The Impact of Technology on Retail Businesses

This assignment delves into the transformative effects of technology on retail businesses. It examines various aspects, including e-commerce adoption in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the role of self-service technologies in shaping customer experience, the impact of corporate sustainability initiatives, and the influence of information technology capital on firm performance. The provided research papers offer insights into these trends and their implications for the future of retail.

Running Head: Business Research Methodology
Effect of IT in Business of Woolworths Ltd

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Problem statement...................................................................................................................................3
Research aim, objectives and...................................................................................................................3
Justification of research...........................................................................................................................4
Potential output of the research project....................................................................................................4
Research structure...................................................................................................................................4
Literature review.........................................................................................................................................5
Research Methodology................................................................................................................................9
Introduction.............................................................................................................................................9
Research Philosophy.............................................................................................................................10
Research Approach................................................................................................................................10
Research Design....................................................................................................................................10
Research Strategy..................................................................................................................................11
Data Collection Method.........................................................................................................................11
Sampling Procedure...............................................................................................................................12
Data Analysis............................................................................................................................................12
Project budget and schedule......................................................................................................................13
References.................................................................................................................................................15

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Introduction
Problem statement
In the current business scenario, information technology is a big issue for companies which use
manual technology in the retail industry. These issues are related to effectiveness, efficiency,
profitability, and advantages. For optimum utilization of resources, the company needs the
information technology because the manual process takes more time to access the information.
Moreover, information technology has evolved into cheaper which is more accessible application
in Australian retail industry. It is also used to get more competitive benefits. The capabilities of
the workforce with respect to technology are the required to effectively implement IT within
Woolworths. The effects of IT within the business rely on different factors such as human
resources and business size (Dos Santos, et al., 2013). Hence, for this report, the effect of IT is
the business of Woolworths Ltd is selected as a research issue.
Research aim, objectives and
The main objectives of this research are as follows.
 To analyze the existing IT system at Woolworths
 To analyze the existing business system at Woolworths
 To understand how the current business system of Woolworths is affected positively or
negatively with the introduction of IT in place of manual management
 To research on how Woolworths have implemented policies to enhance IT performance in
the operations of the company
Research questions
What is the existing IT system of Woolworths?
Which kinds of business system are used by Woolworths in the current scenario?

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How the current business system of Woolworths is affected positively and negatively with the
introduction of IT in place of manual management?
How Woolworths have implemented different policies to improve IT performance in business
operation?
Justification of research
This report is effective for the store manager to deal with the customers. It also evaluates that
existing IT and business system at Woolworths which is beneficial for managers to take the
reliable decision. It is also significant for the company to assess how the current business system
of Woolworths is affected positively or negatively with the introduction of IT in place of manual
management. As a result, it will help Woolworths to gain their output and effectiveness due to
taking corrective action to mitigating the possible issue (Klettner, et al., 2014).
Potential output of the research project
This research would provide the depth understanding about the existing IT system as well as a
business system at Woolworths. This research will also find out that how existing business
system of Woolworths is positively or negatively affected with introducing IT instead using
manual management. In the last, this research will also conclude that Woolworths have
implemented different policies to improve their IT performance in the company’s operation.
Research structure
The below structure will be followed by researchers to conduct the research:
Chapter 1: Introduction
It will be the first chapter of the research which will show the initial point regarding research. In
this chapter, the researcher will discuss the research title, research background, aim and
objectives, research question, and justification of the study.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review
This chapter will involve the critical analysis of the effect of IT on the business of Woolworths
Ltd. It is a beneficial chapter to develop the depth information regarding research issue and also
effective to create a conceptual framework. The result of this section will enable the researcher to
design the appropriate primary research questionnaire and also defines the gap in the existing
information.
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
This will be third chapter of the research which would be beneficial to develop an understanding
of the research methodology. It will also gain an understanding of different approaches,
philosophy, and techniques which will be used in research with justification. This will be also
effective to gather and assess the information regarding research issue.
Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings
This chapter will present the information through the different graphs, charts, and tables. It will
also demonstrate the interpretation by supporting it with literature review. Moreover, it will
facilitate the effective findings with respect to research objectives.
Chapter 5: Conclusion & Recommendations
This will be last chapter in which researcher will summaries the concluding outcome of the
findings. It will also provide concluding outcome related to research objectives. In the last, it will
describe some recommendation for future implications.
Literature review
Existing IT system at Woolworths
According to the Padin and Svensson (2015), Woolworths uses IT system in its operation to
increase the sales and profit. Due to increasing globalization, information technology is effective

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for both points of sale and supply. Moreover, it plays a significant role in the complex retail
operation management. Woolworth uses IT system to get market knowledge and control of data
within the retail stores. As a result, it is the key to getting competitive benefits. The market has to
continue to grow and become more competitive as the company uses the simple procedure of
retailing like implement innovative IT system in their retailing business process. It also involves
the IT system in their transaction process to provide added value to customers.
In contrast to this, Morioka et al. (2016) stated that Woolworth uses effective IT competencies
due to different reasons such as it enables the retail stores to enhance its capabilities to respond
towards the marketplace with high speed and resilience. It is also beneficial to gather and
evaluate the information about customers and also makes differentiation among them. It uses
inventory management IT system to effectively use of inventory and enhance their business
process. It is identified that IT is significant for retailers to boost their revenue. Since, it speeds
up the business procedure and provides the cost-effective benefits to the organization.
Existing business system at Woolworths
In the view of Bailey (2017), Woolworths uses the effective business system to run the business.
In this way, it mainly focuses on the customer to increase its profit. Further, it has built the
efficient business foundation for its customers to ease customer service. It also provides the good
prices with a wide range of products and services for customers to influence them towards their
stores. It also delivers the fresh products to the customer to deliver added value to them. It also
organizes store renewal program to get competitive advantages in the retail industry. In the
business system, Woolworths focuses on the culture of customer and gives first priority to them
for enhancing the loyalty of the customer.
Chart 1: Business system of Woolworths

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(Sources: Kang and Gray, 2013).
Chart 2: Strategy used in existing business system of Woolworths
(Sources: Ntim, 2015).
In support to this, Scott and Walker (2017) stated that organization develops one team to deal
with the customers because, it creates a positive image in the customer’s mind towards the
company. This strategy is beneficial to decline the conflicts among team members because they
solve the issues in a team. It also builds the refresh store for their customers and employees as it
is effective to increase the customer’s demand and retain the employee for the long term. It also
updated their products frequently to pull the attention of a large number of customers. Moreover,

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Woolworths develops the cohesive brand by recruiting proficient employees in its organization.
As a result, this strategy is beneficial to increase the profitability of the company because
employees reduce the cost and improve the process by using IT in its system.
Current business system of Woolworths is affected positively or negatively with the
introduction of IT in place of manual management
According to the Muthoka and Oduor (2014), IT plays important role in the retail industry
because it has a positive impact on the company. Further, the current business system of
Woolworth is positively influenced with the introduction of IT in place of manual management.
Because, it enables the retailers to collect the information of customers in effective and efficient
manner while the manual process takes a long time to gather the information.
In support to this, Ferro et al. (2017) stated that IT is effective to increase transparency and
tracking in the business process. It is analyzed that IT has a positive impact on Woolworth
because gain transparency between systems together with create effective and efficient tracking
to assimilate the system from production to customer. As well as, it obtains the information
regarding sales and customers.
In the view of Pantano (2014), IT is beneficial for global data synchronization so it has a positive
impact on the business position. IT enables the Woolworths for using radio frequency
identification and electronic product’s coding hence it has a positive impact on the supply chain
of the organization. It also enables the Woolworths to use the real-time information in terms of
assessing the inventory level. In addition, radio frequency recognition builds the company’s
position for its safe shipping because IT allows the organization to track the products from
producers to the entire supply chain.

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How Woolworths have implemented policies to enhance IT performance in the operations
of the company
In the view of Lueg et al. (2015), the company can implement the effective policy to improve the
IT performance in the company’s operation. In this way, Woolworths can use the inventory
control system because it is basic IT tool to manage the retail stores. It also enables the
corporation to access the merchandise, and order list which is received and sold by the retailer.
Once this system is setup then it will automatically update in the database. Together with, it will
allow the company to access the location where products and services are delivered such as
warehouse and stores. Moreover, the company can keep track of the business by using this
strategy as it would be beneficial to reduce the wastages from inventory. Moreover, it will allow
the company to view and select the product as per its cost, margin, manufacturing and expiry
date, price, and UPC codes. This will take less time to generate new categories of products and
services such as style, size, and color.
In opposed to this, Schneider and Spieth (2013) stated that company should use the electronic
inventory system to improve customer satisfaction. Because, it will enable the customer to check
the stock and order hence it will decline the waiting timing of customers. This will also facilitate
the company to respond towards the customer’s question with few keystrokes. Moreover, the
company can assess the inventory which is in stock in different stores with multiple locations.
Research Methodology
Introduction
This section of research problem entails certain research methods and strategies like research,
philosophy, approach, design and data collection methods which facilitate the research to obtain
effective data regarding solving the research issue. This chapter aims to develop an

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understanding of the effect of IT on the business of Woolworths Ltd. For this, different journal
article will be considered to keep balance among research topic and associated information. This
comprehensive methodology will improve the research quality and increase the reliability and
validity of the research by implementing different sources of facts and figures.
Research Philosophy
For this research, interpretivism philosophy will be used by researcher due to subjective nature
of research topic. The main reason for using this research philosophy is that it is associated with
the philosophical situation of idealism. It would be beneficial for researchers to consider
different realism approach to solving the research issue. This research is required subjective
interpretation hence researcher will choose interpretivism research philosophy to interpret the
information as an element of scientific knowledge.
Research Approach
For this research, the inductive approach will be used by research due to its relevancy with
interpretivism philosophy. Further, the research topic is based on the subjective nature hence
there is no need to create a hypothesis. Moreover, the inductive approach will be used by
researchers for gathering the huge data associated with the effect of IT on the business of
Woolworths Ltd. This research is also appropriate to identify the different views and opinion and
also consider the ideals for concluding the findings. In contrast to this, the deductive approach
would not be used by researcher due to no need of proving the hypothesis and data in this
research.
Research Design
For this research, mix research design will be used by researcher due to increasing the quality of
research. This research design entails the characteristics of both qualitative and quantitative

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design. In this way, qualitative research design will help the researcher to assess the participant’s
belief about the effect of IT on the business of Woolworths Ltd. As well as, quantitative research
will enable the researcher to measure the number of participant’s responses. Hence, this research
design will help the researcher to attain the research aims and objectives in a specified time
period.
Research Strategy
For this research, survey through questionnaire will be used by a researcher to assess the effect
of IT in the business of Woolworths Ltd. This research design will enable the researcher to get
the first hand and fresh information about the research issue because it is directly collected from
participants. For conducting the survey through a questionnaire, research will send the former
consent email to the senior manager of Woolworth Ltd. In this email, the researcher will provide
detail information regarding research, the involvement of participants and time duration. After
that, research will make the research questionnaire regarding research topic through MS-office
and sent it to the participant through e-mails.
Along with this, a literature review will be used by a researcher to accomplish the aim and
objectives of the research. In the literature review, research will use secondary sources like an
annual report, journal articles, books and online and offline sources to get depth information
about the research topic. It will enable the researcher to create theoretical knowledge about the
effect of IT on the business of Woolworths Ltd. This strategy enables the researcher to obtain a
reliable and valid outcome.
Data Collection Method
Data gathering procedure is significant to meet the aims and objective of research because it
allows the researchers to gather data and information efficiently and effectively. There are

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mainly two kinds of data is collected by a researcher named primary and secondary data. For this
research, primary data will be collected by using the survey through questionnaire and secondary
data will be collected through different secondary sources like a journal article, academic
publication, textbook, online sources, company’s websites and offline sources. These data
collection method is effective because it provides the authentic information in less time and cost.
Sampling Procedure
For this research, probability sampling will be used by the researcher due to subjective nature of
research topic. In this sampling, random sampling method will be selected by the researcher on
random basis because it eliminates the biases in choosing the respondents for the research. In
opposed to this, non-probability sampling method will not be used by a researcher because it
creates biases in selecting the participants.
For conducting this research, 40 store managers of Woolworth Ltd will be selected from 800
stores. These stores will be selected from different geographical areas hence it will enable the
researcher to gather relevant facts and figures about the research issue. This will enable the
researcher to increase the reliability as well as the validity of research outcome and also support
to attain the research aims and objectives.
Data Analysis
Data analysis is the significant part of research methodology chapter because it provides the
reliable and consistent result. This technique is used to interpret and assess the information with
the intention of obtaining relevant information. There are different methods is used by the
researcher to assess the data like conversational analysis, disclosure analysis statistical analysis,
and content analysis. For this research, researchers will use statistical analysis to assess the data.
In this technique, researchers will use Ms-Excel software to obtain a reliable and valid outcome.

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This software will enable the researcher to present the information through the different chart,
graph, and tables. It would be effective for readers to understand the information in a
comprehensive manner.
Project budget and schedule
A research takes more time to meet all tasks effectively and efficiently. In this way, project
budget and the schedule are used by researchers to accomplish the task. For this research, the
researcher will use following budget and schedule to attain the research objective in a specified
time period:
Activities that will be
performed/Weeks
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Identification of research problem
Detect the research background
Evaluation of literature review
Identification of gap and obtain survey
through questionnaire
Feedback from participants through e-
mail
Data analysis and report writing
Proof-reading and makes changes if
required
Final submission

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The above timescale would be beneficial for researchers to meet the research objectives in a
specified time period. Since, it will enable the researcher to understand the completion time of
each activity. By using the above timescale, the researcher can complete the whole research in a
specified time period.
Project Budget
Activities Cost (in £)
Market research to identify the research issue 12000
Conduct market survey in IT industry to
detecting the research background
8000
Review from different authors and purchasing
articles
16000
Identification of gap and obtain survey through
questionnaire
18000
Feedback from participants 4000
Analysis the data by different techniques 6000
Data findings 3000
Final submission 2000

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