Comprehensive Analysis of Retail Trends Impacting Marks and Spencer

This report presents an analysis of retail trends, focusing on Marks and Spencer (M&S). The report utilizes both primary data, collected through questionnaires, and secondary research to examine current market dynamics. The primary data analysis includes questionnaires administered to staff, family, and friends, exploring their perceptions of M&S's performance, advantages of business development, the impact of operational changes, product improvements, and desired business enhancements. The secondary research delves into broader retail trends, such as the growth of e-commerce, consumer spending patterns, the importance of multi-channel strategies, and the increasing costs within the UK retail sector. The report highlights key trends and provides insights into how M&S can adapt to remain competitive and capitalize on emerging opportunities. It concludes with recommendations for strategic action planning to ensure the company's continued success in the evolving retail landscape.

Primary data

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION.............................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Primary data refers to the data that is collected by the business by gaining the opinion of
the specific person. The primary data are being collected through asking question to random
individuals or group of individuals. The present study report includes the a detailed discussion
about the data collected by the marks and Spencer plc for the purpose of gaining opinion in
context with the current trends of the market. the data is being collected by taking the view of
family, friends and staff members.
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
Questionnaires
Company name - Marks and Spencer
Respondent's designation - staff, family, friends
Total number of respondent - 10
1. Do you think the company is performing well in meeting the current trends of the
market?
A. Agree
B. Disagree
C. May be
Answer Respondent Percentage
Agree 4 40.00%
Disagree 2 20.00%
may be 4 40.00%

interpretation
The above question was asked to the friends and family members. The question was
asked to the 10 individuals. 4 of them were agreed with the question that whether the company
is performing well in the improving itself as per the current trends of the market. whereas, 2
individuals were 2 of them were totally disagreed with it (Hopp and Greene, 2018). on the other
hand, 4 people were not sure about the performance of the business.
2. What would be the advantage of developing the business according to the current
growth of the business.?
A. market growth
B. increase in profitability
C. Customer attraction
D. Market positioning enhancement
Answer Respondent Percentage
A. market growth 5 50.00%
B. increase in profitability 4 40.00%
C. Customer attraction 5 50.00%
D. Market positioning enhancement 3 30.00%
A. Agree B. Disagree C. May be
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5

Interpretation
The above question was asked to the staff, and friends. 5 of them said that the
development of company as per the current trend will provide market growth to the company, 4
said that it will increase company's profitability, 3 were agreed with the customer attraction and
remaining were agreed with the market positioning (Watson, McGowan and Cunningham,
2018).
3. Do bringing change in the business operation would be helpful in gaining competitive
opportunities?
A. Agree
B. Disagree
C. Highly disagree
D. may be
Answer Respondent Percentage
A. Agree 4 40.00%
B. Disagree 2 20.00%
C. Highly disagree 1 10.00%
A. market growth
B. increase in profitability
C. Customer attraction
D. Market positioning enhancement
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Column B
Column C

D. may be 2 20.00%
Interpretation
As per the above questionnaire, 4 of the individuals were agreed with the innovation
gaining the competitive advantage, 2 of them were disagreed with it, 1 of them as highly
disagree with the sentence. on the other hand, 1 was not sure about it.
4. What changes should be made in the products sold by the business as per the current
market trend?
A. Make the food healthier
B. Innovate new diet foods.
C. Adding new tastier dishes in the menu.
Answer Respondent Percentage
A. Make the food healthier 4 40.00%
B. Innovate new diet foods. 3 30.00%
C. Adding new tastier dishes in the menu. 3 30.00%
A. Agree B. Disagree C. Highly disagree D. may be
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5

Interpretation
The above data were collected by the 10 consumers. 4 of them said that company should
develop more healthier food, 3 were agreed with innovating diet food and 3 of them were
agreed with developing more tastier food by the company (Vurro and Perrini, 2018).
5. What improvement do you want in the business?
A. Enhance the healthiness in the working environment
B. Provide more training to employees
C. Improve its policies
Answer Respondent Percentage
A. Enhance the healthiness in the working
environment 5 50.00%
B. Provide more training to employees 3 30.00%
C. Improve its policies 2 20.00%
A. Make the food healthier
B. Innovate new diet foods.
C. Adding new tastier dishes in the menu.
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5

Interpretation
The above question were asked to the 10 staff members. 5 of them want to enhance the
working environment of the business, 3 wanted to provide more training to them whereas 2 of
them wanted to improve the policy of the business (Hopp and Greene, 201).
CONCLUSION
From the above study it can be concluded that the Marks and Spencer is performing well
in meeting the current trends of the business. further, the company should improve its polices
and working environment for the purpose of enhancing its working environment. The company
should improve its products as per the opinion of the customers. further, the should improve its
competitive strategies as to gain more competitive advantage from the business. Further, as some
people are not agree with the company's ability in meeting the current trends of the market, the
business should develop more strategies as to develop and launch the products as to improve its
ability of meeting the current trends.
A. Enhance the healthiness in the working environment
C. Improve its policies
0
1
2
3
4
5
6

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Hopp, C. and Greene, F. J., 2018. In pursuit of time: Business plan sequencing, duration and
intraentrainment effects on new venture viability. Journal of Management Studies. 55(2).
pp.320-351.
Watson, K., McGowan, P. and Cunningham, J. A., 2018. An exploration of the Business Plan
Competition as a methodology for effective nascent entrepreneurial
learning. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research. 24(1). pp.121-
146.
Vurro, C. and Perrini, F., 2018. Social business plan simulation: The case of Dynamo Camp.
In The Italian Model of Management (pp. 83-102). Routledge.

Inquiry Project

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
RETAIL TRENDS...........................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Retail sector is one of the biggest sector in every nation's economy. This is because of
increased constituents into the market and continuous increment in customer base. This brief
project will be cover on current trends running into the retail sector and getting recommendation
for how to business can continue its success for longer period of time (Dmitrović, 2015).
RETAIL TRENDS
In the retail business, continuous flow of trends has become frequent, because of change
of customer attitude and their change in an income level, taste & preferences towards any
specific products or services (Hortaçsu, 2015). For an analysis of retail trends, Marks & Spencer
has been taken to discuss what trends are currently running in a specific retail market and what
will its impact on business operation of the Marks & Spencer. Such kind of industry analysis will
be undertaken to ensure future success for the retail firm. Marks & Spencer, which is British
multinational leader headquartered in Westminster, United Kingdom.
Literature search and Industry data
In UK, retail remains single largest private sector with sales totalling a staggering £358bn
and market share has been raised to 2.3 percent in comparison to 2017. British retail platform has
been dominated by retail units such as Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's, Morrisons etc. which has
grab the retail market on larger basis. This will be possible through secondary research technique
to ascertain trends from various sources such as books, business journals, outlook magazine etc.
Out of the major seven competitor's, these three hold sum of 48 percent market share. Along
with this, new market entrant has put down various impact such as acquiring existing customer's
of players, price fluctuation, product diversification etc. There are various trends in the retail
sector for UK market are as follows:
Making e-commerce shipping faster: In the retail sector, e-commerce continuous its
flow towards most popular shopping medium across the globe. In September 2018. retail sector
of UK has been expanded by 11.4 percent in response to 2016 (Lamba, 2017). Out of which, 6.7
percent market share has been captured by e-commerce platform, this reveals that e-commerce in
retail sector will be turning point in an entire UK.
Consumer spending: Major interference of Brexit have impacts consumer's spending as a
result of flow currency and inflow of goods from other nation. This has been raised price of item