Introduction

Business strategic planning plays a crucial role in running the organisational operational activities, where the companies can develop effective tactics to conduct their operations in the market and gain high competitive advantage. The study provides a scope to analyse the current issues in the company Marks and Spencer, so that proper strategic solutions can be developed further. In this study, it is also possible to recommend some suitable suggestions so that the company can resolve the issues and expand the business by strengthening their customer’s base. Marks and Spencer is a major British multinational retailer with headquarter in London. The company specialises in high quality clothing, home products and food products through which the organisation is able to sustain in the retail chain in the UK and gain the competitive advantage over other firms in the market. The company has expanded their operations through 1463 locations and it generated £10,377.3 million revenue in this year. Hereby, there is string customer base in the market, which prefer the quality products and services of the company and thus the consumers develop effective purchase decision from the organisation for their quality products and efficient services (Marks and Spencer, 2019a). There are more than 80800 employees serving across the world, where the efficient employees aim to serve the customers with the bet quality products and efficient support where the customers have the opportunity to fulfil their expectations and necessities (Marks and Spencer, 2019b). 

Current issues in the company

In the recent era of globalisation and digitalisation, the tail firms are suffering from getting the competitive advantage, as it is very difficult for them to compete with other firms in the global retail market as the completion is intense. Hereby, due to the presence of substitute products in the market as well as huge number of competitors in the global retail industry, there is intense competition and it becomes difficult for the firm Marks and Spencer to get the competitive advantage as compared to other retail firms such as Aldi, Lidl, Primark, Zara and H&M. another major issue that the firm Marks and Spencer is suffering from is that low profitability and sales volume, where the company is lagging behind the profitability, and there is deterioration of the profitability and sales volume of the firm for which Marks and Spencer could not get high market share in the retail industry across the globe (The Guardian, 2018). Though there is strong customer’s base in the market for the organisation Marks and Spencer, the company face difficulties to retain and attract the new generations and long term buyers which can contribute in enhancing the sales volume and profitability of the firm. Hereby, the major issues of the company are such as low profitability, deterioration of the sales volume and decrease in market share in the global retail market (The Guardian, 2019).

Strategic solutions

The company needs to focus on restructuring the organisation and developing effective strategic planning, so that it is possible or the brand to sustain in the competition and gain highly competitive advantage. Due to lack of variety in the product category as well as poor design of the online site of the company, the organisation Marks and Spencer fails to attract the new audiences in the market. Poor product line and lack of latest quality in designing the website are the major issue for which Marks and Spencer is suffering from. It is necessary for the company to enhance the variety of the products and focus on product diversification strategy in order to attract the generations in the market. In this regard, the company must focus on market demand and latest fashion trend in designing the clothing products as well as aim at several interior decorations and innovative products in homeward appliances so that it is possible for the organisation to attract the customers in long run with variety of products and services in the market (David, F.R. and David, F.R., 2019). On the other hand, the company also focus on designing the online site of the organisation Marks and Spence, where the customers can review the products and alternatives and make effective purchase decision successfully. Availability of the products and services and effective product line as well as online marketing and developing website of the company would be beneficial for the organisation to grab the market opportunities in near future and strengthen their customer’s base. These strategic evaluations are also effective for the firm to secure future sustainable development and mitigate the issue of low profitability by enhancing its sales volume where they could be effective to serve the huge numbers of customers with a huge variety of the products and services.

Recommendations

The suggested recommendations for the firm Marks and Spencer will be discussed further, though which the company can resolve the above mentioned issues in the market.

• The company Marks and Spencer needs to restructure the product strategy by focusing on product diversification strategy, where the company must understand the market demand and latest fashion trend so that the design of the clothing product can attract the customers in the market. Additionally, the company also needs to provide quality food items and introduce the innovative homeward appliances for attracting the audiences at the market.
• The company also needs to develops the website and introduce the Smartphone applications, where the customers can place their order after reviewing the alternative product category. In the recent era of digitalisation and growth in ecommerce business, the company needs to enhance the online activities to attract the audiences.

Conclusion and reflection

It can be concluded that, through proper investment on online services as well as product diversification strategy, the company Marks and Spencer can resolve the issue of low profitability, where it can grab the opportunity in near future to enhance their sales volume and perform better in the market to gain high competitive advantage. The research on the company Marks and Spencer as well as the activities of the company are effective to identify the issue and develop proper strategy to mitigate the issue in near future.

Reference List

David, F.R. and David, F.R., 2019. Strategic management: A competitive advantage approach, concepts and cases. London: Pearson.

Marks and Spencer, 2019a. History. [online] Available at:https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus/history [Accessed 25 November 2019].

Marks and Spencer, 2019b. Leadership. [online] Available at:https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus/our-leadership-team [Accessed 25 November 2019].

The Guardian, 2018. Seven reasons why Marks & Spencer is in trouble. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/may/23/seven-reasons-why-marks-spencer-is-in-trouble [Accessed 25 November 2019].

The Guardian, 2019. The Guardian view on the decline of Marks & Spencer: trouble at tills. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/03/the-guardian-view-on-the-decline-of-marks-spencer-trouble-at-tills [Accessed 25 November 2019].