FINAL EXAM ASSIGNMENT

North South University

SBE, Department of Marketing and International Business

Introduction to Marketing
Course Code: MKT 202

Instructor: SSA1
Semester: Spring 2020

NAME: Md. Samir Ashraf Khan

ID: 2011813630 Sec: 20

Faculty:_____________ SSA1 _________________________ Date: _______ 04-June-2020 _______

TOTAL MARKS – 30%

Marks obtained:

(This space is for faculty’s usage. Do not write here.)

Read the scenario and answer the following questions – please read the instructions
carefully.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic has resulted in changes to advertising, promotional and media
spending and strategies. It is forcing businesses and brands to reconsider their thinking about current and future
advertising and marketing campaigns to maintain their incomes. Businesses are facing an extraordinary
challenge to survive. The impact of this pandemic will affect different industries differently and hence, they
need to adjust accordingly. For example, in Bangladesh, the government has placed time restrictions on
retailers’ operations as they now have to shut their shops by 6pm.
Even global leaders are not thinking any differently for businesses in 2020.
“For people in business, 2020 is really just a year for staying alive. Don’t even talk about your dreams or plans.
Just make sure you stay alive. If you can stay alive, then you would have made a profit already” – Jack Ma
Minor or major, changes have been made to operation hours, customer communication, budget allocation,
new product releases, and planning. Some examples of these changes are:
 Global shoe and athletic apparel powerhouse Nike temporarily closed its stores in key markets,
including the US, Western Europe, Canada and Australia. But the brand has been pumping up
engagement with consumers using content marketing. Last month, it made its subscription Nike
Training Club app, which offers streaming workouts, training programs and expert tips, free. It also
began pushing out more content to its Nike and Nike Running Club apps, Nike.com website, TRAINED
podcast and social channels to serve the millions upon millions of consumers who are under lockdown
and trying to maintain their fitness indoors.
 In the retailing industry for example, Walmart is using floor markers, asking people to move in one
direction in each aisle and avoid close contact with others.
 British retailer chain Morrisons and Amazon’s same-day online grocery delivery service to Amazon
Prime members is expanding from 17 stores to 40 by the end of May. It expects grocery home delivery
to grow 25.5% this year.
Other global retail giants from different parts of the world are coming up with changes in their product,
promotions, distribution (place) and pricing strategies to face the changing needs of customers due to
Covid-19. Based on your own research, analyze what the Bangladeshi retailers (assigned company for each
student is provided in PDF file) can do in order to face the changing marketing environment arising from the
pandemic and answer the following questions:
Q.1. Provide company profile (brief description of the following things: name of the company, year
established, owner’s name, type of product/services they offer etc.) in a table. Given the current
situation, what sort of changes or modifications will you suggest to the company in terms of their product
offering/pricing strategies in order to survive and hold their position strongly in the future? (10 Marks)
Q.2. What should be the company’s promotional mix combination and distribution strategies in order to
be competitive during and after the pandemic situation? Provide brief reasoning. (10 Marks)
Effective crisis management in a time like this requires knowing who your brand is and using your brand
personality and tone of voice properly. What is your company/brand famous for? Being a trendsetter? An
entertainer? Ruggedness? Cutting edge technology? You will definitely need to adapt your content to be
sensitive to the current situation, but don’t lose your brand in the process. Instead, use it to get people through
this difficult time, whether that’s by providing reliable information, providing some much-needed comic relief,
or anything in between. Retail giant Walmart developed new commercials, including one with Chief Executive
Doug McMillon recording a selfie video in a store aisle as he thanked the more than 1 million Walmart
employees across America, calling them “heroes,” as David Bowie’s “Heroes” played in the soundtrack.

Q. 3. Different types of advertising execution styles were discussed in class to effectively reach and engage
with customers. Using any two types of execution styles provide ideas and suggestions for advertisements
for the company that is co-related to the current situation. (10 Marks)

Instructions and Formatting Guidelines:

1. The quality of the answer is important, rather than quantity. Do not provide definition and long
irrelevant explanation. The answer should be constructive, analytical and concise. As previously
discussed, your answers MUST start with bullet points and then followed with brief explanations.
2. Students MUST use references (minimum five) from recent and relevant publications while answering
the questions (in APA format, https://library.aru.ac.uk/referencing/files/Referencing%20Guide%202015-
16%20(APA%206th%20Edition).pdf). Do not copy and paste.
3. Each assignment will be heavily checked for plagiarism through Turn-it-in. Although some
similarities in assignments are normal (such as basic company information), if the rest of the
answers are too similar, it will lead to loss of marks
4. Font: Times New Roman; Size:12; paragraph spacing :1
5. Word Limit: Strictly 750- 1000 words (both questions combined, excluding table for Question 1)
6. Submission deadline: 4th June, 2020, 9 AM.
7. Students will upload PDF file of their answers in Google Classroom
8. Not following the formatting instructions and guidelines will lead to loss of marks. Before final
submission please make sure that grammatical/punctuation mistakes are corrected.
 Mustafa Mart
Answer to the Question no: 01

 Company Profile:

 Company Name: Mustafa Mart

 Established: After 2004
 Owner’s Name: Mr. Mustaq Ahmed
 Products:

Product Types
Food Meat, Vegetables, Chicken, Snacks etc
Apparel Mens and womens wear, Shoes
Home utilities Groceries
Cosmetics Lipsticks, Makeups etc
Jewelry Diamond,Gold etc
perfume Kinds of brands like One Million, David
Beckham

 Services:

Mustafa Mart is a huge super shop which is open 24/7. They have a huge space and they have
different sections available for different kinds of product. For emergency purpose they do have
ATM machine facility for the customers. They give valuable recommendation and advice to
their customers about their usage of products.
I would suggest to Mustafa Mart for this pandemic period to develop their services like they can give home
delivery services to their customers. Moreover they can give such offers on their product such as BUY 1 GET 1
Free, so that they can increase their sells and gain more customer right now than any other companies. Even
they must have fresh and hygenic products because in this pandemic situation the customers wouldn’t go to the
local markets for shopping so the company should take this situation as an advantage for them and utilize it in
the best way.

Answer to the Question no: 02

The company Mustafa Mart can have different promotional mix combination and distribution strategies in order
to be competitive with others during and after the pandemic situation.

 Promotional mix combination strategies: They can give advertisement of their company products
throughout TV channels, internet etc. In their advertisement they can include one offer for their
customers that the customers who’s gonna buy products cost above 500 in total, will get a face mask
and a pair of gloves for free. In this pandemic situation this is the most crucial thing everyone needs for
their own safety. They can use social media for their advertisement like Facebook, Instagram etc.
People are in lockdown right now so they are spending their maximum time in social media so if they
watch the advertisement, they might find it interesting as well as helpful. So they might come to the
shop next. So that this offer and advertisement will catch people’s attention very greatly and people will
have a visit to their shop.

 Distribution strategies: They can make a little change in their distribution strategies. They can
provide home delivery service. They would have a customer hotline number or website so that the
customers can give their order through phone calls or internet and pay their bills by cards or cash on
delivery. Also the company can use the help of Bkash, Rocket, Ukash etc ; so people can pay their bills
through them.

These all processes can help Mustafa Mart to increase their sales during and after this pandemic period and be
competitive in business market.
 Answer to the Question no: 03

The company Mostafa Mart, can use two execution styles.

They are:

 Scientific Evidence
 Testimonial Evidence or Endorsement.

Scientific evidence presents survey or scientific evidence that the brand is better or better liked than any other
brands. If the company gives various offers to their customers which is more likely to be acceptable and
interesting then that would be better or better liked than any other companies or brands. Such as, if Mustafa
Mart gives an offer like Buy 1 get 1 free or when the consumer buys a product/service, they submit their names
for a draw to win something which is more likely to be exceptional than any other brands, definitely it will
catch customer’s attention and make that company to be better and more liked than any other ones. So in this
current situation everyone is in lockdown due to the pandemic so they might not spend money unnecessarily
and want any product in cheaper price to buy. So this is the best offer a company could give to their customers
during this pandemic situation. A customer can get the same quality product like other brands in a cheaper price
because he is getting 2 products in the price of 1. Eventually the raffle draw idea will entertain and make a new
dimention of selling idea to the customers.

On the other hand, Testimonial evidence or endorsement, features a highly believable or likable source
endorsing the product. It can be ordinary people as well as celebrities presenting/talking about the product. In
this style, Mustafa Mart can feature a public trending celebrity to advertise their products or brands, to talk
about them etc. Example: Coca Cola, Mountain Dew. To catch people’s attention, celebrity can make it done
like no one else. This is the easiest and quickest thing to be possible. A celebrity himself is a popular and well
known person so if he talks about a brand or company infront of television or on social media to the public then
automatically the brand or campany gets popular as well. People get to know about the company and their
products and if that seemed to be interesting to them, they might visit it later. Right now, people in lockdown
would find it on social media and make their mind to visit the shop anytime.
 Appendix

1. http://www.mustafa.com.sg/mustafalocationmap/

[ Note: There were no sufficient informations about Mustafa Mart on internet. The informations I got was about
Mustafa Centre, Singapore. There is no official website or facebook page of Mustafa Mart, Bangladesh so
except about the products, I wrote by my own the rest. I hope you you will understand the matter and accept my
work. ]