What are the key strategic issues underlying purchasing decisions, what is a product mix, its importance and the advantages and disadvantages of one for large retailers Marks and Spencer plc and its competitorsThere are four main strategic issues underlying a company's purchasing decisions; The first is “who are our target customers?”. For Marks and Spencer plc, their products and services cover home, food and clothing for women, men and children. They seem to attract mostly middle aged customers. Appealing to particular age groups can have advantages and disadvantages; this can be an advantage as it creates an opportunity to reduce investment costs by spending more money on products/services aimed at middle-aged customers and reducing spending on other customer groups. On the other hand, this can represent a disadvantage for them as it leads to a gap in their potential market; because they don't address a large enough market, they don't meet all customer demands, thus losing customers. They only sell Marks and Spencer branded products; this can be a disadvantage as it reduces the customer's options. “Marks and Spencer has confirmed that it will begin selling branded products in its stores across the UK” (BBC News, 2009, p.1). This could increase their customer base and create a more attractive company image for new customers. “Which of their needs can we meet?” Marks and Spencer plc meets consumer needs in a variety of ways: "Marks and Spencer has led the way in establishing a more efficient approach to the total logistics problem of getting goods to the customer at the lowest cost, employing specialist logistics companies to help efficiency” (Baily et al, 2005, p. 324). They are en...... middle of the paper ......or Retail, London: Jute and Company Ltd• Reynolds Cuthbertson, C . (2004) Retail Strategy The View from the Bridge, London: Butterworth Heinemann• TendersInfo, (2010) Jumping High Street Sales, available at: http://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/nexis/ results/docview /docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T13443823831&format=GNBFI&sort=BOOLEAN&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T13443823837&cisb=22_T13443823836&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=34 3637&docNo =24 (accessed: 01/12/11)• http://www.lexisnexis.com /uk/ nexis/history/recentdocview.do?listId=1541782387&lni=7Y74T9V0YBWYS11H&attachmentId=&attachmentType=&sourceId=343637&attachmentNum=&attachmentSMI=&displayType=&savedLocale=en_GB_ukBusiness&projectId=&returnTo=20_ T134546 74141&publicationDate=&docTitle=United+Kingdom+:+High+street+sal.. .&start=1&documentType =• Varley, R. (2001) Retail Product Management, London: Routledge