Posted: June 10th, 2015

Marketing Strategy Exam questions on : Pizza Express UK company

Marketing Strategy Exam questions on : Pizza Express UK company

investigate the focal company inside out in terms of its marketing practices.
“PizzaExpress is a popular restaurant chain owned by Gondola Group. Founded in 1965 in London, they have since grown to over 400 restaurants across the UK. PizzaExpress was the first to bring pizza to the UK high street in 1965[3] and has since been actively trying to bring an Italian feel to the UK.
Based on your research on PizzaExpress’s business and marketing environment you will be asked a few marketing related questions.”
1.    Identify and discuss the key macro and micro environmental factors (including competitive environment) that would critically influence the key marketing strategy decisions Pizza Express faces currently and in the near (5 years) future. Ensure you name and use the standard frameworks to perform your environmental analysis. (300 words)
Macro & Micro environment.
Most students answered well on this question, some even achieved near full mark. Areas for improvement, some PESTLE analysis are way too lengthy. Please include the most important and meaningful ones. Remember you only have 45 mins for each question. Some students wrote too much on the first two questions and ran out of time for the remaining ones. Also, don’t forget to evaluate the five forces in Porters, give high/low/medium indication. Finally, situation analysis should include SWOT

2.    Identify and evaluate Pizza Express’s market segment(s) and its current position in the restaurant/retail industry. Based on your evaluation, recommend target markets and a positioning strategy that in your opinion would be most appropriate to Pizza Express’s long term objectives. (300 words)
Market segmentation, targeting and positioning.
Most students did quite well on this question, and managed to give the two criteria for segmenting the market, but without giving clear indication regarding whom you are try to target and why.  Most students managed to draw a positioning map, however some used incorrect dimensions, while others didn’t mark out the high/low ends. Don’t forget you also need to explain and justify your position.

3.    Based on your assessment of Pizza Express’s marketing objectives and its target market, evaluate the pricing strategies used by Pizza Express and provide appropriate recommendations for what you believe would be the most effective. This could mean ether continuing with its current pricing strategy, or changing it. Please support your answer with rationale. (300 words)
Pricing Strategy.
A good number of students managed to identify at least a few strategies Sky is using. Some good answers also managed to analyse the internal and external factors that Sky should consider when pricing their products and offer good suggestions for future improvement. Such answers achieved good grades.
The majority of answers just stopped at naming a few pricing strategies. A few answers just randomly compared prices offered by both Sky and their competitors, without going into details to analyse the actual strategy.

4.    What would you recommend for Pizza Express to further develop its marketing communication strategy and why? Please evaluate their current marketing communication mix and give appropriate suggestions. If any. (250 words)
Marketing Communications strategy
A good number of students managed to evaluate the company’s current marketing communication strategy and came up with at least a couple of suggestions. Justifications can be strengthened on your recommendations. A few students didn’t read the question clearly, and instead of evaluating marketing communications mix, the answer included all 4ps or 7ps…

1.    How is Marketing for a non-profit organisation different from that for a profit-oriented service business? Discuss using specific example from Pizza Express and other non-profit organisations. (200 words)