Marketing Principles and Customer

Communication Report

Lucinda McNally

Marketing with Advertising Marketing

January 5, 2017
 Table of Contents
Abstract.............................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

Evaluating the Effect of the Internet on Consumer Behaviour ............................................. 2

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 2

Discussion ............................................................................................................................................................ 3

Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................... 5

Should a Retail Company be Concerned by Brexit in its Marketing Environment? ....... 7

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 7

Discussion ............................................................................................................................................................ 8

Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................ 10

Communications campaign ........................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 11

Discussion ......................................................................................................................................................... 12

Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................ 14

Appendices ............................................................................................................................................ 15

Bibliography ......................................................................................................................................... 16

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 Evaluating the Effect of the Internet on
Consumer Behaviour
Introduction

The article chosen to base this report on is titled “Value fashion retailer Primark wants

online presence but says business model doesn’t work” (Thomson , 2013) which was found

on RetailWeek.

The key points from this article are that:

 Primark wants to go online

 Primark doesn’t think going online wouldn’t be profitable considering how they

currently run

 Going online would make Primark more competitive with other ecommerce stores

RetailWeek is a professional educational source, which as far as anyone knows is unbiased,

so a very reliable source to use in research.

This report will be written about Consumer Behaviour, in particular the decision making

process of this.

Consumer Behaviour is “How consumers behave when buying goods and services for their

own use” (Wright, 2006). Kotler, Armstrong, Harris and Piercy in 2013 describe Consumer

Buyer Behaviour as “The buying behaviour of final consumers - individuals and households

that buy goods and services for personal consumption.”

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 Discussion

This article relates to Consumer Behaviour because it’s interested in how consumers change

the way they behave when buying goods and services through the internet.

(Saunders, 2015)

“Online channels are highly regarded during the search stage of the consumption process.”

(Penz and Hog, 2011) This shows how online shopping may be useful, as it makes the

“information search” section of the decision making unit much easier, with the information

at consumer’s finger tips. McKee says that “90% of online electrical sales have some form of

store involvement” (2016) suggesting that although online is easier, the main reason it is

used is for the aid it gives in decision making.

According to Yeoman in 2016, “Against such a background, price comparison will become

an ever easier affair and an automatic -- even unconscious -- part of the purchasing

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 process.” This gives a greater understanding as to how so many more retailers are getting

into ecommerce, as it deals with people’s lack of patience.

During the article, Primark mentioned how they were sick of hearing about how companies

such as ASOS were online, and so why couldn’t they be? Studying into this further, it shows

that although the internet has many positive features, it also creates more competition and

work for businesses. “Companies have to be constantly on guard against competitors

offering better customer value in some way or another.” (Wright, 2006). This shows how

there is so much competition now that more companies are using the internet. Having and

online presence is simply another way of finding a comparative advantage.

On the other hand, as Pettit and Brassington point out in 2006, “information over load may

cause problems for the potential purchaser. There is evidence to suggest that consumers

cannot cope with too much information at product level (Keller and Staelin, 1987)” . This

suggests that although consumers like to make informed decisions, they can feel overloaded

if there are too many facts there. Further research explained that “Keller and Staelin also

distinguish between the quantity of information available to a consumer and the quality of

that information, hypothesizing that a higher quantity of information quality improves

decision effectiveness."(Magat and Viscusi, 1992). There were lots of results on Keller and

Staelin’s findings in 1987, suggesting that although from 30years ago, the theory is still

effective. This means that consumers may be less inclined to go through with the decision

making unit, as there is so much information online, which would make online presence less

effective. This would suggest that although it’s good to get the information out there, doing

it in an effective way is the key part here.

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 Conclusion

In conclusion, the internet definitely does effect Consumer Behaviour.

It is now 4 years on and Primark still hasn’t committed to the internet. The website is

modern and very easy to use. One can see the product range, compare outfits and find out

where they’re being sold nearest however even after signing up, it is not possible to buy the

products online. This is also interesting as Primark is not known for customer service, so

there are less opinion formers thus less social factors influencing them to make the

purchase.

(Primark, 2001)

(Primark, 2001)

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 (Primark, 2001)

Primark is still doing well according to many sources, however is definitely missing a trick

by not getting into online sales. This, if done correctly would quicken the decision making

purchase so less time would be spent evaluating and therefore more sales would be made.

Primark could see huge profits through this.

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 Should a Retail Company be Concerned by
Brexit in its Marketing Environment?
Introduction

The title for the article this report is on is “’It hasn’t stopped people buying our blouses’

jokes pro-Brexit Next Boss Lord Wolfson” (Roderick, 2016) which was found on Marketing

Week.

The key points from this article are that:

 Brexit would be expected to have decreased sales for Next

 CEO of Next, Lord Wolfson says Brexit won’t impact sales.

Marketing Week appears to be unbiased whilst providing educational information backed

by facts and is therefore considered a trustworthy source.

This report will be written about The Marketing Environment, focussing especially on the

Political and Economic factors from the PESTEL analysis of the macro environment.

The Marketing Environment is “the actors and forces outside marketing that affect

marketing management’s ability to build and maintain successful relationships with target

customers.” (Kotler et al, 2013). Another definition is “the external world in which the

organisation and its potential customers have to exist, and within the context of which

marketing decisions have to be made.” (Brassington and Pettit, 2006)

Blythe and Martin describe Macro-environment as “Those environmental factors that are

common to all firms and that can be influenced, but not controlled” (2016)

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 Discussion

There are six macro environment factors. Brexit comes under two of these; it is a Political

Factor. Additionally, it strongly affected the economy, making it more prominent as an

Economic Factor.

(Academy, n.d.)

In the marketing week article, Roderick (in 2016) states that Wolfson claimed “it hasn’t

[impacted sales].” However, per the BBC later in 2016, "Next chief Lord Wolfson said

trading was likely to remain difficult "until mid-October at the earliest.” After this is said to

have happened, towards the end of 2016, "Fashion retailer Next dropped nearly 5% after it

reported a 1.5% drop in half-year profits to £342.1m and said trading was "challenging and

volatile"." (BBC 2016). This would lead you to believe that Next changed their mind. On the

other hand, they may have been avoiding Jones Theory (Appendix 3), which is what occurred

in the end, where investors thought other shareholders would be dropping out and so did

so themselves.

The next part of this report will cover how Brexit could’ve affected Next leading to its drop

in profits.

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 Following Brexit, there was uncertainty as to what would happen so less people invested in

the pound. This meant there was more supply for the pound and less demand for the pound

sterling which led to a depreciation (Appendix 1). As the other currencies were now more

expensive than before in comparison, so were imports. As “many British businesses are

“likely” to have to pay to import the clothes” (Hobbs 2016), the prices of their products

either increase or the businesses make less profit.

On top of that, Brexit has caused uncertainty amongst consumers, where they are unsure as

to what will happen in the future. This leads to lower consumer confidence and so less

consumption, meaning businesses generally make less profit.

Alternatively, Gee argues that "Brands should also remember the benefits of trade outside

of Europe,” and then goes on to point out "Louis Vuitton says 22% of its 2015 sales were

invoiced in European currency for 2015 sales, while 32% of its sales were in dollars”

(2016). Despite the depreciation leading to dearer imports, it also makes exports cheaper,

so many of the luxury brands especially are benefitting of this as UK quality exported goods

are cheaper and so a better deal to consumers abroad.

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 Conclusion

In conclusion, yes Brexit poses a huge issue to many businesses. However, there are ways to

lessen the effect and ways to use this the business’s advantage.

Despite Lord Wolfson possibly simply making the comment in jest and as his own matter of

opinion, it may well have been the best thing to do due to the Jones Effect. If people thought

“buying blouses” was a normal thing everyone was doing, they would be more likely to do it

themselves.

Unfortunately, Brexit is an external factor, and so uncontrollable. Considering that Next isn’t

a store that would-be price competitive, the company should focus on their Comparative

Advantage, “form an effective internal value chain (Appendix 2) that serves customers”

(Kotler et al., 2013) as this is a controllable factor due to being in the internal environment.

Additionally, Next should also consider exporting, as there would be a lot of potential for

profit in this area.

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 Is Dove’s Communications Campaign an
Effective Marketing Tool?
Introduction

The article chosen to base this report on is titled “New Dove Campaign to Tackle Anxiety

Issues” (Grocer, 2016) sourced from Mintel.

The key points from this article are that:

 Dove is starting new campaign

 The aim of the campaign is to tackle anxiety

 They plan to do this my promoting a healthy body image

Mintel is “the world's leading market intelligence agency” (Mintel Group Ltd, 2017). They

analyse data and market research mostly to help businesses or students. Their academic

background makes them a trustworthy source.

This report is involving a Communications campaign.

Notes and PowerPoint slides from lectures refer to marketing communications as

promotion. “There is no universally agreed definition of marketing communications and

there are many interpretations of the subject. The origin of many definitions rests with a

promotional outlook...” (Fill 2011). Masterson and Pickton define Marketing

Communications as “another name for promotion; communication designed and

implemented to persuade others to accept ideas, concepts or things; to motivate audience

members to action” (2010).

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 Discussion

Working with Ogilvy and Mather (Advertising Agency) they’ve had a similar theme since

2004, so they’re building on their branding creating a company image of being relatable and

down to earth.

(Unilever, 2017)

The campaign is the main feature of the home page. The home page “usually gives an

introduction to the business or organisation it belongs to” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2017).

This shows how they’re using this campaign to build their brand image. “For the past 12

years, Dove has led a cultural conversation about the definition of beauty that has made the

brand a global leader in personal care and it’s advertising a “gold standard” for marketing to

women.” (Terms, 2016)

At the end of video adverts, they’ll often finish with a white simple white screen underneath

the logo and Facebook page link. This shows how Dove is utilising new technologies and is

aware that social media is a fantastic medium to spread the word.

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 These campaigns have received PR spin off, not only off articles but also through social

media. People love to share things that they respect, admire and are passionate about.

When Dove (the Sender/Encoder) sends this message, it’s more likely to get past all the

noise and through to a larger audience because of the people’s (the Receivers/Decoder)

positive reactions to this message. By using this choice of message, it gets through to more

people, so more people see their logo and have a positive image of the company. The next

time that the consumer sees a Dove product, they’ll be more inclined to purchase it, making

this a pull promotional strategy, as the producer is advertising to the consumer, creating

demand allowing more product to shift.

An example of PR spin off was this article by Campaign: “The cultural landscape is also

changing. More-recent studies put the proportion of women who think they are beautiful

at 4%, while brands such as Procter & Gamble’s Always have joined the discourse with

their own messages of empowerment.” (Staff, 2016)

Dove has also used a range of mediums to promote themselves. There have been television

adverts, YouTube videos, posters and social media hashtags. They also use many from the

promotional mix, including Advertising, Direct Marketing, Sales promotions and Public

relations. The only platform they may have not included is Personal Selling, however this is

usually a less cost effective platform.

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 (Bhasin, 2016)

These Integrated Marketing Communications allow the campaign to work better than if the

different platforms were used separately. As Sheldon puts it, Integrated Marketing

Communications is a “way of looking at the whole, rather that only seeing the parts such as

advertising, public relations and sales promotion. IMC means realigning communication to

look at it the way the customer sees it” (1993).

Conclusion

In conclusion, it’s a very effective marketing tool, especially with the way it was carried out.

This brand image they’ve created helps the company to appeal to all ages, as well as

receiving PR spin off which is free advertising.

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 Appendices
1. “Appreciation or depreciation – a rise or fall in the value of a currency when the

currency is floating and market forces determine its value.” (Anderton, 2008)

2. “Value Chain – The series of internal departments that carry out value creating

activities to design, produce, market, deliver and support a firm’s products.” (Kotler

et al., 2013)

3. Jones Theory – An impulse factor where people are more likely to carry out an

action if they think that everyone else is doing it.

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 Bibliography
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Pitman Publishing imprint

KOTLER, P. et al., 2013. Principles of marketing European edition. 6th ed. Harlow:

Pearson

MAGAT, W.A. and K.W. VISCUSI, 1992. Informational approaches to regulation.

Cambridge, MA: MIT Press

MCKEE, L., 2016. Opinion: Retailers must adapt to changing consumer

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week.com/analysis/opinion/opinion-retailers-must-adapt-to-changing-consumer-

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PARSONS, E., 2009. Contemporary issues in marketing and consumer behaviour.

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Investigating ambivalence in consumers’ experiences of approach-avoidance conflicts in

online and offline settings. European Journal of Marketing, 45(1/2), 104–132

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 SAUNDERS, M., 2015. The customer’s decision-making process [viewed 13 January

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 GEE, R., 2016. Brexit: The brand winners [viewed 13 January 2017]. Available from:

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