Marks and Spencer Brand Positioning

In groups of 3 we were asked within a recent seminar activity to critically evaluate a well known brand pitching it against other competitors essentially differentiating what they're doing right and doing wrong marketing wise and branding themselves. Everyone within the seminar group was given Marks and Spencer (M & S) as within the past few years it has come under a lot of scrutiny for being somewhat dowdy and only aimed at a very old age range. 

'Britain's Leading Ladies'

Using our own knowledge we established that it is a high quality of clothes but the designs are old fashion and samey samey compared to one of it's main competitors 'Next'. They do try and use celebrities within their campaigns but they aren't targeting their celebrities to the right age ranges for example recently using Ellie Goulding and Rosie Huntington Whitley means that they are attempting to lower their age range but the classic style of clothes itself doesn't coincide with this. Next itself is more fashionable and trend orientated unlike M & S but the simple designs won't go out of fashion and when spending more money on something in M & S there is a guarantee that it will last. 

Rosie Huntington Whitley's lingerie range for M & S

They do incorporate limited edition pieces into their clothes and are in partnership with brands such as Phase 8, Peruna and Autograph which is where most of their clothing profit comes from. Unlike Next who only sell own brand products there are many differences between the overall in store environment of both. Next greets every customer at the door with a smile whilst M & S doesn't, this could be room for improvement for them as if a store was to greet me friendly I would be more inclined to buy something.

Personally I feel that Marks and Spencer need to change their target market not for young adults but 30+ in order to tap into a fashion conscious market of adults who can no longer dress like a teenager but also do not want to dress like an OAP. This would be a good starting point for them when re-launching and re-designing their women's wear within the coming months. I can say that Marks and Spencer market food very well especially with having specific stores in more rural areas which only stock food products.

The chart above shows a Perceptual Map of Marks and Spencer against it's other main competitors rating them on Price and whether their style of clothes are classic or Modern. The blue star shows where Marks and Spencer currently are while red star that I have placed on the chart shows where I would like to see Marks and Spencer in the future.