Digital Marketing Approaches and Services (Essay Sample)

Marks and Spencer: Digital Marketing Approaches and Services

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Abstract
Marks and Spencer retailers are mostly recognized M&S. The company is a fashion oriented company dealing with a number of products ranging from food & wine, clothes, flowers & gifts, furniture, to other similar but diversified products in the retailer market. The company being fashion oriented has identified the need to establish digital marketing strategies to engage customers in the decision making process and enable the company to collect fashion related information from customers. Moreover, collecting fashion related information using digital electronic tools requires the company to engage all the age groups ranging from children, youths, and relatively old people. Over the past two decades, the company has integrated the digital marketing strategies in selling the retail products with the use of various websites and social Medias. The digital marketing era includes the adoption of electronic commerce based on the information technology sector.
This research is dedicated to analyzing how Marks and Spencer have been handling digital marketing tools to engage customers in the creation of fashionable products and other fashion related factors. Also, the research outlines how the customers’ behavior is affected by the entire digitalization process in the company. Through some research methodologies such as interviews, qualitative and quantitative strategies involving keen observation, and wide research from internet based websites such as M&S website, this thesis has achieved to acquire crucial information concerning the digital marketing in Marks and Spencer Company.
Table of content
Title page………………………………………………………….1
Abstract……………………………………………………………2
Table of contents……………………………………………………3
List of figures………………………………………………………4
Introduction………………………………………………………….6
Literature review……………………………………………………7
Research methods………………………………………………….8
Findings of secondary data………………………………………..10
Findings of primary data………………………………………….12
Conclusion and limitations………………………………………15
References……………………………………………………….17
Appendix………………………………………………………… 19

List of Figures
Table 1: The company turnover and profits since 1996
Year endedTurnover (£ M)
Profit before tax (£ M)Net profit (£ M)Basic HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earnings_per_share" \o "Earnings per share"eps (p)31 March 20129,934.3658.0489.632.52 April 20119,740.3780.6598.638.83 April 20109,536.6702.7523.033.528 March 20099,062.1706.2506.832.329 March 20089,022.01,129.1821.049.231 March 20078,588.1936.7659.939.11 April 20067,797.7745.7520.636.42 April 20057,490.5505.1355.029.13 April 20048,301.5781.6452.324.229 March 20038,019.1677.5480.520.730 March 20028,135.4335.9153.05.431 March 2001
8,075.7145.52.80.01 April 20008,195.5417.5258.79.031 March 19998,224.0546.1372.113.031 March 19988,243.31,155.0815.926.731 March 19977,841.91,129.1746.626.731 March 19967,233.7965.8652.6455.8(Anon., 2013)
Table 2: Results of primary analysis involving a hundred participants
Questions asked Overall response in percentage Strongly agreeAgreeNeither agree or DisagreeDisagreeStrongly
disagreeMarks & Spencer understands and adhere to the latest trends in the digital marketing sector204819121Does the top executives understand, control, and support digital marketing18433062Is there a perfect integration among the department in the company concerning the execution of digital marketing64231192Does the company use social media effectively in line with the company marketing strategy85027105Does the company incorporate social data in the decision making process concerning marketing328253311Does the company has a specific approach to respond to customer grievances184415168
Introduction
Marks and Spencer Company are an essentially established company with over 700 stores in the UK and 360 stores distributed in over forty countries. The main aim of this thesis is to elucidate on Marks and Spencer digital marketing approaches. However, the system is supported by three main objectives which include defining the contribution of digital marketing to customers’ purchasing behavior, methods and component used, and how it engages the customer participation and customers’ response to digital approaches in the company.
As seen in the financial information posted in the list of figures, the company has had inconsistent abnormalities in the profit accrued since the year 1996. This makes the Digital Marketing Approaches and Services topic an excellent topic since the marketing sector is accountable for sales of all products and services produced in the company. Also, the company being a global corporation makes the topic relevant since most global corporation uses the customer interactive marketing process usually known as digital marketing to promote and sell their products using customer based websites and social Medias. This research aims at establishing the current relationship the electronic media in the company relate to customers and realize the overall effects in terms of profits and market coverage.
Literature Review
This literature review is based on an article entitled Hoe does the web make youth feel? Exploring the positive digital rhetoric. The article is about consumer response to the digital media. The article particularly concentrates on emotional response to digital media. Marks and Spencer being a fashion company makes the article relevant to this research. Moreover, the article contains a majority of youths who forms the largest percentage of people involved in fashion.
Customers respond differently to the use of digital media in advertising and selling products online. Emotion is fundamentally defined as the readiness in the customer’s minds due to constant product promotions and organized event through electronic means. The design posted in the company’s website has an emotional attachment to the customer which eventually influence the decision made by the customer. A great percentage of fashion customers are usually directed by emotions attachment rather than reason. Moreover, emotions influence the customer behavior and their buying habits. Emotions have a diverse roles ranging from evoking customers habit, company response to customer grievances, and overall customer satisfaction in the company. Emotions are evoked by different context the first being consumption emotions that are enhanced by the art of vividness and interactivity provided in the company’s websites. The youth web emotions refer to the basic connection between the youths and modern electronics. Particlualy, youths are vigorously adopting e-commencing with diverse sensitivity to the methods used in promoting and selling the products. However, fashion is taken differently among the two genders, male and female, with more girls interested in fashion than men. Especially in the UK, over 77% of people searching for fashion websites are the youths aged 16-24. The youth emotions can be placed at three levels including negative emotions such as bored, confused, and frustrated, the second rank is neutral and consists of such emotions such as sociable, connected, cool, and knowledgeable. The last category is positive emotions including happy, good, excited, and interested. These emotions achieve different results that might be as well negative, neutral, or positive. The effects can positively influence the customer to purchase products online. The youths particularly prefer products that are in line with the current in the social world directed at invoking some emotions. Youths engage in digital marketing so as contribute to the product tailoring to satisfy their needs (Page & Mapstone, 2010).
Marks and Spencer serve a wide ranging market in the fashion arena. However, the youths forms the most basic population interested in fashion. Marks and Spencer uses different media technologies to evoke ...