Discuss the role of Marketing and the Marketing department using an organisation of your choice to illustrate the points you make. Tescos

What the customer needs and wants is found out in market research, it then goes to the marketing mix. Marketing mix includes product, price, place and promotion, formally known as the 4Ps which are key concepts in marketing. These are a very important part of every firm's marketing strategy and are also interlinked with some aspects of market research.

The product/service is what the company is selling or offering to a market for use or consumption. The product could be tesco's selling its own brand bread or service could be tesco's car insurance. Tesco's, as the leading supermarket in UK, offers a large variety of products, from household goods as groceries and toiletries, to furniture, finance and insurance.

Tesco's has launched Green products in which it offers healthy eating, including fruits and vegetables at lower prices. It also has clear labelling to provide customers with nutritional information e.g. guidelines for daily amounts.

Pricing is a key element in a firm's success the reason being that firms have to price in accordance to the market and to what the customers are willing to pay. The loss of revenue is important because if the production costs are high and the company isn't selling the product it will lose revenue.

Tesco's is known as the cheapest but good quality service around. It has a "price check" in which majority of its products are cheaper then its competitors, also allows its customer to see products and its prices compared to its competitors which is independently collected.

The real success to Tesco's is in its efforts in promotion. "Promoting is communicating with the potential customers and trying to persuade them to buy their product". Tesco's reaches its potential customers through television, newspaper and the internet. Tesco's club card is a type of marketing promotion. It gives the customer the opportunity to earn points every time they go shopping at Tesco's. In return they can spend their collected points on reducing their shopping bill or receive vouchers for hotels etc. Also tesco's promotes green products which involve environmental friendly services as re-cycling bags, mobile phones etc and also by promoting healthily eating e.g. buying fruits and vegetables. They have promoted this by offering green club card points which are same as the normal points however more points are offered as it is helping the environment. This is very successful with its public relations as well as its customers.

Tesco's try to attract customers by having advertisements sent through the post in form of leaflets stating which products are on offer; they send this across by having the offers in big red, bold lettering to grasp the customer's attention. Also they try to get customers for the future as children in the sense they have all the kids products on the lower shelves of the supermarket so that they can see them. Also tesco's has delivery service in which they would deliver shopping to customer's homes that order online or even in store; this is popular with its customers.

Another aspect important to marketing is place. Tesco's is the largest chain in the UK and is aiming at the global market. They have stores all around the UK so that their customers don't need to travel miles to go to their local store. Tesco's has about 1897 stores including tesco's express and extra, also they have hundreds of stores world wide, and planning on opening more stores in USA.

Also with online shopping, tesco's products and services are available all over the UK and also many other countries worldwide.

Overall, marketing is very important for the business. The basic role of marketing is the need and wants of its customers, the marketing concept. With investing in marketing the business can go from strength to strength as they will know what is required by the public and can provide it. Especially in the modern world as there is so much available to the public that the marketing department need to react quickly and get up to date. To conclude we can say that every business needs a marketing department to develop and promote their products. Without this they would not be able to supply the customer with its needs and wants. As a business, it needs profit to put into its marketing activities and most importantly its survival. Without the profit and a marketing department it could lead to a businesses downfall.