Introduction
The functions of marketing are very essential for the sake of an organization, as far as brining economic and non economic chances is concerned. Every organization in this world is trying to mobilize their operations in different places for their future effectiveness and strategic well being; however there are only few of them which will be getting extra apprehension from this action (Forsyth, 2010).
Such mobilization and enhancement has been referred as the Going Global, which is currently emerging as the most important elements for an entity. There are certain functions that gives an indemnity to a company that their operations would be successful in a given place, and at a given time period. There are certain pre-requisites that should be taken into account by those companies which are intending to enter in a region with positive attitudes. In order to ascertain the growth of the company while expanding their operations in international market, there are certain aspects that should be consider accordingly. Only those organizations that have a positive attitude towards their productivity are the one that have a positive attitude in their personality (Russell, 2010).
In this assignment, operational expansion and marketing plan is required of ASOS with evaluating number of things accordingly. There is no country which has been given for the same analysis; however there is no need even to select a country.
Analysis & Findings
ASOS: An Overview
ASOS is a British based online fashion and beauty store that has a physical main hub in the London region, England. The company is in the favor of having aimed over the fashion and beauty function for the young adults. ASOS is one of those companies of the world which has number of brands under its name, and currently they own around 850 brands that covered a whole range of clothing and accessories (Russell, 2010).
ASOS has emerged as a global online fashion and beauty retailer, which has a huge list of brands to cover, like 50,000 along with other own-labeled product lines that covers the area of menswear, accessories, footwear, jewelry and beauty. The warehouse has new products coming after a certain time period. There are certain websites which are covering the entire region in an effective manner. The current website of the country is targeting the United Kingdom, USA, Australia, Germany and other countries as well. Apart from that, there are over 237 countries of the world. ASOS is currently serving around 7.1 million customers. The shares of the company are highly effective, and the shares are activity trading in the London Stock Exchange (LSE). ASOS generated net revenue of £753.8m in the financial year 2013 with net income of £29m in the same year. There are around 4,000 employees are working with the company. As per the outline of this analysis, the company has to prolong the same for a certain time period accordingly (Financials.morningstar.com, 2014).
Audit of ASOS’S Internal and External Environment
In the field of strategic marketing and management, there are certain tools and matrices that can be taken into account for the same and among them there is a name of SWOT analysis as well (Withey and Lancaster, 2003). SWOT analysis will over both internal and external functions accordingly for an organization to show their relevance and effectiveness.
Internal Environment Analysis
In order to analyze the internal environment, two elements of SWOT (Strengths and Weaknesses) will be considering accordingly, and the same are as follows
Strengths
- ASOS is currently featuring a very high and effective variety of product based categorizes that include the women’s and men’s clothing, footwear and makeup
- ASOS offers free of cost shipping services along with free returns to all of their global customers
- The company is currently having a huge list of brands
- The marketing function of ASOS is very strong comprises on strong website content ardor, along with exceptional utilization social media and other banner advertising through the media and renowned celebrities (Analysis, 2013)
- The sales of ASOS is also increasing tremendously well outside of the UK market as well that represents a total share of 64% in the overall sales of the company
- The financial power of the company can be analyzed with the fact that last year they generated net income of $ 77 million
- ASOS has passionate and knowledgeable employees along with effective and intelligent management that assists in their core operations, and will work them in the future as well
Weaknesses
- ASOS is having its operations Online only; therefore the customers don’t have any option to try the clothes prior than making a buying decision
- The company is not having the desired marketing platform, such as electronic media to enhance their operations accordingly in the market (Analysis, 2013)
- It cost heavy for ASOS around GBP 100 million for the free shipping activity
- Weak Marketing Campaign has been destroying the image of the company heavily from last five years
External Environment Analysis
On the contrary to internal analysis, there is a section devoted in the SWOT analysis with the name of External Analysis. In the external environment analysis, opportunities and threats are the two elements that found interactive, and it will be implementing on the business and operations of ASOS.
Opportunities
- Currently, the people are moving towards spending their money on the unique products provided by different renowned companies of the world, like ASOS
- The consumer trends are enhancing particularly well, as the consumers are now purchasing the things from mobile and tablets accordingly (Analysis, 2013)
- Globalization is increasing tremendously well in all over the world, due to which the sales of online stores are increasing effectively in the market.
- Online buying and selling trends are increasing heavily in all over the world, and customers are focusing on the international brands
Threats
- The consumers have less money due to the economic crisis
- The consumer trends are increasing the threats in number of world
- The stance of competition is increasing heavily for ASOS
Audit of ASOS Stakeholders
Stakeholders are very important for the organizations, and there are two important kinds of them, known as Internal Stakeholders and external stakeholders. Internal stakeholders are the consumers and employees, while external stakeholders are the shareholders of the company. In this part, external shareholders have been considered along with a tool of Return on Equity (ROE) (Financials.morningstar.com, 2014).
ASOS is one of those companies of the world that has a remarkable tendency to maintain their external shareholders for a long span of time. The company gave full proxy rights to their external shareholders from which they can taken any action, including the hiring and firing of the individuals and management officials. ASOS take good care of their shareholders accordingly. Return on Equity (ROE) is the tool which has been taken into account. The ROE shows the ability of the company to main the effectiveness of their shareholders. ASOS is having a great time in terms of managing their shareholders. Apart from arranging sufficient amount of Annual General Meetings and Extraordinary General Meetings, the company is also maintaining a healthy ROE. In the year 2008, the ROE of the company was 41.54% that decreased for three consecutive years due to the severity of the current economic crisis; however it was still place in the positivity. In the year 2012 and 2013, the ROE of ASOS was 26.62% and 30.80% respectively (Financials.morningstar.com, 2014).
This particular shareholder’s audit is in the favor of the company, and will be in a definite range of effectiveness in the near future. ASOS can enhance their productivity in the future with this current effective measures, and it will certain assist the company to expand their operations further in the market.
ASOS Management Orientation
According to the case study, ASOS is trying to expand their core operations in different parts of the world, and for this purpose the company has to make suitable marketing objectives accordingly. SMART approach should have been made accordingly, which should be specific, measureable, achievable, reliable and timely (Withey and Lancaster, 2003).
Specific: The marketing orientation function to expand the operations should be specific, and should have a flavor of economic and non economic benefits in it.
Measureable: All the marketing activities should be measureable and effective for the companies accordingly, and it should be measured by analyzing its effects over the future productivity of ASOS
Achievable: ASOS should come up with those marketing based activities and functions through which their targets can be achieved effectively and comprehensively. It is not an easy target for the company to achieve everything they want during the expansion process; however stay devoted will certainly help them to bring the things in the right manner for them in the future.
Reliable: The marketing action which the company is strategizing to have should be reliable and effective, and should have the ability to maintain a perfect tradeoff among the company and its employees. The management should come up with reliable and achievable targets to be ascertaining the growth of the company in the near future.
Timely: The management of ASOS should come those management strategies and activities which are timely, and can attained effectiveness for them in their entire future effectiveness
Evaluation of Marketing Mix
ASOS is trying to expand their operations and fulfill its marketing objectives of the next 12 months, and it is essential for the marketing mix function, which has product, price, place and promotional strategies (Withey and Lancaster, 2003).
Product: The product line of ASOS is extremely broad and effective. The company currently owns around 50,000 different brands covering from different parts of the world. Therefore, there is no need to expand the level and amount of products heavily, but there is a need to further enhance the quality of the existing brands for the company. The company can expand their operations with complying with their marketing objectives accordingly.
Pricing: Pricing Strategy is an important strategy for the organizations, and especially for those organizations which are having a great time in their functionality. Currently, the pricing strategy used by ASOS is COMPETITIVE PRICING STRATEGY, in their existing market. However, the company should have PENETRATION PRICING STRATEGTY, as soon as they start to expand their operations in different markets, or to achieve their marketing objectives for the next 12 months.
Place: Currently, ASOS is going and growing with ONLINE place strategy, in which every buying and selling of products take place online, however the company has the chance to enhance their core operations accordingly with the help of establishing physical units from which they can target the people accordingly. For their long term objectives, the company should cover OFFLINE Place Strategy as well.
Promotion: Promotional Activities are extremely essential and important for the organizations particularly. ASOS Inc should expand their core operations with the help of both electronic and non electronic media channels, like News papers, Televisions and others. One of the best methods which are currently emerging is Social media networking. ASOS has to use this particular concept, as it will create a cost efficient solution for the company by bringing positivity in their courses of action.
ASOS Corporate Social Responsibility
The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an important view of operations, and it is essential for the business ethics particularly. ASOS Inc is doing an exceptional job in terms of operating their functions. There are four aspects from which the corporate social responsibility of the company can be overcome accordingly
Customers: ASOS is responsible for managing their operations in a perfect manner, and it should be done by maintaining a perfect tradeoff among the management and the consumers. ASOS has to provide quality based products to their customers in order to retain them for a long span of time
Shareholders: Currently, the company is managing their external shareholders accordingly, and the chance of enhancement is very bright. The company should maintain a high ROE and other functions for their shareholders to comply with the CSR of the shareholders
Employees: The Employees of ASOS are highly satisfied, however for further complying with the CSR, ASOS Inc has to incorporate Management Bi Objective (MBO) approach for their employees for further effectiveness in the market.
Management: The Company has to comply with the CSR of management to sustain in the industry for a certain time period, and expand their operations effectively in the next 12 months.
Conclusion
The entire analysis relates to the expansion strategy of ASOS to achieve its long term marketing objectives. From the core analysis, it is evaluated that the financial and strategic position of ASOS Inc is perfect, and the company is expecting to receive great news in their future. The company is going effectively with full fledge strategies by complying effectively with the CSR based theme and will create effectiveness in the expanded market accordingly. The company is ready to comply with its long term marketing objectives for the next 12 months with such strategies.
References
Analysis, S. (2013). ASOS: SWOT Analysis. [online] Asosblog.blogspot.com. Available at: http://asosblog.blogspot.com/2013/04/swot-analysis.html [Accessed 17 Dec. 2014].
Financials.morningstar.com, (2014). Growth, Profitability, and Financial Ratios for ASOS PLC ADR (ASOMY) from Morningstar.com. [online] Available at: http://financials.morningstar.com/ratios/r.html?t=ASOMY [Accessed 17 Dec. 2014].
Forsyth, P. (2010). How to motivate people. London: Kogan Page.
Russell, E. (2010). The fundamentals of marketing. Lausanne: AVA Academia.
Withey, F. and Lancaster, G. (2003). Marketing fundamentals, 2003-2004. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
