Impact of COVID-19 on Retail Industry: A Case Study on Marks & Spencer

This report analyzes the impact of COVID-19 on the retail industry, with a case study on Marks & Spencer. It discusses the difficulties faced by the company, strategies adapted to deal with the pandemic, and recommendations for future productivity.

Final project reports

Contents
TITLE: Impact of covid-19 on retail industry.................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Background of study....................................................................................................................1
Rationale of study........................................................................................................................1
Aim of study................................................................................................................................1
Research objectives.....................................................................................................................1
Research questions.......................................................................................................................2
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................2
To analyse the impact of COVID-19 on retail business..............................................................2
To determine the effect of COVID -19 on performance and productivity of Marks & Spencer.2
To evaluate the various difficulties faced by Marks & Spencer because of COVID-19.............2
To analyse the different strategies adapted through Marks & Spencer in order to deal with
various challenges raise because of COVID-19 pandemic situation...........................................3
RESERACH METHODOLOGY....................................................................................................3
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION......................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION..............................................................................6
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................6
Recommendation.........................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

TITLE: Impact of covid-19 on retail industry.
INTRODUCTION
Background of study
At current times, COVID-19 has huge impacts upon business across the world. Moreover, the
global pandemic has pessimistic effects upon retail firms as well as most of them is not become
competent for operating appropriately and effectively (Bui and et. al., 2021). In addition to this,
there are various problems faced by retail business due to COVID-19 pandemic situation like
reduction in sales, lack of personnel, changes into consumer’s demand and others. The topics
which are going to be discussed in this project are study rationale, aim, objectives, questions,
literature review and research methodology. Apart from this, result & discussion as well as
recommendations are also provided in this project.
Rationale of study
The key aim of performing the particular study is to evaluate the effect of COVID-19 on
retail industry’s productivity and performance. Additionally, this assists researcher to understand
the various problems faced by firms because of COVID-19 and strategies adapted through
organisations for dealing with issues. In context to entities, this aids them in acknowledging the
effect of COVID-19 on business performance. In respect to investigator, this assists them to
develop skills which are communication, time management, data analysis and others. This would
in future help me in gaining both professional and personal development.
Aim of study
“To evaluate the effect of COVID-19 on retail industry’s productivity and performance. A
case study on Marks & Spencer”.
Research objectives
 To analyse the impact of COVID-19 on retail businesses.
 To determine the effect of COVID -19 on performance and productivity of Marks &
Spencer.
 To evaluate the various difficulties faced by Marks & Spencer because of COVID-19.
 To analyse the different strategies adapted through Marks & Spencer in order to deal with
various challenges raise because of COVID-19 pandemic situation.
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Research questions
 What are the impacts of COVID-19 on retail businesses?
 What are the effect of COVID -19 on performance and productivity of Marks & Spencer?
 What are the various difficulties faced by Marks & Spencer because of COVID-19.
 What are the different strategies adapted through Marks & Spencer in order to deal with
various challenges raise because of COVID-19 pandemic situation.
LITERATURE REVIEW200
To analyse the impact of COVID-19 on retail business.
According to the views Mukherjee (2022) COVID-19 has huge impacts upon business across the
world. Moreover, the global pandemic has pessimistic effects upon retail firms as well as most of
them is not become competent for operating appropriately and effectively (Retail After COVID-
19: How Innovation is Powering the New Normal, 2022). Additionally, it also change the retail
business process which were specially get impacted. In addition to this, within retail business
managing the food & daily necessities, few examples of fast action are consider that incorporates
the application of floor stickers for indicating effective social distancing position for consumer
that are waiting in check out line. Also, the action like disinfection of products packaging and
shopping carts for preventing droplet infection that have been added to daily routine of them in
reaction to clients desires for safety.
To determine the effect of COVID -19 on performance and productivity of Marks & Spencer.
According to the views of Wood (2020), COVID-19 negatively impacted business of Marks and
Spencer as the company suffered huge losses because of disruption caused by COVID-19 spread
in the United Kingdom and across the world. There is a report of overall pretax loss of 87.6
million grand British pounds in the six months to September, which is recorded as the first
overall pretax loss reported in 94 years of the company (Marks & Spencer falls to first loss as
Covid crisis hits clothing sales, 2020). The first lockdown in United Kingdom was challenging
for Marks and Spencer as it resulted in the closure of about half of Marks and Spencer's clothing
retail space, A situation which led to huge losses at the company.
To evaluate the various difficulties faced by Marks & Spencer because of COVID-19.
As per the views of Gardner (2020) COVID-19 arises various difficulties which would have
direct impacts upon effectual operations of Marks & Spencer. For controlling the transmission of
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virus, lockdown was imposed into several countries all over the world. Because of pandemic
situation, individuals were not become competent to shift from on area to other which impacted
the business revenue and sales. So, one of the key difficulties is lack of personnel that puts
tremendous effect upon firm’s productivity and production (Four challenges for companies in
the face of COVID-19, 2020).. The other difficulty is disruption of supply chain, this was quite
tough for exchanging the products & services. Also, respective entity faces challenges in respect
to address the market demands.
To analyse the different strategies adapted through Marks & Spencer in order to deal with
various challenges raise because of COVID-19 pandemic situation.
According to Clark (2020), Marks and Spencer has been considered innovative company
and has resorted to using innovation in order to recover from crisis situations. COVID-19 created
a survival threat for marks and spencer once again Marks and Spencer focused on innovation to
recover from such global crises. The primary innovation Strategy for Marks and Spencer is to
launch innovation hub, which helps the company develop unique products such as sustainable
food categories (Marks & Spencer launches ‘innovation hub’ to expand plant-based food range,
2020). Marks and Spencer will conduct research on soya alternative proteins for plant based
foods to reduce plastic packaging. This innovation, will support, the company in moving towards
more sustainable future and attracting sustainable consumer base so that the company is able to
recover from COVID-19 crisis.
RESERACH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
The framework which guides in completion of the research is known as research design.
Exploratory, exploratory and descriptive research design options are available for completing an
investigation (Cable and et. al., 2021). The present research is completed by usage of descriptive
research design. Under the descriptive research design, the focus is to collect information so that
systematically a federal minimum situation or population can be described. The advantage of
descriptive research design is that supports of factual data and helps from high
level understanding of the research subject. the disadvantage of descriptive research design is
that it does not allow for statistical verification of the investigation. The justification for using
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descriptive research analysis is that phenomena is observed in a total natural and original state
under this design.
Data Collection
This part of this search methodology focuses on collection, measurement, analysis, and acute
interpretation of data from valid sources. Quantitative data collection and qualitative data
collection are two options which can be utilised for this part of the search methodology (Chiah
and Zhong, 2020). This part of this search methodology focuses on collection, measurement,
analysis, and acute interpretation of data from valid sources. Quantitative data collection and
qualitative data collection are two options which can be utilised for this part of the search
methodology. Both qualitative and qualitative data collection will be utilised in this research
methodology. Quantitative collection will be conducted with the help of questionnaire while
quality to data collection will be connected with the help of literature review.
Data Analysis
Data analysis refers to the procedure of collection modelling, an analysis of data to interpret
insights with support reaching accurate conclusion in investigation. The two options for
conducting data analysis in research are thematic data analysis, and frequency data analysis. The
focus of thematic data analysis is uncertain. Data across to identify and analyse patterns.
Frequency data analysis, focuses on measuring statistical occurrences, such as central tendency,
dispersion percentages and others. This is search is conducted with the help of frequency data
analysts because it supports quantitative measurement and interpretation of data.
Research Limitations
The primary limitation of this investigation is the current time constraints related to completing
qualitative and quantitative data collection. This is a significant research limitation as conducting
qualitative and quantitative data collection along with presenting and interpreting data is
timetables, and the time constraint can affect the quality of the research (Kumar, 2018). In
addition to this, there is also the association of properly communicating the questions to
participants of the survey questionnaire. Some participants can get confused and give the wrong
answers, which can affect the reliability of the investigation.
SAMPLE SIZE : 30
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Ethical Consideration
The primary ethical considerations for this investigation involve complying with the ethical
principles of completing research (Malone and et. al., 2020). The research at expendable, which
will be considered while completing this investigation, involves respect for persons, beneficence,
non-munificence, justice, informed content, confidentiality, data protection, integrity and conflict
of interest. Playing with this ethical principle will support academic integrity during the
investigation and help reach a logical conclusion based on ethical research.
Questionnaires
Q1. Do you have any idea about the impact of COVID-19 on retail business?
Yes
No.
Q2. As per your view point, what is the effect of COVID -19 on performance and
productivity of Marks & Spencer?
Positive effects
Negative effects
Both of them
Q3. Based upon the point of view, what are the various difficulties faced by Marks &
Spencer because of COVID-19?
Disruption of supply chain
Decline in sales and profitability level
Shortage of labour
Q4. What are the different strategies adapted through Marks & Spencer in order to deal
with various challenges raise because of COVID-19 pandemic situation?
Introduction of remote working
Offer hybrid working pattern
Shifting digitally
Q5. As per your viewpoint, does the challenge faced by Marks & Spencer due to COVID-19
have impact upon its competition level?
Yes
NO
Q6. What are the efficient ways that Marks & Spencer would be applied in order to
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develop the business productivity after COVID-19?
Provide training and development to employees
Ensure fulfilment of customer requirements
Q7. Any suggestion..
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Frequency Distribution Table
Q1. Do you have any idea about the impact of COVID-19 on retail business? Frequency
Yes 28
No. 2
Q2. As per your view point, what is the effect of COVID -19 on performance
and productivity of Marks & Spencer?
Frequency
Positive effects 10
Negative effects 15
Both of them 5
Q3. Based upon the point of view, what are the various difficulties faced by
Marks & Spencer because of COVID-19?
Frequency
Disruption of supply chain 18
Decline in sales and profitability level 6
Shortage of labour 6
Q4. What are the different strategies adapted through Marks & Spencer in
order to deal with various challenges raise because of COVID-19 pandemic
situation?
Frequency
Introduction of remote working 16
Offer hybrid working pattern 6
Shifting digitally 8
Q5. As per your viewpoint, does the challenge faced by Marks & Spencer due
to COVID-19 have impact upon its competition level?
Frequency
Yes 20
NO 10
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Q6. What are the efficient ways that Marks & Spencer would be applied in
order to develop the business productivity after COVID-19?
Frequency
Provide training and development to employees 15
Ensure fulfilment of customer requirements 15
Q7. Any suggestion..
Discussion
Theme: 1- The impact of COVID-19 on retail business.
Q1. Do you have any idea about the impact of COVID-19 on retail business? Frequency
Yes 28
No. 2
28
2
Yes
No.
Interpretation: From the above graph, it is interpreted that out of 30 respondents, 28 respondents
have stated to agree with the idea that COVID-19 impacts retail businesses, while two have
stated. That COVID-19 did not impact retail businesses.
Theme: 2- Effect of COVID -19 on performance and productivity of Marks & Spencer.
Q2. As per your view point, what is the effect of COVID -19 on performance
and productivity of Marks & Spencer?
Frequency
Positive effects 10
Negative effects 15
Both of them 5
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10
15
5
Positive effects
Negative effects
Both of them
Interpretation From the above graph, it is interpreted that out of 30 respondents, 10 respondents
have stated that COVID-19 has positive effects on the performance and productivity of Marks
and Spencer, while 15 respondents have. Light with negatively impacting pretty and performance
of Marks and Spencer. Out of the 30 respondents, fire stated that COVID-19 has had both
positive as well as negative impacts on the productivity and performance of Marks and Spencer.
Theme: 3- Various difficulties faced by Marks & Spencer because of COVID-19.
Q3. Based upon the point of view, what are the various difficulties faced by
Marks & Spencer because of COVID-19?
Frequency
Disruption of supply chain 18
Decline in sales and profitability level 6
Shortage of labour 6
8

186
6
Disruption of supply chain
Decline in sales and
profitability level
Shortage of labour
Interpretation From the above graph, it is determined that out of 30 respondents, 18 respondents
have replied that the COVID-19 has created major difficulty for Marks and Spencer, primarily
being disruption of the supply chain. Six respondents have stated that the main difficulty fixed by
Marks and Spencer because of COVID-19, is declined in Seals held profitability level of the
company, while the remaining 6 respondents have stated that shortage of Labor is the main
difficulty faced by Marks and Spencer because of COVID-19.
Theme: 4- Different strategies adapted through Marks & Spencer in order to deal with various
challenges raise because of COVID-19 pandemic situation.
Q4. What are the different strategies adapted through Marks & Spencer in
order to deal with various challenges raise because of COVID-19 pandemic
situation?
Frequency
Introduction of remote working 16
Offer hybrid working pattern 6
Shifting digitally 8
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16
6
8
Introduction of remote
working
Offer hybrid working
pattern
Shifting digitally
Interpretation From the above graph, it is determined that out of 30 respondents, 16 have stated
that the adoption of suitable strategy at Marks and Spencer, which can help the company
eliminate challenges created by COVID-19 is introduction of remote working at the company.
Six respondents have stated that offering hybrid working patterns can support Marks and
Spencer in dealing with various challenges created because of COVID-19 pandemic. The. The
remaining eight respondents have stated that shifting to digital working environment can help the
respective organization in recovering from COVID-19 pandemic and dealing with various
challenges.
Theme: 5- Challenge faced by Marks & Spencer due to COVID-19 have impact upon its
competition level.
Q5. As per your viewpoint, does the challenge faced by Marks & Spencer due
to COVID-19 have impact upon its competition level?
Frequency
Yes 20
NO 10
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20
10
Yes
NO
Interpretation From the above graph, it is determined that out of 30. 120 respondents have
agreed with the statement that challenges picked by Marks and Spencer due to COVID-19 have
affected the competition level in the retail industry. While ten respondents do not agree with the
statement.
Theme: 6- Efficient ways that Marks & Spencer would be applied in order to develop the
business productivity after COVID-19.
Q6. What are the efficient ways that Marks & Spencer would be applied in
order to develop the business productivity after COVID-19?
Frequency
Provide training and development to employees 15
Ensure fulfilment of customer requirements 15
1515 Provide training and
development to employees
Ensure fulfilment of
customer requirements
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Interpretation From the above graph, it is determined that out of 30 respondents, 15 respondents
have stated that providing training and development to employees can be applied by Marks and
Spencer in order to enhance productivity of the company in a post pandemic world. The other
half of respondents have stated that ensuring fulfillment of consumers at every point of their
consumers journey is the major factor which can help COVID-19 develop business productivity.
Theme: 7 - Any suggestion.
Q7. Any suggestion.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Conclusion
As per the above project, it has been concluded that COVID-19 has huge impacts upon business
across the world. Moreover, the global pandemic has pessimistic effects upon retail firms as well
as most of them is not become competent for operating appropriately and effectively. In addition
to this, there are various problems faced by retail business due to COVID-19 pandemic situation
like reduction in sales, lack of personnel, changes into consumer’s demand and others.
Recommendation
M&S needs to focus on using disruptive innovation model as it will help the company
gain competitive position in the industry. The justification of this recommendation is that usage
of disruptive innovation model allows the business firms to enter the market and slowly capture
the consumer base of incumbent firms (Mukherjee, 2019). M&S will be able to gain competitive
advantage by first capturing overlooked consumers of the retail sector and gradually moving
upwards to gain consumer base of incumbent firms and secure beneficial position.
It is recommended that Marks and Spencer enhanced digital capabilities of the company
in order to recover from loss created by COVID-19 pandemic. This is a suitable recommendation
because it will help Marks and Spencer develop an online consumer base which is necessary for
recovering from COVID-19 losses. It is important for the respective company to create a better
Digital infrastructure so that consumers in the current age can be attracted and retained for a
longer time.
M&S needs to ensure that senior leadership is able to make quick decisions in emergency
scenarios. M&S needs to train their leaders about ways to make quick decisions which are in the
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best interests of the company so that diction making quality remains unaffected by the urgency
of any scenario. This recommendation is useful for M&S as the company has adopted
participative leadership style. The main disadvantage of participative leadership style is that
leaders are not able to make quick decisions. This can hamper effective the diction making of
leaders during emergency situations. If M&S build quick diction making in leaders they will
overcome main demerit of participative leadership and gain various benefits.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Bairagi, V. and Munot, M. V. eds., 2019. Research methodology: A practical and scientific
approach. CRC Press.
Bui and et. al., 2021. Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on franchise performance from franchisee
perspectives: the role of entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation and franchisor
support. Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, pp.1-19.
Cable and et. al., 2021. The impact of COVID‐19 on food systems, safety, and security—a
symposium report. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1484(1). pp.3-8.
Chiah, M. and Zhong, A., 2020. Trading from home: The impact of COVID-19 on trading
volume around the world. Finance Research Letters, 37. p.101784.
Kumar, R., 2018. Research methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners. Sage.
Malone, T., Schaefer, K. A. and Lusk, J., 2020. Unscrambling COVID-19 food supply
chains. Available at SSRN 3672018.
Mukherjee, S. P., 2019. A guide to research methodology: An overview of research problems,
tasks and methods. CRC Press.
Online
Retail After COVID-19: How Innovation is Powering the New Normal, 2022. [Online] Available
through <https://www.globallogic.com/insights/blogs/retail-after-covid-19/>
Four challenges for companies in the face of COVID-19, 2020. [Online] Available
through:<https://www.ampcapital.com/au/en/insights-hub/articles/2020/june/four-challenges-for-
companies-in-the-face-of-covid-19
Marks & Spencer falls to first loss as Covid crisis hits clothing sales, 2020. [Online] Available
through <https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/nov/04/marks-and-spencer-falls-to-first-
loss-as-covid-crisis-hits-clothing-sales>
Marks & Spencer launches ‘innovation hub’ to expand plant-based food range, 2020. [Online]
Available through <https://www.cityam.com/marks-spencer-launches-innovation-hub-to-expand-
plant-based-food-range/ >
(Bairagi, V. and Munot, M. V. eds., 201
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