Impact of Covid-19 on Retail Industry: A Case Study on Marks and Spencer

This study analyzes the impact of Covid-19 on the retail industry with a case study on Marks and Spencer. It assesses current trends, investigates the pandemic's impact on business performance, and recommends effective strategies for improving performance.

FY028 INQUIRY BASED
LEARNING

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Background of the study.............................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Aim:............................................................................................................................................3
Objectives:..................................................................................................................................3
Research questions:....................................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................4
Theme 1 Trending aspects in retail sector..................................................................................4
Theme 2 Covid-19 impact over the business performance .......................................................4
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY....................................................................................................5
Research type:............................................................................................................................5
Data collection:...........................................................................................................................5
Data analysis:..............................................................................................................................5
Sampling:....................................................................................................................................6
Ethical consideration:.................................................................................................................6
DATA ANALYSIS.........................................................................................................................6
DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS..................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................12
RECOMMENDATIONS..............................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14
APPENDIX...................................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
Trends are define as change or the development in a specific direction, market does not
remain static it always possess the dynamic nature. Therefore, organization follows the trend to
prepare their product in order to satisfy the customers in the market. In general, the organization
has different shareholder to run a company in the market but also they require a proper planning
and decision-making process in such activity. An accurate research is needed to maintain the
management of the company (Choudhary and PiparoKrey and et.al., 2022). Here, choosing a
retail company named Marks and Spencer which is a multinational retail company located in
United Kingdom and mainly deals in fashion outlet and home decor equipments. The research
will illustrates the concept of organization analysis and different trends from which a retail
company can be developed in the global market. It will also covers how pandemic affect the
productivity of business. Apart from this, it is also describing the various recommendation an
organization should follow to make a higher growth in the future.
MAIN BODY
Aim:
To analyse the impact of covid-19 in regard to the current trend in retail industry: A case
study on “Mark and Spencer”.
Objectives:
 To assess the current trends in retail sector.
 To investigate the impact of pandemic over the performance of the retail business.
 To recommend the effective current trend strategies to the M&S for improving their
business performance.
Research questions:
 What are the relevant current trends for the retail organizations?

 What are the possible impacts of the pandemic over the business performance?
LITERATURE REVIEW
Theme 1 Trending aspects in retail sector
According to the Huang Rojas and Convery, (2020) Trends in retail is expressing the
different and various functions which a retail company can be utilized to make a stable growth in
the field of market. Social Media trend as in this modern era, it has been proved that every
individual is utilizing the social media platform on a regular basis and the digitalization is on the
tip of the finger just a one click and away. Social Media is the platform where multiple brands
and business companies are promoting in day to day time. Social media platform provide
different applications which are Facebook, Twitter, Google and Instagram as all are advertising
the different brands and goods to an individual. Influencer Marketing another current trend as
this marketing bonded with the famous influencer to promote their brands and service via their
maximum approach. A content is the powerful factor in the influencer perspective as their
written can approach and attract the consumers to purchase their goods and items. Some other
trends are smart Speaker Shopping these days every individual is Alexa and Amazon home. In
the research it has been clarified that by 2025, this smart speakers can increase the market
growth approx 35.4 billion US dollars. The speaker is become the tool for many shoppers and
especially during this pandemic when people are at their home only.
Theme 2 Covid-19 impact over the business performance
As per the view Akhare and et.al (2021) of all thing were going smoothly but after the
pandemic, all scenarios has been changed. Businesses are badly affected also some organization
shuts their doors due to the financial crises. It changed all business dynamics, but also promotes
the online and digital transaction, due to this customer can easily do shopping while at home
without physically present at the stores. Covid hit hard to the retail industry as it complete
changed the scenario of the supply chain processes. Retail industry faced major problem in their
item delivery, it also affects their operational work which leads them to switch to new strategy.
In this pandemic Covid -19 it has been researched that 52% of people did the online shopping
via mobile, tablets and smart phones which do not make the retail company to suffer a loss a lot.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research type:
Research define as the effective process in order to develop the further theories and new
knowledge which can be used for further studies. Research mainly done on the basis of research
type, as what approach will be choose by the researcher, for that purpose it mainly done in two
ways which are qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative research define as the research type in
which the data is obtained from the open communication, questionnaire, interviews with the
participants. While quantitative define as in which the data is collected in a numerical form, data
involves the figures, patterns (Banik and Iyer, 20219). To complete this research study analyst
will do qualitative research as it gives the high flexibility to the researcher in order to complete
the study.
Data collection:
It is the method of collecting the data for research study, it can be done in two ways
which are primary and secondary. Primary data collection uses the data sources which are the
communication or direct interaction with the participants. Whereas secondary data collection
uses the existing data which is already present, in such data sources are books and journals. For
completing this study research analyst will do both primary and secondary data collection. As it
will be beneficial for the researcher in terms of forming the base of the study. Secondary data is
helpful in giving the foundation or base to the study while primary data will help to fill the gaps
in the study.
Data analysis:
Data analysis is the method of processing the research data in an organized manner so
that it will give the desire output. It further divided in a process which are thematic and
statistical data analysis. Thematic data uses the qualitative approach in which the study can be
done from large data sets, it identifies the repetitive patterns in the study. Statistical data uses the
quantitative approach, in such statistical tools are required to process the numeric and figurative
data (Silva, Hassani and Madsen, 2019). To carry out the research analyst will follow the
thematic approach as it will enable the researcher to effectively interpret the data or to select the
suitable themes for study.

Sampling:
Sampling is the process of selecting the group of people for the information purpose. It
can be done in two ways which are probability and non probability sampling. Probability
sampling also known as the random sampling in which the researcher choose the participants
from large audience for the interview purpose. Whereas in non probability sampling it involves
the biases, in such sampling is done by using some biases. To carry out this research study
analyst will randomly select the 10 employees from the M&S organization to obtain the
information over the research topic.
Ethical consideration:
Ethical consideration involves all the policies and rules which must have to be followed.
Therefore, it is important for the researcher to provide the safer environment to the participants
or to secure their privacy from being leaked. In this research study for the interview process
analyst will provide the consent form to all participants which will reflect their willingness in
order to take part in interview. Also, a list of references has been provided by the researcher at
the end of the study which will show that this work is self done by the analyst itself and it is not
copied by any other sources (Okorie and et.al 2018).
DATA ANALYSIS
Theme 1 Response of the participants on the current trend question.
1 What current trend does your
organization follow?
Respondents
 Social media platform 6
 Virtual interfaces 4
Total 10

Interpretation:
From the above chart it is interpreted that the question which is being asked by the
researcher to the participants about the current trends. In response 6 of the employee stated that
their organisation follows the social media strategy or 4 of them stated that organisation mostly
prefers the virtual interfaces trend.

Theme 2 Organisational effort for providing training for managing the social media
resources.
2 Does your organisation provide enough
training to operate the social media
platform?
Respondents
 Yes 5
 No 5
Total 10

Interpretation:
It can be seen from the above chart that on the question of training for managing the
social media platform, 5 employees conveys that they have been provided enough training for
managing the media platform. 5 employee recorded their answer as no, they believe that
organisation is not providing training for handling social media.
Theme 3 Organisational philosophy regarding the work from home system.
3 Does your organisation believes in
providing work from home system during
pandemic?
Respondents
 Strongly Agree 1

 Agree 3
 Strongly disagree 4
 Disagree 2
Total 10
Interpretation:
It is shown in the chart that for the work from home strategy question majority of the
employee feels that their organisation does not allow this system mainly. While some interprets
that when there is urgency company provides this system to only their potential employees.

Theme 4 Marketing strategies which is being used by the company.
4 What are the current marketing strategy
does your organization uses?
Respondents
 Social media marketing 7
 Traditional TV, flyers marketing 3
Total 10
Interpretation:
It is illustrated from the above pie chart that for the current marketing process question 7
employees implies that their company usually follows the current social media marketing to
promote their product and services. Other employees believes that company also uses the
traditional marketing method along with the current marketing strategy.

DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS
On the basis of the above discussion it can be said that the current trend plays an
important role for the business. As it helps the organization to develop the competitive
advantage for their business. As it helps the businesses to compete in the market or to provide
better services to their customer. Marks and Spencer company should also make a concentration
on the customer services regarding their obstacles in delivering or the product they got is
defective (Barata, Da Cunha and Stal, 2018). It is also been discussed that from the interview
some employees suggest that organisation must need to provide the training for their skill
development. Therefore M&S Company can also proceed to focus on their employee skills and
knowledge and provide them a better programs to increase their employee’s productivity.
CONCLUSION
This report has been concluded that concepts of marketing strategy and analysis from
which any retail company can be able to make stable growth in a market surrounding. It is
obvious that running an industry requires model and theories and in this report the internal factor
of business strategy has been performed named swot analysis. This analysis helps to understand
the internal challenges an industry has to face during the occupation. Apart from this, the article
also concluded the various trends in the retail market and detailed about the functions.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Improve Customer Service : Many organizations do not focus on the consumer feedbacks and
reviews from which they earn a bad image and comments on their services. Provide them an
ideology for how they can replace and return the items if any issue they are suffering from.
When the consumer is happy with the services and helpful nature they will get a good relation
and people can have a faith on the company (Ruiz-Real and et.al 2019).
Utilization of technology : It is already known to individual that technology is increasing in day
to day life. Utilizing the technology feature to improve and increase the sell is the best
recommendation M&S had. Technology includes machinery, online payment services, cameras,
and cash system equipment. The retail store needs to provide the online card and UPI pay
services as it is possible that some people do not like to keep the cash money in the fear of
stolen. With the help of technology it can be time-saving to both consumer and seller as the time
is equally important at both sides.
Training for staff : When an employee is working in a retail company they need a proper
training and selling session to an individual. It is obvious that for approaching and attracting the
people requires the skill of marketing. The company can provide the training session to their
employee so that they can improve their skills and information through which they can be able
to sell the goods ns items in the effective way (Pitt, 2019). M&S also consider this
recommendation and has to provide the development session from which employee will be able
to put more and more efforts to drive a company at a maximum growth with the increase in
economic and consumer scale as well.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Akhare, R. and et.al 2021. Employing Machine Learning Approaches for Predictive Data
Analytics in Retail Industry. Machine Learning Approach for Cloud Data Analytics in
IoT, pp.53-70.
Banik, H. and Iyer, L.S., 2021. Multiple Approaches in Retail Analytics to Augment Revenues.
In Data Science and Security (pp. 276-284). Springer, Singapore.
Barata, J., Da Cunha, P.R. and Stal, J., 2018. Mobile supply chain management in the Industry
4.0 era: An annotated bibliography and guide for future research. Journal of Enterprise
Information Management.
Choudhary, B. and Piparo, T.L., Case Study–Strategy 2020 for M&S.
Huang, M.Y., Rojas, R.R. and Convery, P.D., 2020. Forecasting stock market movements using
google trend searches. Empirical Economics.59(6).pp.2821-2839.
Krey, N., and et.al., 2022. Shopping mall retailing: A bibliometric analysis and systematic
assessment of Chebat's contributions. Journal of Retailing and Consumer
Services.64.p.102702.
Okorie, O. and et.al 2018. Digitisation and the circular economy: A review of current research
and future trends. Energies. 11(11). p.3009.
Pitt, B., 2019. The study of how XR technologies impact the retail industry, now and in the
future.
Ruiz-Real, J.L. and et.al 2019. Sustainability and retail: analysis of global
research. Sustainability. 11(1). p.14.
Silva, E.S., Hassani, H. and Madsen, D.Ø., 2019. Big Data in fashion: transforming the retail
sector. Journal of Business Strategy.
APPENDIX
1 What current trend does your organization follow?
 Social media platform
 Virtual interfaces
2 Does your organisation provide enough training to operate the social media platform?
 Yes
 NO

3 Does your organisation believes in providing work from home system during pandemic?
 Strongly Agree
 Agree
 Strongly disagree
 Disagree
4 What are the current marketing strategy does your organization uses?
 Social media marketing
 Traditional TV, flyers marketing