UK Retail Sector Challenges and Trends

This assignment delves into the multifaceted challenges confronting the UK retail sector. It explores issues such as evolving consumer preferences, the impact of technology on business models, sustainability concerns, and the role of logistics and supply chain management. The analysis draws upon academic research, industry reports, and online sources to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current state of the UK retail landscape.

Business Research

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................................................4
RESEARCH QUESTIONS .................................................................................................................7
Aims and objectives ........................................................................................................................7
Questions.........................................................................................................................................7
RESEARCH METHODS ...................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................10

Title: To investigate the issues facing by the companies operating in the retail sector: A study of
Morrison's
INTRODUCTION
Background: In the present era, retail sector of UK is facing stiff competition which in turn
closely influences the productivity and profitability of the firm. Moreover, in retail, taste and
preferences of the customers are getting changed with the very high pace. In this, business unit can
attain success only when it offers highly unique or innovative products to the customers. Along with
this, there are several other factors such as technology, pricing strategy etc. have high level of
impact on the growth ad success of business organization. In this, company can attain success only
when it develops suitable strategic and policy framework by evaluating all the issues (Xenias and
et.al., 2015). The present report is based on Morrison which is one of the leading British
multinational retailer of UK. Hence, it will describe the issues which are facing by the company.
Along with this, it will also present the impact of such key issues on organizational growth and
performance.
Rationale of the study: The rationale behind the selection of such topic is that retail business
organization can develop suitable strategies only when they have idea about the market trend. Now,
customer preferences towards food, clothing and other products are changing with the very high
pace. Further, competition is another biggest issue that have impact on the profit margin and overall
performance of the firm (Ivanauskiene and Auruskeviciene, 2015). Hence, there are several issues
which are highly associated with the growth and performance of an organization. Due to this, issues
which are facing by the retail companies in the main issue now. Thus, such issue will be
investigated by the scholar through the qualitative investigation. Researcher will highlight the key
issues and their impact on organizational performance by reviewing the mindset of the managers of
Morrison.
Significance of the study: Study which will going to be conducted by the researcher is
highly significant for the business organization and other scholars. Moreover, by using such study
Morrison can undertake strategic action which may result into the enhancement of the productivity
and profitability. Along with this, by keeping the outcome of such study retail business

organizations can frame suitable or competent strategic and policy framework. Further, other
scholars can also undertake such investigation to gain understanding about the key issues of retail
and its impact on others.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Theme 1: Key issues which are facing by UK retail companies
According to the view points of Jones, Comfort and Hillier (2016) retail business
organizations operating in retail are facing issues in relation to the management of change and risk.
Earlier, customers gave more preferences to the tastier food. On the other side, now people prefer to
purchase the product which is health and hygienic. Now, customers awareness towards the good
health is increased significantly and they lay more emphasis on purchasing the high quality
products. In this, changing needs and preferences is one of the main issues that are facing by the
retail companies. Moreover, if business unit fails to offer high quality and healthy food to the
customers then it may result into dissatisfaction among them. This in turn highly affects the
productivity and profitability of the firm in the negative direction. In retail, customer satisfaction
and loyalty is one of the main factors which is required for attaining success.
However, on the critical note, Monios (2015) said that now almost all the retail companies
offer hygienic food to meet up the demand of the customers. In the strategic business environment
retail firms can build and sustain competitive edge over others only when they think out of the box.
In the retail industry, all the major companies are offering similar kind of products which have little
or no difference. Due to this, business organizations are facing problems in relation to attracting the
customers (Challenges Facing Today's Retail Industry, 2016). Moreover, once customers become
loyal to specific company then they prefer to purchase product from it rather than others. In this
regard, business enterprises can attract the potential customers only when they offer something
unique or innovating. Thus, retail units are facing problem in relation to identifying the unique
product which helps them in gaining competitive edge over the rival firms.
Xenias and et.al., (2015) found from their investigation that companies exist in the retail
sector are facing problem in relation to retaining and attracting the talented workforce. In the recent
time, employees prefer to work with the organization which offers high level of flexibility and other

benefits to them. Workplace flexibility is one of the main factors which have high level of impact
on the satisfaction and motivation of the personnel. In retail, it is not easy for the business units to
offer work from home and other facilities to the personnel. Besides this, for earning money along
with the education is the main factors due to which students join the retail business organizations.
Once, educational course has been completed thereafter students leave the job and start to looking
for the other profitable opportunities. Due to such aspects, retail firms are facing difficulties in
retaining the talented workforce. However, on the other side, Ivanauskiene and Auruskeviciene,
(2015) argued that providing flexibility to the employees is not a major issue. Moreover, by offering
part-time working opportunities to the personnel retail business organizations can provide flexibility
to the personnel. In addition to this, by organizing the workshops business unit can raise the
motivational aspect of personnel. Further, by offering development opportunities to the employees
through the means of training session firms can encourage the employees to the large extent.
As per the views of Bolton and Foxon (2015) retail business units are facing difficulty in
managing the cost level. Moreover, to attract more customers all the companies of retail sector are
placing emphasis on promotional strategies and campaign. This in turn closely influence the
operating or indirect expenditure of the firm. Moreover, now business units place advertisements
through the means of both traditional and non-traditional methods. For instance: Tesco, Sainsbury,
Morrison etc. are the major retail companies which place advertisement in the newspapers,
television. Besides this, such main players of the retail sector also uses social media campaign to
provide information to the large number of customers about the products or services offered.
However, it is to critically evaluated by Cullen, J. and et.al., (2013) that social media
marketing does not account for the high expenses. In this way, it does not have high level of impact
on the profit margin of the firm. Authors presented in their study that there are several retail
companies of UK which are facing problems in relation to maintaining the profit level due to the
presence of high discounters. Moreover, customers are priced concious and prefer to make shopping
from the store which offers product at affordable prices. Hence, due to this other companies of retail
are obliged to offer high discounts to the customers. This in turn negatively affects the profit margin
or level of the firm.
Theme 2: Analysing the impact of key issues on the overall performance of the retail organization

McCambridge, Hawkins and Holden (2014) stated that when business unit does not offer
unique or innovative services to the customers then it looses the customer base and market share.
Moreover, customers make focus on using innovative products which raise their living standard. In
this, failure of company in relation to offering the unique product may turn into loss of the
productivity and profitability. Along with this, market share increased only when business unit has
large number of satisfied and loyal customer base. In this way, lack of innovation has high impact
on the growth and profit margin of the firm. However, Nickson and et.al., (2012) claimed that not
only innovation is the factor which hampers the development of the business unit. Hence, financial
performance of the retail companies are also decreased due to the downward direction in sales.
Moreover, customer make purchase from the stores which offer heavy discounts to them. In this,
customer switch to the low cost retailer. In this way, decreasing sales revenue affects the financial
health and performance.
Besides this, Jones, Comfort and Hillier (2016) assessed that it is highly difficult for the
firms to survive in the business organization in the absence of highly skilled and competent
personnel. Moreover, in retail, employees are the one who have high level of influence on the
customer satisfaction. The rationale behind this, under service industry employees represents the
quality of the product or services offered by the firm. Hence, manner in which employees resolve
the queries and issues of the customers develop high level of satisfaction among them and thereby
covert it into loyalty. Thus, in the absence of highly skilled and talented personnel company would
not become able to attain the desired level of outcome or success. Moreover, speedy delivery of the
services also affected from the extent to which business unit has competent human resource
inventory (Three key issues facing retailers, 2016). In this way, all the above mentioned factors
closely influence the brand, market share and profitability aspect of the firm. Thus, companies
performed in retail sector needs to keep in mind all such factors while developing strategic
framework.
Theme 3: Literature gap
From secondary data analysis it has been assessed that different authors have focused on
varied factors which have high level of impact on the success of companies operating in retail.
Some authors focused on innovation, whereas other laid emphasis on skilled personnel. Cost and

profit maintenance etc. On the other side, in the real business world there are several of factors
which affect the performance of retail companies. In this, the present study will include all the
issues which impose high threats in front of the retail companies. Thus, study will focus on the
combination of factors that negatively affects the performance of the retail business unit.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Aims and objectives
Aim of the researcher is to analyze the key issues which are facing by Morrison's. On the
basis of such aim following objectives are drafted such as:
 To develop understanding about the issues faced by retail businesses.
 To determine the impact of business issues on overall performance of Morrison.
 To recommend the ways through which Morrison can resolve the issues and thereby fulfils
its objectives.
Questions
For the purpose of investigation, researcher is required to prepare suitable questions on the
basis of aims and objectives. Moreover, such questions provide direction to scholar in the whole
study. Research questions of the present study are enumerated below:
Q.1 What are the issues that are facing by the companies of retail sector in UK?
Q.2 What is the extent to which business issues have influence on the overall performance of
Morrison?
RESEARCH METHODS Research type: Nature and type of investigation can be divided into two types such as
qualitative and quantitative. Under qualitative investigation, researcher evaluates the reason
due to which problem is occurred (Berman, 2016). On the other side, quantitative
investigation is conducted when researcher evaluates the numeric facts and figures. Thus,
researcher will conduct qualitative investigation to analyze the key factors which are
influencing the performance of Morrison. Research approach: Inductive and deductive are the main two research approaches which

help in evaluating the every aspect of the problem in an effectual way. Deductive approach
is the one which lays more emphasis on the construction of new through the evaluation
observation, hypothesis and pattern (Mackey and Gass, 2015). On the other side, in
inductive approach scholar evaluates trend on the basis of existing theoretical framework
with the objective to confirm the hypothesis. In this, scholar will employ deductive approach
to assess the problems which are facing by Morrison. Moreover, such approach assists in
conducting qualitative investigation more efficiently. Research philosophy: In research, philosophies can be distinguished into two types such as
interpretivism and positivism. Philosophy provides direction to the scholar about the
manner in which data needs to be gathered and analyzed. In interpretivism philosophy
scholar analyzes data on the basis of the theories (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault, 2015). In
contrast to this, under positivism philosophy researcher makes evaluation of the real facts
and figures. Hence, by considering the type of investigation researcher will undertake
interpretivism philosophy to address the research issue. Data collection: Primary and secondary data are the main key sources which helps scholar
in conducting the whole study in a logical manner. Survey, observation, focus group etc. are
the main sources through which researcher can collect primary data (Flick,2015). Whereas,
books, journals and scholarly articles provides investigator with the large amount of
secondary information. In order to carry out the investigation in right direction scholar will
gather data from both the sources such as primary and secondary. Hence, survey will be
conducted by the researcher on 20 managers of Morrison to determine the key issues.
Besides this, scholar will also conduct evaluation of the books, journals and research papers
to develop in-depth understanding about the research issue. In this way, both the data
sources will help researcher in presenting the fair view of study. Sampling: There are mainly two sampling techniques such as probabilistic and non-
probabilistic which helps scholar in the selection of suitable sample size (Smith, 2015).
Hence, in this researcher will select 20 managers by using the simple random sampling.
Thus, by undertaking non-probabilistic technique researcher will select sample size for the
study.

 Data analysis: Techniques related to data analysis are highly varied according to type of
investigation undertaken. Scholars undertake SPSS to derive solution from the numeric facts
and figures (Berman, 2016). On the other side, thematic perception technique is highly
suitable for the investigation which is of qualitative nature. In order to analyze the outcome
of survey researcher will undertake thematic perception test technique. This in turn helps
scholar in doing qualitative study more effectually.
 Ethical considerations: In order to raise the effectiveness of study scholar will take prior
permission from the managers of Morrison before the investigation will be conducted. It is
one of the main ethical aspects which reflect that researcher does not force the managers to
take part in the survey. Besides this, researcher will cite all the sources from which data is
gathered by the scholar. It presents that all the data is rephrased by the investigator rather
than copied it. In this way, by giving credit to the author scholar will present that all the
ethics are followed by him. Further, researcher will record and describe all the data in an
accurate way according to the answers provided by the managers in survey. Hence, by
following all the ethical aspects' scholar would become able to raise the significance of such
method.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Berman, T., 2016. Research methodology. In Public Participation as a Tool for Integrating Local
Knowledge into Spatial Planning (pp. 35-43). Springer International Publishing.
Bolton, R. and Foxon, T. J., 2015. Infrastructure transformation as a socio-technical process—
Implications for the governance of energy distribution networks in the UK. Technological
Forecasting and Social Change. 90. pp.538-550.
Cullen, J. and et.al., 2013. Reverse logistics in the UK retail sector: A case study of the role of
management accounting in driving organisational change. Management Accounting
Research. 24(3) pp.212-227.
Flick, U., 2015. Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research project.
Sage.
Ivanauskiene, N. and Auruskeviciene, V., 2015. Loyalty programs challenges in retail banking
industry. Economics and Management. (14). pp.407-412.
Jones, P., Comfort, D. and Hillier, D., 2016. Materiality in corporate sustainability reporting within
UK retailing. Journal of Public Affairs. 16(1). pp.81-90.
Mackey, A. and Gass, S. M., 2015. Second language research: Methodology and design.
Routledge.
McCambridge, J., Hawkins, B. and Holden, C., 2014. Vested Interests in Addiction Research and
Policy. The challenge corporate lobbying poses to reducing society's alcohol problems:
insights from UK evidence on minimum unit pricing. Addiction. 109(2). pp.199-205.
Monios, J., 2015. Integrating intermodal transport with logistics: a case study of the UK retail
sector. Transportation Planning and Technology, 38(3), pp.347-374.
Nickson, D. and et.al., 2012. Soft skills and employability: Evidence from UK retail. Economic and
Industrial Democracy. 33(1). pp.65-84.
Smith, J. A. ed., 2015. Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods. Sage.
Taylor, S. J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research methods: A
guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.

Xenias, D. and et.al., 2015. UK smart grid development: An expert assessment of the benefits,
pitfalls and functions. Renewable Energy. 81. pp.89-102.
Online
Challenges Facing Today's Retail Industry. 2016. Online. Available through:
<https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/challenges-facing-
todays-retail-industry/>. [Accessed on 2nd December 2016].
Three key issues facing retailers. 2016. Online. Available through:
<http://www.uxceclipse.com/three-key-issues-facing-retailers/>. [Accessed on 2nd December
2016].