Business Decision Making: The Impact of Multichannel Platforms on Shopping Malls

This report explores the impact of multichannel platforms on shopping malls and high street shops. It analyzes data collected from a survey of 100 students at UKCBC College, examining their shopping preferences and attitudes towards online and offline shopping. The report utilizes various statistical methods, including mean, median, mode, quartiles, percentiles, and correlation coefficient, to draw conclusions about the changing consumer behavior and the implications for businesses. It also discusses the role of transaction processing systems (TPS), decision support systems (DSS), and management information systems (MIS) in supporting business decision-making.

Business decision making
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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................4
a) Create a plan for collecting data from students across all campuses...........................................4
b) Present the survey methodology and sampling frame used........................................................4
c) Design a questionnaire for collecting the data.............................................................................5
Qualitative collection of data:..........................................................................................................8
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................9
a) Summaries the data collected from the survey using representative values (arithmetic mean,
median and mode)............................................................................................................................9
b) Analyze the results of the survey and draw conclusions...........................................................10
c) Analyze the data using measures of dispersion.........................................................................10
d) Explain how you can use quartiles, percentiles and the correlation coefficient to draw useful
conclusions....................................................................................................................................11
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................12
Presenting the report and its findings............................................................................................12
b) Create trend lines in spreadsheet graphs to show the level of impact over a minimum of 3
years...............................................................................................................................................20
d) Write a formal report for publication in the Retail Times magazine........................................21
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................23
a) How do the following systems serve the various levels of management in a business? You are
to describe their characteristics and the roles they play in a business...........................................23
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b) A publisher has just signed a contract for the publication of a book. What is the earliest date
that the book can be ready for distribution based on the following activities with time estimates:
.......................................................................................................................................................24
c) Using financial tools for decision-making advice a business planning on investing in a project
.......................................................................................................................................................24
d) If the rate of finance at which the business can borrow is 10% calculate the NPV and advice if
it is worth considering this investment..........................................................................................25
e) Calculate the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and explain the meaning of the result..................25
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................26
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Introduction:
From the past market research, it has been observed that the popularity of the shopping malls and
the high street plazas is fading out slowly. The reason is technological advancement and the
appearance of multichannel platforms for shopping. These platforms are taking a toll on the
existing shopping malls and shops. The shopping has started shifting to online bases and also
adapting to technologies in order to accelerate profitability. The section to follow will analyze
how the street shops and malls are affected by the different multichannel platforms and also
focus on the ways these platforms are influencing the managerial processes like decision making.
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Task 1
Planning the survey
a) Create a plan for collecting data from students across all campuses.
To analyze the influence of the different online shopping platforms and their effect on the
shopping malls and high street shops, it is significant to figure out the most essential data
collection guide to your project. There are two type of data collection method. They are: Primary
data collection procedure and secondary data collection procedure. Primary data collection gives
out such data that are brand new and to be collected for the very first time. Secondary data
collection can be defined as the procedure of data collection from the present or more precisely
existing resource. A survey being conducted based on 100 pupils of UKCBC College. A set of
close-ended questions will be given to the pupils during the Tiffin hours within the campus. The
survey would be helpful in collecting information about the primary data. The researcher would
collect the data so that the information can be gained.
The project can face some problems and hindrance. The governing body of the college must have
the information regarding the survey and the researcher must take prior permission. The time and
money factor should also be taken into consideration. For instance the data collection consumes
time and it is not possible to compel the students to submit the survey sheet within a short span.
The communication and also the buying of the online journals can be higher than the stipulated
cost.
b) Present the survey methodology and sampling frame used
There are several methods of collecting data for the primary data collection .There are number of
methods that are being used to complete the project. The methods that are used frequently are
Bias in sampling, Systematic sampling, Snowball sampling, Stratified sampling, Convenience
sampling, Quota, Clustered sampling, and some others. The mostly used method is the random
sampling method and the other one is the probability sampling method. In case of random
sampling method all the members of a particular population receives equal opportunity for the
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participation in the given project. This is the simplest and easiest way of collecting the data. The
data collection method used for this survey is random sampling method.
This project would collect two types of primary data. One is qualitative and another one is
quantitative. The two approaches mentioned here are very advantageous for collecting detailed
information. The size of the sample is 100 students of UKKBC College. The survey gives a
detailed account of the quantitative data whereas the interview gives qualitative information. In
order to gather qualitative information it is necessary to interview two managers from the high
street shops and the other one from an online platform should be interviewed.
c) Design a questionnaire for collecting the data.
The set of questions that have been prepared for collection of quantitative data are as follows.
The result of the survey is also presented in the form of a table in the section that follows. The
percentage of respondents has also been calculated.
1. Gender category:
Options Percentage of
respondents
Number of
respondents
Total number of
respondents
Male 50 50 100
Female 49 49 100
Others 1 1 100
Table: 1: Age of respondents
2. What is your age?
Options Percentage of
respondents
Number of
respondents
Total number of
respondents
Below 20 32 32 100
20 to 25 45 45 100
25 and above 23 23 100
Table: 2: Gender of respondents
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3. Do you agree that offline shopping is fading away because of online shopping?
Options Percentage of
respondents
Number of
respondents
Total number of
respondents
Highly agree 45 45 100
Agree 28 28 100
Neutral 04 04 100
Disagree 12 12 100
Highly disagree 11 11 100
Table: 3: respondents’ decision regarding the online and offline shopping
4. Is multichannel shops are taking over the high street shops?
Options Percentage of
respondents
Number of
respondents
Total number of
respondents
Yes 50 50 100
Neural 30 30 100
No 20 20 100
Table: 4: respondents’ decision regarding the online shops preference over high street
shops.
5. Do you agree that online platforms and multichannel platforms provide more discounts
than high street shops?
Options Percentage of
respondents
Number of
respondents
Total number of
respondents
Highly agree 43 43 100
Agree 24 24 100
Neural 01 04 100
Disagree 15 12 100
Highly disagree 17 17 100
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Table: 5: respondents’ decision regarding the discounts and offers of online platforms
6. How often do you change your shopping channels?
Options Percentage of
respondents
Number of
respondents
Total number of
respondents
Very frequently 40 40 100
frequently 40 35 100
Neural 5 5 100
Sometimes 5 5 100
Not at all 10 10 100
Table: 6: Change of shopping channel
7. How frequently do you change your favorite brand?
Options Percentage of
respondents
Number of
respondents
Total number of
respondents
Very frequently 15 15 100
frequently 14 14 100
Neural 04 04 100
Sometimes 30 30 100
Not at all 37 37 100
Table: 7: respondents’ opinion about sticking to a single brand.
8. Would you prefer to suggest your friends and mate from offline shops to multichannel
platforms?
Options Percentage of
respondents
Number of
respondents
Total number of
respondents
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Yes 68 67 100
Neural 05 06 100
No 27 27 100
Table: 8: respondents’ decision about the suggestion of offline shops to friends and mates
Qualitative collection of data:
What according to you are the major influences of multichannel platforms on shopping
malls?
Manager 1: the manager here stated that the online mediums of shopping are actually
influencing the growth and profitability of shopping malls and plazas .Multichannel platform is
in vogue and young generation people are more attracted to this.
Manager 2: This manager has mentioned that multichannel platforms are much more acceptable
and pocket friendly. Hence the customers are changing their mode of buying products from
shopping malls to online shops. The high street malls are going out of trend especially for the
youngsters.
Manager 3: The manager has mentioned that the multichannel platforms are not being able to
put large impact on the shopping malls and plazas. But it is worthy to mention that such
platforms are creating a competition in the market and the organizations are in dire need of
introducing different innovations.
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Task 2
a) Summaries the data collected from the survey using representative values (arithmetic
mean, median and mode).
The data is found by using arithmetic values that are mean, median and mode.
Q 3. Do you agree that offline shopping is fading away because of online shopping?
Options Percentage of
respondents
Number of
respondents
Total number of
respondents
Highly agree 45 45 100
Agree 28 28 100
Neutral 04 04 100
Disagree 12 12 100
Highly disagree 11 11 100
Mean Median Mode SD
2.1875 2 1 1.019975
Q6. How often do you change your shopping channels?
Options Percentage of
respondents
Number of
respondents
Total number of
respondents
Very frequently 40 40 100
frequently 40 35 100
Neural 5 5 100
Sometimes 5 5 100
Not at all 15 15 100
Mean Median Mode SD
2.2 2 2 0.959958
Correlation Coefficient: 0.917888
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b) Analyze the results of the survey and draw conclusions.
The above analysis shows that consumers prefer multichannel platforms for shopping. The
youngsters are more inclined towards online shopping as it saves time and is affordable. The
young generation likes modification, changes and alteration. The preferences change time to
time. The survey that has been conducted in the UKCBC college shows that the young
generation keeps on changing their tastes and behavior. Thus any organization or ecommerce
platform needs to constantly introduce new ideas several channels to suit with the changing
behavior of the consumers. The offline retailers should expand their business and start online
projects because with more days, people will only opt for online shopping for its feasibility. In
order to remain upgraded with the expectations of the consumers, it is important for the high
street shops to start online business. The above data also reflects that consumers constantly
change their brands and is open to new brands. Thus it is necessary for the organizations to
continuously upgrade their products, make changes and innovate new things to keep the
customers happy and satisfied.
c) Analyze the data using measures of dispersion.
The average value of the data is the mean. In the third question, the mean value is 2.1875 and in
the sixth question, the mean value is 2.2. Median value helps in the scope analysis. In both the
questions, the median value is 2. This shows that the respondents present in the liker scale 2 can
change their preferences and opinions in liker scale 1. These respondents can be easily convinced
for changing their decision to liker scaler1. Thus, these people change their preferences for
brands frequently. Mode defines the highest value. In question number 3, the mode value is 1
and in question number 7, the mode value is 2. In question number 3 whether they think offline
shopping is losing its value because of offline shopping. This medium value comes to 2 which
reflect that the respondents highly believe that online shopping is ruling over offline shopping.
Standard deviation, on the other hand, is used for risk analysis. Thus the high street shopping
malls need to change their way of business to earn profits or else the online shopping ecommerce
will benefit in terms of popularity as well as profits.
If the SD value is more than 0 to one, then the chances of risk is high. On the other hand, if the
SD value is less than one, then the possibility of risk is low. The consumers are asked here in
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question number 6, whether they change their shopping channels and the responses are positive
which means that they prefer changing their shopping channels. As the SD value is more than 0,
it rightly proves that the consumers change their brands and shopping channels frequently. This
indicates that the organizations should invent new strategies and methods to suit the preferences
of the customers. Companies should develop new brands and bring new innovations to reach out
to every customer.
d) Explain how you can use quartiles, percentiles and the correlation coefficient to draw
useful conclusions
The three arithmetic modes that analyze data regarding customer management are quartiles,
percentiles and the correlation coefficient. These three methods analyze data that is beneficial for
the growth of the company.
Quartile shows the lowest and the highest amount of money. Quartile is one way that identifies
range where population occurs. Lower quartile denotes value below which 25% of the
population fall and upper quartile is the value above which 25% of the population falls.
Percentile determines the percentage of a value. For example in the third question the total
number of people who have highly agreed with the question is 28, so the percentile value is also
28%. This value assists in understanding the value of the data. This will help the researcher to
identify the exact number of people who prefer online shopping and who do not.
Correlation is the relationship between two variables. Correlation value has a limit. It should be
in between -1and +1. A downhill liner relationship indicates a negative value of -0.70. This
shows a negative liner relationship. The correlation coefficient result here is near 1. This shows
a uphill linear relationship.
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Task 3
Presenting the report and its findings
a) With the help of spreadsheets and graphs conclusions being drawn on the survey
1. Gender category:
50%
49%
1%
Male Female Others
Figure 1: gender of respondents
Analysis: It can be analyzed that most of the respondents are male while 49 percentages are
female and just 2 percentages are of the other category. This is a kind of the background details
of the respondent and is an earnest venture for acquainting the respondents with the process.
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2. What category below is your age?
Below 20 20 to 25 25 and above
32
45
23
Figure 2: Age of respondents
Finding and Analysis: From the above graph it is clear that among the 100 pupil only 32
percentages are below the age of 20,45 percentages are within the age limit of 20 to 25 years and
the rest respondents comprises of 23 percentages.
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3. Do you agree that offline shopping is fading away because of online shopping?
Highly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Highly disagree
45
28
4
12
11
Figure 3 respondents’ decision regarding the online and offline shopping
Finding and Analysis: From the given figure it can be assessed that 45 percentages of the pupil
has preferred online shopping than conventional shopping.28 percentages of the respondent just
agree that online shopping is comfortable. 4 percentages remain neutral and 12 percentages of
people do not agree that online shopping can be more easy and convenient. Considering the chart
one can conclude that online shopping wins the majority. This proves that online shopping is
widely accepted because one can do it at any point of time without any barrier. It is less time
consuming and customer friendly also.
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4. Is multichannel shops are taking over the high street shops?
Yes Neutral No
70
10
20
Figure 4: respondents’ decision regarding the online shops preference over high street
shops.
Finding and analysis: From the mentioned data one can analyze that most of the respondents
has preferred online shopping over high street shopping. Most of the taken respondents have
given a positive feedback regarding the use of online shopping their day to day life. It can assess
that in case of online shopping customers can have wide range of options from thousands of
sites.
Moreover it can be analyzed that any kind of product can be easily bought through online
platforms from any website at any place and sitting in any corner of the world. It has also been
noted that there are few respondents who have a preference of high street shops over online
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shopping. Shopping mall buyers prefer to check the qualities of the products physically and get
their items delivered instantly.
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5. Do you agree that online platforms and multichannel platforms provide more discounts
than high street shops?
Highly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Highly disagree
43
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1
15 17
Figure 5: Do you agree that online platforms and multichannel platforms provide more
discounts than high street shops?
Finding and analysis: From the given figure one can analyze the fact that maximum respondents
have accepted to the fact that online shopping offers more discounts than offline shops. Thus one
can conclude that if the shopping malls and shops have to compete with the online websites it is
important to play games on the discount part. Online platforms give discounts on several
occasions and on different brands whereas it is not possible for the offline shops to provide
discounts on all the brands. They offer discounts on selected brands.
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6. How often do you change your shopping channels?
Very frequently frequently Neutral Sometimes Not at all
40
40
5
5 10
Table: 6: Change of shopping channel
Finding and analysis: From the above data, it has been identified that among 100 respondents,
mostly majority of the respondents given their view that they very often switch their shopping
websites. The data also give us the information that there are number of online sites that provide
us with same quality and brand of products. So the customers can buy their products from
wherever they want Change of the platform is normally done when there is difference in product
quality, availability of the stock and product’s review of the consumer. However the graph also
shows consumers who stick to their brands whatever maybe the circumstance.
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7. How frequently do you change your favorite brand?
Very frequently frequently Neutral Sometimes Not at all
15 15
4
30
37
Figure 7: respondents’ opinion about sticking to a single brand.
Finding and Analysis: From the given data it can be determined that maximum respondents
have given a positive review in case of sticking to their brands. It has been assessed that majority
of the customers prefer not to switch their brands as they become used to the quality of that
particular brand. On the other hand there are customers who have tendency to change their
brands to bring variety to their tastes.30 percentages of the respondents sometimes prefer to
change their brands.
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8. Would you prefer to suggest your friends and mate from offline shops to multichannel
platforms?
68%
5%
28%
Yes Neutral No
Table: 8: respondents’ decision about the suggestion of offline shops to friends and mates
Finding and analysis: From the given data one can assess that maximum respondent would love
to suggest shifting their mode of shopping from online to offline. Technology and its progress
have made the online channels more successful and easy to access. The one touch shopping done
by the consumers help them to save their time and at times money also because of the heavy
discounts. But there are still people who would not love to suggest these platforms to their near
and dear ones.
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b) Create trend lines in spreadsheet graphs to show the level of impact over a minimum of
3 years.
Year 2014 2015 2016 2017
Multichannel
shopping
16% 31% 55% 80%
High street
and other
offline
shopping
97% 78% 50% 32%
Trend line graph for multichannel shopping platforms
Trend line graph for high street and offline shopping platforms
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d) Write a formal report for publication in the Retail Times magazine.
Technology has changed the entire concept of shopping. With the inception of new technological
developments, organizations are coming up with new products and services. Companies devise
new ideas and creativity to meet the requirements of the customers. As a result, the behavior and
the preferences of the consumers are also changing. Therefore, organizations design new ideas to
generate profit and satisfy the needs and expectations of the consumers. As consumers are
inclined to changes, companies try to build new propositions to create a positive image in the
market.
One such transformation brought by the companies to make things convenient and easy is online
shopping. Ecommerce has brought revolutionary changes and changed the concept of shopping
entirely. Internet has a dominant role in the evolution of Ecommerce. Internet has grown
exponentially opening several platforms for advertisements and purchasing of products and
services. But in the beginning, consumers were skeptical about online shopping. People were
afraid to share the financial data online and were doubtful about the quality of products without
checking it offline. People still preferred to shop from offline stores even when online shopping
was prevalent. Consumers went to local stores, stood at long queues and were uncomfortable
sharing their details of the credit cards. But this has changed now. Online shopping now has
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grown exponentially. With easy return policies, fast delivery and shipping process, consumers
rely on online platforms for shopping. Also, technology has brought security schemes that
ensured smooth transaction of financial data. People gradually started trusting online platforms
for shopping.
Online ecommerce market has brought several changes like the growth of online marketplaces,
the increase in the use of mobile devices for shopping and expansion of digital marketing and
advertising. The most used online platforms are Amazon, eBay and Alibaba. Other multichannel
platforms that are highly in demand are Intercom, Adobe Marketing Cloud, Ampliz etc.
People now prefer online shopping for its cost-effectiveness and time. As consumers have a
stringent schedule to follow every day, the time is limited. As a result, consumers choose online
shopping over offline as it saves time and is also profitable. UK tops the list in the share of
online shopping. According to the data in 2015, UK households spent $ 5900 by making online
payments. BBC 2018 reported that the UK is followed by Norway spending approximately $
5400, US $ 4500 AND Australia 4,000. This shows that people prefer multichannel platforms
and are comfortable shopping online.
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Task 4
Software-generated information to make business decisions
a) How do the following systems serve the various levels of management in a business? You
are to describe their characteristics and the roles they play in a business
I. Transaction processing systems (TPS)
A Transaction processing system is an information system that collects, modifies, stores and
retrieves financial data and transaction of a company. This includes banks for processing,
transfer of funds electronically and airline reserving systems. The benefits of Transaction
Processing System are its cost-effective, fast and reliable. This process also helps in the decision-
making related to purchase and customer orders, payroll checks, receipts, invoices and time
cards.
II. Decision support systems (DSS)
Every new innovation and technological development is compelling organizations to take
effective decisions for earning high revenues. This decision support system thus helps the
companies to take appropriate decisions at the right time. It is a computer application program
that examines and presents the business data so that no wrong decision is made. There are two
types of decision problems that are worked by DSS. These are unstructured and semi-structured
decision problems. Thus this particular tool assists in solving the unstructured problems.
III. Management information systems (MIS)
Management Information System is a database that keeps all the financial record and information
of a company and produces regular reports in every phase of management in a company. The
advantage of MIT is that it gives feedback to the managers, highlights the performances of every
management level and produces the actual data. It keeps a record of all the information of an
organization and is an effective tool for decision-making.
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b) A publisher has just signed a contract for the publication of a book. What is the earliest
date that the book can be ready for distribution based on the following activities with time
estimates:
c) Using financial tools for decision-making advice a business planning on investing in a
project
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d) If the rate of finance at which the business can borrow is 10% calculate the NPV and
advice if it is worth considering this investment.
Year Cash Flow Discounting Factor at
10%
Discounted cash flow
0 -15000 1 -15000
1 8000 0.909091 7272.727
2 10000 0.826446 8264.463
3 5000 0.751315 3756.574.57456.574
4 5000 0.683013 3415.067
7708.831
NPV 7708.831
IRR 35%
e) Calculate the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and explain the meaning of the result.
In the above case, the internal rate of return is higher than the cost of capital. The above scenario
shows that the IRR is estimated as 35% and is higher than the value of cost. This estimation thus
proves that the project outflow is lower than the project outflow. The high proportion of cash
flow thus denotes higher revenue generated from the company.
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Conclusion
The assignment conducted a survey with 100 students to understand the dependency on
multichannel shopping platforms and the differences between online and offline shopping. The
assignment also highlighted the changes and the innovations undertaken by the high street shops
and malls to suit the consumers changing preferences. To get the actual data and understand the
influence of online shopping, tables and graphs have been used and the mean, medium and mode
is calculated for the correct data. A report of a retail magazine has also been published here to
show the authentication of data and information. It can be concluded that TPS, DSS and MIS
assists the company to get the actual information.
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What is the Gender? What category below is your age?
Do you agree offline shopping is
fading away because of online?
shopping?
Is multichannel shops are taking
over the high street shops?
Do you agree that online platforms and
multichannel platforms provide more
discounts than high street shops?
How often do you change your
shopping channels?
How frequently do you change your
favorite brand?
Would you prefer to suggest your friends
and mate from offline shops to
multichannel platforms?
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