bathroom accessories and so on. The most prominent feature of Aldi is that it provides its consumers with products having quality as other expensive brands in affordable prices (Gordon, 2012).

Vision and mission statements

Vision: The vision of Aldi is “Top quality at incredibly low prices- guaranteed".

Mission: To set standards for food, discounted supermarket ing and to diversify its market position and to adhere by three values Simplicity, responsibility and reliability.

Controlling and Monitoring

In this step, company closely monitors that whether all of its business activities are conducted are effectively or not (Londhe, 2014). If not then company analysis those areas of lacking and prepare corrective action plans in order to improve or eliminate particular errors so that it does not hamper efficiency of business operations in long term. At this stage, company analysis and evaluates effectiveness of its business activities and find out that are they competitive enough to achieve long term objectives of a firm.

CONCLUSION

From the assignment undertaken it is concluded that the role of marketing in distributing a company’s products and services to target customers is prominent. And to cater the needs and aspirations of its consumers and to capture high market share a company carefully formulates and implements its marketing mix strategy. In order to make more effective and efficient market plans , marketer need to carefully analyze and implement its different marketing functions and 7P’s of marketing mix. Aldi being a global leading brand still need to overcome its weakness and formulate strategies to overcome its threats.

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