Impact of COVID-19 on Retail Business Operations: A Case Study of Marks and Spencer

This project aims to digitize the major retail operations and workplace of Marks and Spencer by analyzing the advantages of such workplaces and their impact on COVID-19. The report includes a literature review, problem statement, project objectives, and time constraints.

Assessment project 1

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
Project Aim.............................................................................................................................3
Project Objectives...................................................................................................................3
Problem statement..................................................................................................................3
Literature review....................................................................................................................3
Time constraints.....................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a very brutal effect on multiple aspects of life
including the personal and professional life of people and it has had the same bearings on
businesses as their operations which are traditional in nature have been disrupted at regular
intervals (Hwang, Nageswaran and Cho, 2020). The main idea behind this project is to measure
the impact that the coronavirus has had on retail business operations and the way operational
digitization can help and has aided to a certain extent in helping companies in this industry
combat the ill-effects. This project will be executed in the organizational context of Marks and
Spencer which is one of the major multinational retail companies of UK.
MAIN BODY
Project Aim
The main aim of this project is to digitize the major retail operations and workplace of
Marks and Spencer by analysing advantages of such workplaces and their impact on COVID-19
Project Objectives
 To study the advantages and processes involved in digitizing the business operations of
Marks and Spencer
 To analyse the impact of COVID-19 on Marks and Spencer's business
 To develop ways in which digitization can help Marks and Spencer recover from the ill-
effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
Problem statement
Being a traditional retailer, Marks and Spencer has suffered devastating consequences
due to the coronavirus and rapid digitization is required for sustained future growth
Literature review
According to Leigh Sparks, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating effect on
the retail industry of UK and the results have been very unpredictable due to many structural

changes taking place as companies are developing new ways to combat the pandemic (How is
coronavirus affecting the UK’s retail sector?, 2022). Some steps such as replacement of cash
with contactless payment options have also been met with backlash from the disabled and poor
community of UK.
According to James Davey, 2021, being one of the oldest and traditional retail companies
in the UK for more than 137 years still did not prevent Marks and Spencer from succumbing to
the pandemic. The company's Britain branch has reported a 90% slump in full year profits for the
year of 2021 which is a major alarm for the company to look at new modern technological
methods of doing business (M&S profit seen crashing 90% in "lost year" of pandemic, 2022).
According to Chloe Rigby, 2022, Marks and Spencer has identified a major change in it
retailing strategy and has opted to make major changes in its leadership. The company is
currently focusing on the second phase of its 'shaping the future' transformation programme
which will be driven by establishment of omni-retail channels through digital data led operations
(M&S reshapes its leadership for the second phase of its digital-led transformation, 2022).
Time constraints
This project will include the following major activities required for its completion.
 Analysing the impact of the pandemic on Marks and Spencer's operations
 Workplace and retail channel evaluation
 Studying digital technologies and transformations
 Strategy development for further digitization of Marks and Spencer
A Gantt chart has been attached below to mark the timeline of these processes.

CONCLUSION
The above report went into detail regarding the initial specifics and scope of the project
which will be executed in order to digitize the operations of retail companies in UK by analysing
their effectiveness and also the negative impact of COVID-19. It was concluded from the
literature review that Marks and Spencer has realized that its business model needs quick
digitization.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Hwang, E.H., Nageswaran, L. and Cho, S.H., 2020. Impact of COVID-19 on omnichannel retail:
Drivers of online sales during pandemic. Available at SSRN 3657827.
Online referencing
How is coronavirus affecting the UK’s retail sector?, 2022 [online] available through
<https://www.economicsobservatory.com/how-coronavirus-affecting-uks-retail-sector>
M&S profit seen crashing 90% in "lost year" of pandemic, 2022 [online] available through
<https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/ms-profit-seen-crashing-90-lost-year-
pandemic-2021-05-21/>
M&S reshapes its leadership for the second phase of its digital-led transformation, 2022 [online]
available through <https://internetretailing.net/strategy-and-innovation/strategy-and-
innovation/ms-reshapes-its-leadership-for-the-second-phase-of-its-digital-led-transformation-
24525>