Current Trends in the Retail Industry

This report discusses the current trends in the retail industry, including the impact of COVID-19 on shopping styles. It analyzes the case of Tesco PLC using SWOT and VRIO analysis. Recommendations are provided to help the company improve its operations and satisfy customer demands.

Current trends in the
retail industry

Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Main body...................................................................................................................................................3
Trends in Retail sector industry...............................................................................................................3
Analysis of company...............................................................................................................................4
VRIO analysis.........................................................................................................................................5
Recommendations...................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................7
References...................................................................................................................................................8

Introduction
Retail is the process of selling goods and services to the customers with the help of
multiple channels of distribution in order to earn profit. It is sector which help in satisfies the
demand and identify it in order to satisfy their customers. The retail sector industry place and
role of intermediate between the company and the customer. There are several trends which are
going in this industry to enhance the sale by satisfying the needs and wants of targeted customers
(Adivar, Hüseyinoğlu and Christopher, 2019). There are several trends such as new techniques of
promoting the products in the market, online platforms for shopping, ethical and values of brand
and many more. This report talks about the current trends in the retail sector industry. The
SWOT analysis and VIRO analysis to analyze the choose an organisation that is Tesco. Lastly,
the recommendations are mentioned which helps the company to attain their goals.
Main body
Trends in Retail sector industry
Retail Industry is the sector that comprises individual and the companies which is
engaged in selling of finished products to the end user. It is the process of selling the products to
the ultimate consumers. Their name in is to determine and satisfy the needs and wants of
customers which helps them to enhance their profitability (Garcia-Barreda and et. al., 2018).
There are several trends in retail sector industry and the most trending Trend in the industry is
covid-19 trending shopping style. Due to coronavirus disease every industry is facing difficulties
in their operations which resulted in huge losses to companies. To overcome with the difficulties
the company used to develop the new strategies so that they can provide their services to satisfy
the needs of their customers in this pandemic situation. The retail sector industry invest in the
technology infrastructure and work towards improving their facilities. The company used to
develop touch Free shopping styles, digital modes of payments and other styles which accelerate
the industry in reducing the physical interaction with the customers and employees. The
changing scenario make more aware among the customers in their changing behaviour and
growing integration of online and offline stores. The company used to develop online stores so
that they can provide their services to the remoteness of area. Covid-19 changes the sentiments
of the customers and their lifestyle. The company has in fear to adopt the new technologies in the

industry but for providing their services to customers they have developed it which helps them in
providing quick services at target market.
Analysis of company
Tesco PLC is the multinational grocery and general store and associated activities of
retail sector. It is the third largest retailer in the world. It was founded in 1919 by Jack Cohen.
The headquarter is located in Welwyn Garden City, England (Guercini and Runfola, 2019). The
company has expanded themselves into 11 more countries in the world. They've also diversify
their areas of retailing in books, clothes, electronics, toys, petrol, software, furnitures, telecoms
and internet services. To analyse the company the model of SWOT analysis is discussed below:
Strengths: Tesco PLC is among the four big supermarkets and get the dominant position
in the grocery retail market with 27% of market share. The company has launched different
forms of stores to diversify there divisions such as Tesco home plus Tesco metro, Tesco extra,
Tesco Express, One Stop and Tesco Super Stores. The company has develop their performance
in this pandemic situation in order to satisfy the needs and wants of their customers by following
all the rules and regulations which are made by the government and the authority with respect to
the health and safety (Hänninen and Paavola, 2021). The company has adopted the innovative
ideas in order to provide their contact less services to their customers and also provided home
deliveries to the customers which help them in enhancing their profitability by their selling their
products. It is because of their managing staffs as they are the one who developed the strategies
to provide their services in this pandemic situation. The company has provided the agreed
salaries to their employees which helps them in motivating and resulted in enhancing their
quality of work.
Weaknesses: the company has a weakness in accounting declarations due to which in
2017 they had charged with fine for false accounting declaration and misrepresentation with
respect to profits. The company has poor performance in specific sector of markets some of the
outlets of Tesco are not performing well in certain places (Kautish and Rai, 2019). The company
failed in controlling the staff which resulted in the loss of skillful and knowledgeable workforce
from the organization. In this pandemic situation the company has developed the modes of
services but has failed in managing the quantity of products which resulted in shortage of the
products. It was resulted in dissatisfying their customers by their services and the customers use

to shift to the competitors. The company has faced the issues related to food safety as they failed
in following the guidelines of the government in order to maintain the standards of the quality of
foods and their products. This resulted in endanger their customers.
Opportunities: the company has n opportunity to expand their business in new in order to
increase their market share in the world. The company can provide online shopping platforms
and upgrade them as well as provide home delivery services to the customer which helps them to
attract them in competitive environment. The company has an opportunity to hire new employees
as in this pandemic situation there are many people who lost their jobs and are ready to work at
the lower scale just to satisfy their expenses. Their company can hire the new candidates at lower
pay scale (Lemstra, 2018). The company can use their products to sell them at lower price in
order to satisfy the needs of their customers in the pandemic situations which helps them in
attracting more new customers towards the firm.
Threats: the company hasn't fear of government new regulations with respect to legal
entity and text matters which affects the operations inefficiency of the company in certain
regions. The company has faced social media blacklash in 2017 when the launched an ad of
Christmas people used to boycotted the store and claiming a disrespectful act conducted by
company with respect to faith in Christianity religion (Lu and Weng, 2018). The Brexit
conversion is also a major threat to the company as this leads to an restriction on the free trade
practices on importing the goods from the European Union.
VRIO analysis
It is the model which helps in analysing each internet resources whether they provide a
sustainable advantage to the to competition in the market or not. VIRO stands for Valuable,
Rare, Imitable and Organisation which is explained below:
Valuable: Tesco PLC. used to invest into external opportunities which helps them in
rising in competitive market. They also has valuable distribution network which helps them in
reaching out to more and more customers ensures greater profitability from the market.
Rare: Tesco PLC has strong financial resources which are possessed by few companies in
retail sector industry (Rai, Chauhan and Singh, 2018). The company has Raya distribution
network which cannot be used by the competitors as it requires a lot of investment of time and
money which fails the rivalry firms in developing it.

Imitable: the employees of the Tesco PLC are provided with the the better working
environment good packages and other benefits and opportunities which motivates the employees
to work in an effective manner in order to attain the goal of organisation. Company has taken the
patents on their products which makes difficult for the competitors to sell similar products in the
market. It is the bit costly process for the company but helps in enhancing the image in market.
Organisation: Tesco PLC are organised to capture valuable financial resources which
helps them in their sustainable growth in the competitive market. The the existing competitive
demand for local food products helps the company to develop strong distribution network in
order to satisfy the needs and wants of the customers.
From the above VIRO analysis of Tesco PLC, it is identified that financial resources and
network of distribution helps the company in the growth and the patents become a source of an
used competitive advantage (Singh and Hess, 2017). The company used to research and develop
their strategies in order to satisfy desire of the customers.
Recommendations
Every successful brand occasionally face the difficulties during the process in attaining their
ultimate goals. Tesco PLC also having some weaknesses in order to satisfy the needs of the
clients. Organisation must plan for modify in alter the things which helps them in knowing the
updated changes and the requirements of the customers. There are some recommendations which
can be given to Tesco PLC in order to modify and alter their current operations which are as
given below:
 The company must provide proper training to the Employees which will be used in
developing their personal and professional skills.
 The Tesco plc should develop their infrastructure which will be useful to provide a
healthy environment to the work force and attracts the customers towards stores. This
helps them to update their standard.
 The company must identify the new competitive firms in the market and their techniques
in order to defeat them. This helps them in eliminating the new firms in competitive
market.
 Tesco must develop good customer service test in order to to resolve the queries of the
customers in an effective manner. This will help the customers to satisfy their issues and
attracts them more towards the organisation.

 Tesco PLC can also take feedback from their customers about their products and services
in order to determine the actual demand and supply of the products and services to the
customers. It is also useful in data mining actual process and strategies which the
company has to develop in order to satisfy the wants of their targeted customers.
 Tesco Plc is required to develop the innovative strategies in order to provide their
products and services to the customers which will be resulted in attracting them towards
the firm.
 The company can create new line of products by determining the new demands of their
customers in order to satisfying them. They can examine this by analyzing the trends
which are going on in the market.
The company must develop the technologies in order to satisfy the desires of the customers in
this pandemic situation also with the help of online platforms of shopping (Xu, Chen and Liu,
2021). There the company has to invest some amount to money in order to make online stores
but this will enhance the sale of the products and services as the customers are also demanding
the contact less shopping techniques.
Conclusion
From the above report it can be concluded as retail sector industry plays an important role
in providing finished goods to the ultimate consumers. For this, the companies of retail sector
industry have to develop different strategies of pricing promotion place in order to determine and
satisfy the actual needs of their targeted customers. There are several trends which are present in
the retail sector industry and with respect to that the company is used to adopt different strategies
in order to fulfill the demands of the customers. As it is important for the industry because the
sustainable growth of them is depending upon it.

References
Books and Journals
Adivar, B., Hüseyinoğlu, I.Ö.Y. and Christopher, M., 2019. A quantitative performance
management framework for assessing omnichannel retail supply chains. Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services, 48, pp.257-269.
Garcia-Barreda and et. al., 2018. Black truffle harvesting in Spanish forests: trends, current
policies and practices, and implications on its sustainability. Environmental
management, 61(4), pp.535-544.
Guercini, S. and Runfola, A., 2019. Developing fashion retail operations to growth in emerging
markets. Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 10(2), pp.145-162.
Hänninen, M. and Paavola, L., 2021. Managing transformations in retail agglomerations: Case
Itis shopping center. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 59, p.102370.
Kautish, P. and Rai, S.K., 2019. Fashion portals and Indian consumers: an exploratory study on
online apparel retail marketing. International Journal of Electronic Marketing and
Retailing, 10(3), pp.309-331.
Lemstra, W., 2018. Leadership with 5G in Europe: Two contrasting images of the future, with
policy and regulatory implications. Telecommunications Policy, 42(8), pp.587-611.
Lu, H.P. and Weng, C.I., 2018. Smart manufacturing technology, market maturity analysis and
technology roadmap in the computer and electronic product manufacturing
industry. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 133, pp.85-94.
Rai, A., Ghosh, P., Chauhan, R. and Singh, R., 2018. Improving in-role and extra-role
performances with rewards and recognition. Management Research Review.
Singh, A. and Hess, T., 2017. How Chief Digital Officers promote the digital transformation of
their companies. MIS Quarterly Executive, 16(1).

Xu, X., Chen, Y. and Liu, W., 2021. An examination of the dynamics of operating efficiency of
wholesale and retail firms. International Journal of Services and Operations
Management, 38(2), pp.188-200.