Impact of Internet and Social Media on Retail Firms in UK

This research examines the impact of internet and social media on the performance of retail firms in the UK, focusing on Asda. It explores the concept of using social media and internet in retail organizations, identifies the challenges faced, and recommends strategies to overcome them.

Curiosity, Creativity and
Research

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Aim and Objectives.........................................................................................................................3
Aim..............................................................................................................................................3
Objectives....................................................................................................................................4
Research Questions......................................................................................................................4
Rationale..........................................................................................................................................4
Significance.....................................................................................................................................5
Literature Review............................................................................................................................6
Theme 1: Concept of using social media and internet in retail organisations of UK..................7
Theme 2: Impact of using social media on the performance of the retail firms in UK...............8
Theme 3: Challenges faced while using the digital media in performing various operations in
the retail businesses.....................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

Topic: Impact of internet and social media on the performance of the retail firms in UK. A study
on Asda.
Introduction
Social media and internet plays a very important role in every business sector whether it
is finance, retail, fashion or any other. The businesses are finding various ways in which they can
make use of internet and social media as they believe that it can help them in gaining greater
competitive advantage and also in increasing the profitability of the organisations. Social media
provides an easier way to the smaller as well as larger companies to communicate and interact
with the customers through various platforms (Newberry, 2018). This research will be based on
the company Asda and the ways in which its performance is getting impacted by the use of social
media and internet in performing its various functions. Asda is basically a well established
supermarket chain headquartered in England. It deals in the products like general merchandise,
grocery, financial services etc. The company performs its operations in various cities across
various countries in the world (ASDA, 2021). It is must for the company to compete with its
competitors such as Morrison, Tesco, Waitrose, Pick n Pay, Spinneys and many more (Carr,
2017). The use of social media gives various different options to the company to gain
competitive advantage among these. The research will make use of various primary and
secondary methods for gaining various in-depth insights about the topic of the research. The
researcher will also shed light various books, journals, articles, publications and many other
secondary resources for carrying out the research. The research will majorly focus on various
ways in which the use of social media and internet impacts the business performance and also the
challenges faced by the company in integrating its use in performing various operations of the
company. It will also highlight some of the recommendations which will help in meeting the
challenges of using social media and internet in businesses like Asda.
Aim and Objectives
Aim
To analyse the impact of use of internet and social media on the business performance in
context of retail firms such as Asda in UK.
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Objectives
 To examine the concept of use of social media and internet in performing various
operations in the retail firms of UK.
 To identify the impact of the social media on the performances of retail companies like
Asda in UK.
 To investigate the challenges which can be faced by the retail companies of UK in using
the internet and social media.
 To recommend various strategies which can help in meeting the challenges highlighted
above.
Research Questions
 What is the concept of use of social media and internet in performing various operations
in the retail firms of UK?
 What is the impact of the social media on the performances of retail companies like Asda
in UK?
 What can be the challenges faced by the retail companies of UK in using the internet and
social media?
 What are the various strategies which can be recommended to help in meeting the
challenges highlighted above?
Rationale
The main reason of doing the research is that in this time of pandemic of COVID-19, the
businesses are making use of social media and internet for attracting the customers and running
the businesses. The making use of social media and internet are becoming the essential piece of
the marketing strategies of business. There are various platforms of social media like Facebook,
Instragram, Twitter, LinkedIN and many more. These platforms help in connecting the company
with the customers, increasing the awareness regarding the brand and also boosting the leads and
the sales (Pourkhani and et.al., 2019). The companies feel the need of using the social media
platforms especially when they feel difficulties in conveying the information of the company to
the customers and also when they need to take the feedback from the customers regarding the
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quality of the products and services and also their needs and opinions for bringing change in
various aspects of the company. So, it is must to study about the impact which these social media
and internet has on the performance of the business.
The companies are using the same by analysing the customers’ needs and also because their
competitors use but are unaware of its impact on the business. The major need was created at the
time of pandemic of COVID-19 when the large businesses like ASDA was unable to run the
business because they were unable to promote the products and services of the company through
campaigns and marketing and also the companies were facing various difficulties in interacting
with the customers. The social media gave the greatest option to the companies in doing the
same even at the time of pandemic and crucial times digitally (Eltayib and et.al., 201). This also
became the greatest base of gaining the competitive advantage among the competitors o ASDA
in UK. This is how, the research topic was chosen for analysing the impact of the same on the
overall business. Because if the larger companies like ASDA is making use of such digital
platforms and internet, then its impact needs to be investigated by the researchers. The
companies are also using their website and developing them to convey the important information
to the customers along with conveying various updates regarding the offers and the discounts.
The secondary reason of doing the research is the trust and loyalty of the employees in the
company which makes use of internet and social media as major platform
Significance
This research will help in adding completely new knowledge within the organisational
settings of the retail firms in UK. The major benefit of this research will be faced by the retail
firm ASDA as it is making use of various social media platforms in increasing the customer base
and also increasing the grand awareness. This research will also prove to be significant to the
other retail companies like ASDA who are striving hard to use these platforms of social media
and internet and are getting affected by the same. Not only in marketing through social media but
the companies also use the internet and the technologies embedded systems in various other
operations such as in stores, packaging and many other operations. It is must for the company to
be aware of the impact which can be faced by the companies by using internet for performing
these operations. This is why; this research will benefit the retailer companies and the other
companies who make use of various platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Linked IN and
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many more other platforms (Feng and et.al., 2020). This will also benefit the other researchers
who wish to study and investigate about the impact of using digital and social media on the
overall performance of the businesses. The new ventures will also be benefitted by the research
as they will come to know about the impacts they will get if they use these platforms in
performing various operation in the company. The use of internet helps in integrating various
innovative and creative methods by making use of technologies which can also helps in the
career growth of the employees. This brings a major change in the skills of the workforce as well
as the culture of the organisations. The companies need qualified and experienced candidates
who can use the systems based on the technologies and the people who can use social media and
internet in performing the different operations as per their job role (Smith, 2019). This adds
various changes in the company which also helps in gaining competitive advantage from the
competitors in UK and other countries. This will also help the businesses like ASDA in meeting
various challenges faced by the companies in using these digital platforms and internet and also
they will be benefitted by the recommendations which will be suggested in the research which
can help in making effective and efficient use of internet and social media. The various
stakeholders of these larger companies will also be benefitted as this research will build trust and
loyalty in the company which brings innovation regularly by making use of digital media (Garg
and et.al., 2020). They will be easily communicating through the company and getting the
updates through these platforms and will invest more because of the same. Therefore, the
research will prove to be significant for the above mentioned people, parties and the companies.
Literature Review
Literature overview helps in discussing about the information which is already published
somewhere about the particular subject areas and also in a certain period of time. This is
basically the secondary source of data collection which analyses the information which is not
obtained in the raw form instead in second hand form. This is also considered as the summary of
the sources related to the particular topic of the research. The major focus of the literature review
is summarizing and synthesizing the ideas and arguments of the other researchers and scholars
without adding some new contributions. The researcher in the current investigation will go
through various secondary sources such as books, articles, journals, websites, blogs,
publications, online articles and many more for achieving the objectives of the research and
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answering the research questions. This helps in critically analysing the segment of published
body of knowledge through classification, summary, comparison and the reviews of the studies
and articles. Various themes are made for the same in order to segregate the overall topic into
relevant parts so that each theme can be critically analysed separately and in-depth. Following
are the themes which can help in achieving the aim which is the impact of using social media and
internet on the business performance.
Theme 1: Concept of using social media and internet in retail organisations of UK
According to Halawani, Soh and Halawani (2020), social media and internet are playing
the most important role in bringing innovation and in going with the trends of the market. The
retailer companies of UK such as Asda, Tesco, Waitrose etc. can make use of the social media
platforms and the internet in various areas of the business such as adopting the Omni-channel
social presence, for supplementing the existing marketing campaigns, gathering feedback from
the social customers, dedicating time to provide the social customer service, delivering the
products at the doorsteps of the customers, booking the purchase, making and accepting
payments and many more other usages. This is how, by using the different platforms, the
companies can aware the customers easily about the brand which can help in increasing the
customer base as well as the performance of the company.
Furthermore as per the view of Wang and Kim (2017), there are various considerations
which can be taken while promoting the business through social media and internet such as
choosing various platforms such as Instagram, You Tube, Social Networking sites, website of the
company and many more, creating a calendar for creating content and the posts, encouraging the
engagement, addressing the problems of the customers, providing value to them by building
community, facilitate them by taking the order online, delivering the items at their homes and
then making and accepting the payments through the online applications etc. The main use of
social media is to advertise and promote the goods and services of the business so that they can
reach the people overseas which is not possible through physical campaigns in very less time and
cost.
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Figure 1: Role of social media on retailers
Source: Barnhart, 2020
Theme 2: Impact of using social media on the performance of the retail firms in UK
Authors Ahmad, Ahmad and Bakar (2018), evaluated that the use of social media and the
technologies in the retail firms impact the performance of the business greatly. This was also
observed by the authors that 71% of the businesses and brands are facing great experiences by
using the social media platforms which is why they also recommend it to other companies. There
is a great deal of competitive pace by leveraging the social media platforms especially in the
retail sector of UK among the companies like Tesco, Asda, Wallmart and many more. Social
media helps in adding new dimension to the Omni-channel customer service. The various social
media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, Watsapp, LinkedInm Instagram etc. for delivering a
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seamless Omni-channel messaging experience. It is also helping in reaching out a bigger
audience by increasing the exposure of the business.
Building blocks to the above point, Tajudeen, Jaafar and Ainin (2018), also examines that
it became very easy for the companies like Asda to convey the information regarding the free
products, offers and the discounts to the customers which helps in taking the quality time for
promoting the business. The performance of the businesses can also be increased using these
platforms as the companies need to invest very less as compared to the physical campaigns. The
employees of the companies also get various opportunities to advance themselves by using
internet which increases their performance as well as that of the company. It becomes easy for
the employees in all the departments to carry out the tasks using internet and social media. For
example, the marketers can make use of internet for marketing and promoting the goods and
services to a large number of people in very less time and will also remain in the budget of the
company. Also the production department can also use the internet for producing the goods by
analysing the market and doing the market analysis by sitting at one place through internet and
producing goods accordingly. The finance as well as the accounts department can also make use
of the same by using the different software and applications. This is how, the use of internet
helps in increasing the performance of the retail firms in UK.
Figure 2: Impact of social media on retailer's business
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Source: Newberry, 2018
Theme 3: Challenges faced while using the digital media in performing various operations in the
retail businesses
According to Bianchi and Andrews (2018), though there are various benefits of using
social media but on the other hand, there are also various challenges associated with the same.
The retail firms need to develop and implement various appropriate strategies for achieving the
goals of using internet otherwise the success and failure of the company cannot be predicted. It is
also difficult to measure the ROI of social media such as the value of the tweet, clicks on the ad,
total visits on the website, newsletter sign-ups, download of the app and many more. Also, the
major challenge is to choose the platform which is to be used by analysing the trend of the
market and the customers.
Furthermore, Ramanathan and et.al., (2017), also identified that there can be various problems in
using the social media management tools for checking and measuring the engagements with the
posts by the company. This becomes difficult for the retail firms like Asda to have humanistic
relationship with its audience as the customers cannot meet in real. Answering all the questions
of the customers and addressing their enquiries rapidly also becomes an issue which also impact
the trust and loyalty of the customers in the company and lacks the customer service
management.
This is how; literature review can be done by identifying the above themes according to the
objectives of the research.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ahmad, S.Z., Ahmad, N. and Bakar, A.R.A., 2018. Reflections of entrepreneurs of small and
medium-sized enterprises concerning the adoption of social media and its impact on
performance outcomes: Evidence from the UAE. Telematics and Informatics. 35(1).
pp.6-17.
Bianchi, C. and Andrews, L., 2018. Consumer engagement with retail firms through social
media: an empirical study in Chile. International Journal of Retail & Distribution
Management.
Carr, P., 2017. Whole enterprise social media for business performance. In Phantom Ex
Machina (pp. 25-35). Springer, Cham.
Eltayib, N.H.E. and et.al., 2018. The Effect of Social Media Marketing in Small Business
Performance. International Journal of Novel Research in Marketing Management and
Economics. 5(1). pp.141-147.
Feng, C. and et.al., 2020. The role of interactive practice in business performance. Industrial
Management & Data Systems.
Garg, P. and et.al., 2020. Examining the relationship between social media analytics practices
and business performance in the Indian retail and IT industries: The mediation role of
customer engagement. International journal of information management. 52. p.102069.
Halawani, F.M., Soh, P.C. and Halawani, Y.M., 2020. Social Media Utilisation and Business
Performance of Hotels in Lebanon: Exploring the Moderating Effects of Hotel
Classification. Journal of Global Information Management (JGIM). 28(3). pp.58-76.
Pourkhani, A. and et.al., 2019. The impact of social media in business growth and performance:
A scientometrics analysis. International Journal of Data and Network Science. 3(3).
pp.223-244.
Ramanathan, R. and et.al., 2017. Adoption of business analytics and impact on performance: a
qualitative study in retail. Production Planning & Control. 28(11-12). pp.985-998.
Tajudeen, F.P., Jaafar, N.I. and Ainin, S., 2018. Understanding the impact of social media usage
among organizations. Information & Management. 55(3). pp.308-321.
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Wang, Z. and Kim, H.G., 2017. Can social media marketing improve customer relationship
capabilities and firm performance? Dynamic capability perspective. Journal of
Interactive Marketing. 39. pp.15-26.
Online
ASDA, 2021. [ONLINE]. Available through :< https://www.asda.com/>
Barnhart, B., 2020. How to master social media for retail and win more customers. [ONLINE].
Available through: < https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-for-retail/>
Newberry, C., 2018. Benefits of Social Media for Business. [ONLINE]. Available through: <
https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-for-business/>
Newberry, C., 2018. Benefits of Social Media for businesses. [ONLINE]. Available through :<
https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-for-business/>
Smith, K., 2019. Importance of Social Media in Business. [ONLINE]. Available through :<
https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/importance-social-media-business/>
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