Strategic Marketing Environment Analysis Essay Example

its low-cost, high-fashion clothing at the High Street fashion awards. The chain's military jacket has been a huge success and has even made an appearance in Vogue. With 161 stores in total, Primark outnumbers other clothing retailers in these regions, with 125 stores in the United Kingdom alone.

The brand presents itself as a provider of affordable fashion. Primark is renowned for its affordable clothing offerings and achieves this by sourcing materials simply, designing uncomplicated garments, and focusing on the 35-and-under demographic who prioritize both style and value. Adapting to evolving global trends and customer preferences, Primark Store Limited has transformed its business model and management approach.

The Marketing plan for Primark will cover various aspects including the company's vision, mission, and values. It will also delve into the strategic marketing environment with a focus on SWOT and PEST analysis. The plan will also address Primark's segmentation, target, and positioning strategy. Additionally, it will provide insights into the marketing strategies utilized by Primark.

Primark has a unique branding strategy as part of their marketing mix, which will be examined with regards to recent and upcoming changes in the marketing environment. The environment plays a critical role in determining an organization's potential for success, operating on two levels: macro and micro. The macro-environment is the highest-level layer, as illustrated in Figure 1 of "The marketing environment" (2008).

The larger contextual sphere in which organizations operate, known as the macro-environment, encompasses a set of diverse environmental factors that impact them to varying degrees. A crucial aspect involves comprehending how future alterations in this milieu might influence individual establishments. The PEST framework presents a valuable tool for identifying potential threats and

opportunities to organizations based on trends portending in the macro-environment. This allows managers to adapt their strategies accordingly, anticipating changes in the business environment that could necessitate different approaches. Situated within the macro-environment is the more specific industry or sector level.

The concepts of the five forces framework and cycle of competition are valuable for comprehending the evolving competitive dynamics both within an industry and in the surrounding environment. The competition and markets constitute the most immediate layer of the atmosphere. The strategic group concept assists in recognizing direct and indirect competitors. Customers' expectations differ considerably. (Johnson, Scholes, Whittington, 2005) The marketing environment is influenced by external factors, including political, economic, sociocultural, and technological ones. These macro environmental factors are analyzed through the PEST framework (which may also be called SETP).

Political factors encompass governmental regulations and legal matters that establish both formal and informal guidelines that a company must abide by. Primark benefits from union government policies, while paying higher taxes to the UK government, and leveraging the advantages of other countries like India and Africa. Primark specializes in selling clothing at lower prices than its competitors.

Primark, owned by ABF, has been affected by challenging economic conditions which have caused a slowdown in its business. This is attributed to consumers having to manage rising costs of food, petrol and energy bills (Hawkers and Jameson, 2008). The value of the pound depreciated after sales dropped significantly in June. The anticipated UK interest rate change was expected to be a reduction (BBC News, 2008). Nonetheless, Primark still remains a significant retailer as it offers customers affordable products.

Business can be influenced by social and cultural factors that vary from

country to country. People are embracing rapid lifestyle changes without hesitation. Primark's affordable and trendy clothing options are attracting a larger customer base.

The recent Primark child labour scandal has had a negative impact on consumers. Although Primark utilizes new technology to create trendy clothing, they had to quickly change their One Up technology to make sense of stock and sales information. Primark ultimately withdrew their One Up technology and instead implemented their own front and back end packages, alongside new hardware and software. This technological transition was completed within four months for all sixteen stores.

To introduce new systems, all stores had to do so during non-peak trading periods due to the lead-time required to train staff and stabilize the new systems, as reported by Business in 2000. The environment surrounding Primark has been analyzed through SWOT and PEST analysis, giving insight into their position in the retail market, as well as their relation with customers, government and other competitor markets. These analyses also show Primark's predictions for the future while keeping track of recent changes in the market to provide better service to their customers.