Digital Skills: Virtual Reality Technology in Marks and Spencer Organization

This article discusses the importance of digital skills and the impact of virtual reality technology in Marks and Spencer organization. It highlights the challenges faced by the organization before the introduction of this technology and provides insights into its benefits. The use of virtual reality headsets in enhancing customer experience and attracting more customers is also discussed.

DIGITAL SKILLS
RESEARCH METHODS
PROJECT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
Background of Marks and Spencer organization.........................................................................1
Challenges faced by organization before introduction of modern technology............................3
Insights to the modern technology introduced.............................................................................6
The impact of the technology introduced....................................................................................7
Lessons that can be drawn from the case study...............................................................................7
REREFENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Digital literacy can be defined as a kind of functional skills that are required for operating
and communicating new and advance technology. Today it has become important for individuals
to learn digital literacy skills so that they can easily use, handle and communicate using advance
digital technologies, find and access digital content as per their need and requirement so that one
can develop their own understanding in an appropriate manner (McDougall, Readman and
Wilkinson, 2018). Digital literacy skills are important today as it makes it much easier for
individual to learn and understand new and advance digital technologies that are being used by
organizations for different purposes and ways in which those technologies have helped them in
gaining competitive advantage, boost their sales and provide many other different kinds of
advantages. Advance modern technologies have provided various kinds of advantages to the
organization. In fact, today adaptation of these technologies has become important for
organizations in order to remain competitive within the market in which they operate. This
presentation will lay emphasis upon Marks and Spencer organization, modern technology used
by M&S, challenges faced by them before introduction of modern technology, insight of
technology, impact of technology and lessons learnt from it. Modern technology focused upon in
this presentation is Virtual reality. It is a stimulated experience that can either be similar or
different from real world experience. This technology is used in organizations for different
purposes such as for entertainment purpose, educating clients, enhance their shopping experience
and for many other purposes.
MAIN BODY
Background of Marks and Spencer organization
Marks and Spencer or M&S is a major British retail sector multinational organization that
operates globally. M&S was established in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer. Its
main headquarter is in London, England. They sell different kinds of products but are specialized
in selling products like cloths, home products and food products. most of these products are
developed by Marks and Spencer on its own. They have their stores in more than 57 countries all
over the world and have approximately 1463 stores globally. Out of these 1463 stores more than
900 stores are in UK itself in which 600 stores only sell food products. They are one of the
largest UK’s clothing retailers. They are market leaders in UK especially in terms of
Womenswear and Menswear clothing items. they have more than 80,000 employees working for
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them. Other than this they also have a subsidiary i.e. M&S Bank which is owned by HSBC bank
since 2004. M&S was established by partnership of Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer and
started their own business in 1884 (Toms and Zhang, 2016). In 1901 they opened their own stall
in centre aisle famous Penny Bazaar. Within 20 years they opened many stalls in various
locations of North West of England. Till early 20th century they made a reputation of selling
British made goods and after some times they established relationship with British manufactures
and started selling their cloths under St Michael Brand name. M&S is a public limited company
which is listed on London stock Exchange and is also a constitute of FTSE 250 Index and
previously in FTSE 100 Index from its creation until 2019. In clothing sector their market share
in UK is 11 percent in UK.
Marks and Spencer have always been slow in adopting new and advance technologies
due to which from time to time they had to face issues. Such as in 2001 usage of credit cards had
started but they did not accept credit cards for payment. As a result, their sales declined and they
faced huge financial loss. They faced decline in overall profit by more than 30 percent. So as a
result of this loss they had started accepting credit cards for payment which further helped them
to enhance their sales and recover profit till a certain extent. But today slowly they had started
adopting advance technologies for enhancement of their slae, profit and revenue. In fact, they
have included some of these advance technologies within their business model as well. they nave
set a research and development department where they spend some amount upon advance
technologies for transforming M&S into digital first retailers (Scott and Walker, 2017). They
also sell their products online and provide free home delivery to their customers as well in order
to enhance their shopping experience. They are also focusing upon adopting various other kinds
of modern technologies within their physical retail stores which is not only helping them to
increase their sales but is also helping them to enhance their overall customer base. For example:
Marks and Spencer are focusing upon adopting artificial intelligence technology within their
stores in order to enhance their customer experience. It is one of the main initiatives taken by
them for driving value of their customers experience of shopping with Marks and Spencer.
Due to advancement in technology it has become a compulsion for organizations to adopt
advance and new digital technology within business. In order to sustain within the marketing
environment in which Marks and Spencer operates they need to focus upon adopting new and
advance digital technology within their business. Marks and Spencer already have a negative
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brand image of selling cloths for older people. Youngsters think that it is a brad for older people
and that do not sell cloths for youngsters. They have many times faced losses because of not
adopting advance technology. So, in order to overcome this image, they have focused upon
development of five years transformation plan in which they have focused upon introducing new
and advance technology within their business in order to boose sales, attract more customers and
enhance their profitability.
Challenges faced by organization before introduction of modern technology
Before virtual reality technology was introduced, Marks and Spencer were facing various
kinds of challenges. These challenges were directly impacting their sales, profit and brand image.
These challenges were important for organization to overcome as these challenges could have
impacted their future performance. Their profit and sales were continuously going down. Some
of the main challenges that were faced by organization before introduction of modern technology
(virtual reality) are:
 One of the main challenges that was faced by Marks and Spencer before introducing virtual
reality was changing taste of people and maintained of too many physical shops. As it is
already known that Marks and Spencer also sell homeware products. But maintenance of
physical stores that sells homeware products was quite cost consuming and its maintenance
was also too high (Wilson, 2016). Changing taste of customers in terms of homeware
products was also making it difficult for Marks and Spencer to maintain homeware physical
stores as per the need, requirement and changing taste of customers. Decreasing sales of
Marks and Spencer was also making it difficult for Marks and Spencer to maintain too many
physical homeware stores as per the changing needs and taste of customers.
 Another challenge for Marks and Spencer was their high dependency upon market of UK.
There is no doubt that M&S have their stores present globally but they are majorly dependent
upon market of UK. Any kind of changes within marketing trends of UK can directly impact
sales and profitability of the organization. Marks and Spencer capture 89 percent of British
market. So, there are at major risk of exposure of if any kind of changes within customers
perceptions changes or if they lose customers of UK. They were required to focus upon
overcoming this challenge. It was one of the major challenges that was faced by Marks and
Spencer before introduction of virtual reality modern technology.
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 Shift to online shopping is another challenge that was faced by M&S. They have always been
facing competition by its competitors. Introduction of internet shopping has made it much
easier for customers to shop, compare prices of the product and then purchase those products
accordingly. According to a global data it has been reported that more than 30 percent of
clothing shopping is done by customers online (Liu and Deng, 2020). Slowly a greater
number of customers are moving towards online shopping. Internet has provided a platform
to customers and has also increased their convenience in terms of shopping. Dominance of
internet or online shopping had forced Marks and Spencer to enter into online shopping.
M&S did develop their own online shopping platform but it was available for customers at
limited places as delivery was available only at limited places. They do not have an advance
online shopping platform and had a complex webpage or application because of which
customers faced difficulties in shopping online. Increasing use of online platform for
shopping was continuously increasing pressure upon Marks and Spencer for bringing
improvement within their technology and technological platform used by them. Not only this,
slowly online shopping for homeware products was also increasing. Many organizations are
focusing upon introducing homeware producing online for sales for their customers. Due to
this competition for M&S was increasing. It was another main challenge that was impacting
Marks and Spencer. Introduction of virtual reality technology helped Marks and Spencer to
enhance their customers experience and attract a greater number of customers.
 Another challenge faced by Marks and Spencer before introducing Virtual reality technology
within the organization is their current issues of brand itself that can impact their attributes.
Marks and Spencer had been facing a challenge with themselves and as a result their
competitiveness was slowly deteriorating as they were failing to acknowledge and result to
the changing requirements of the business (Lucas and Spencer, 2018). Marks and Spencer
did not acknowledge changes that were required to be brought within the business because of
which they were losing their loyal customers. For example, requirement of adaptation of
advance technology by M&S for enhancement of their customer experience was not
acknowledged by M&S and as a result they struggled in maintaining their customer base and
maintain loyalty within their current loyal customers. Due to this failure of adopting change
in technology within the business they were not able to keep pace with changing fashion
trend as a result they were not able to fulfil needs and requirement of young generation
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customers. This resulted in a permanent tag of old generation brand that sell cloths of older
generation people as per their taste. It was a challenge for Marks and Spencer to overcome
this tag mark of old generation brand. So, in order to ensure that their products and services
are on track and is according to the changing trend and remove the tag mark of old
generation brand was a challenge faced by M&S before introduction of modern technology.
 Lastly Marks and Spencer were also facing issues in terms of business strategies. They never
focused upon including technological advancement within their business strategy.in order to
sustain within the market and maintain competitive advantage it is important for
organizations to move with the market (Lucas and Spencer, 2018). But failing to bring
changes within business strategy and focus upon digital advancement was an important
challenge faced by Marks and Spencer. They were required to lay emphasis upon adopting
different kinds of business strategies and techniques that can be used or adopted by them so
that they can bring required changes within their strategy. Not bringing any kind of changes
within business strategy was making them lose their competitiveness within the market
which was not only increasing or making current competition within market tough for them
but was also resulting them in losing market share. There was serious requirement of
bringing changes within their brand and business strategy by introducing or adopting advance
technology within their business.
These are some of the main challenges that were faced by Marks and Spencer before
introduction of virtual reality headsets modern technology within their business for enhancement
of their customers overall shopping experience. These challenges were increasing market
competition for Marks and Spencer. They were also losing their customer loyalty within their
existing customers. These challenges had impacted overall sales, revenue and profitability of the
organization. In fact, they had also lost approximately 5 percent of their overall market share in
UK. But from an analysis of these challenges it was identified that the major challenge that was
faced by Marks and Spencer was less focus upon introduction of advance and modern
technology within the business (Lucas and Spencer, 2018). By overcoming this challenge most
of their other challenges could also have been resolved. This also explains importance of digital
literacy within the organization and ways in which it can help an organization to resolve most of
the issues and problems faced by them. Introduction of virtual reality within the organization has
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also helped them to attract a greater number of customers and has helped them to again gain
competitive advantage and sustain within the market.
Insights to the modern technology introduced
Different kinds of modern technologies
There are various kinds of modern technologies that are being used or adopted by
organizations. Today due to advancement in technology it has become important for
organizations to adopt these modern technologies within their workplace. This advancement has
also given rise to different kinds of business needs and requirements. Virtual reality and
augmented reality are one of those modern technology which is increasingly used within
organizations (Omoikhudu, 2017). Virtual reality and augmented reality are increasing being
used within retail sector organization which helps the organizations in enhancing experience of
their customers. It helps in providing an experience of try before buy experience to the customers
which further helps in allowing the customers to explore different kinds of products that are
suitable for them and required by them (Poushneh and Vasquez-Parraga, 2017). Another
technology used most commonly within organizations is artificial intelligence. Artificial
intelligence is used within organizations for taking accurate and appropriate marketing decisions
and enhancing their accuracy of predictability. It is also used in retail sector organizations can
take appropriate decisions and expand their business accordingly.
Virtual reality headsets
Virtual reality headsets is a kind of modern technology that helps the customers to engage
with brand in a better manner and gain a better understanding of the product so that they can buy
the product at the same time (Pizzi and et. al., 2019). Adaptation of Virtual reality and
augmented reality modern technology has helped the organization increasing loyalty within their
existing customers, attract more customers, enhance their shopping experience, Adoption of this
technology within business has also helped the organizations to boost their sales, and expand
their business as wells. With the help of these virtual reality headsets marks and Spencer have
created their own ideal living range of homeware range. However, they have introduced this
modern technology in only few stores in UK but it has helped in enhancing their overall sales in
a better manner.
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The impact of the technology introduced
Recently Marks and Spencer have introduced Technology transformation program that will
help the organization in enabling themselves to become digital first business for delivering
improved customer experience in order to expand the business and deliver. They are focusing
upon enhancing their technological capabilities so that they challenge faced by them till now can
be resolved (Yang and Wu, 2020). And for enhancement of technological capabilities they have
introduced Virtual reality headsets technology within their retail stores for their customers so that
their customers can discover new homeware range using Oculus Rift (a virtual reality headset).
This technology has helped them in enhancing their customer base and increase their overall
profit as well. Introduction of virtual reality technology within their business has helped them to
overcome this challenge as they can focus upon enhancing and upgrading their customers
experience. Introduction of Virtual reality headsets has impacted Marks and Spencer in a positive
manner. It has helped them in increasing their overall sales. It has helped M&S to bring
improvement within their customers experience and attract a greater number of customers. Not
only this, adoption of this technology within the organization has also helped then to bring
changes within their brand reputation of older people brand to brand for every age group people
(de Regt and Barnes, 2019). It has further helped them to enhance their overall sales and market
share in UK. Despite of introduction of this technology at limited stores it has been a success for
them and has increased their sales exceptionally. This success has motivated them to focus upon
expanding their technological capabilities for further business expansion.
Lessons that can be drawn from the case study
From the above case study, it has been summarized that Digital literacy skills are
important as it help an individual to develop an understanding of ways in which information is
available through digital media and ways in which it can be used within organizations. In today’s
environment it is important for an individual to learn and develop digital literacy skills as it
further helps them in creation and sharing of their own digital content according to their purpose.
Above case study has helped in understanding that it is important for business organizations to
focus upon adopting new modern technologies within the business in order to gain competitive
advantage and maintain their customer base. Adoption of modern technology like Virtual reality
can help organizations like Marks and Spencer to increase loyalty within customers and enhance
their customer experience. Another lesion drawn from case study was that it is important for
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organization to move along with the market trends and advance technologies introduced within
the market as adoption of these modern technologies within business strategy can not only help
companies to gain competitive advantage but also helps them to increase brand vale, brand
image. Other than this it also helps in increasing value of their products and services as well as
can help in increasing market share of the company.
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REREFENCES
Books and Journals
de Regt, A. and Barnes, S.J., 2019. V-commerce in retail: nature and potential impact.
In Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (pp. 17-25). Springer, Cham.
Liu, X. and Deng, Y., 2020. Learning-based Prediction, Rendering and Association Optimization
for MEC-enabled Wireless Virtual Reality (VR) Network. arXiv preprint
arXiv:2005.08332.
Lucas, B. and Spencer, E., 2018. Developing Tenacity: Teaching learners how to persevere in
the face of difficulty. Crown House Publishing Ltd.
McDougall, J., Readman, M. and Wilkinson, P., 2018. The uses of (digital) literacy. Learning,
Media and Technology. 43(3). pp.263-279.
Omoikhudu, J., 2017. The Impact of Training and Development on Employee Retention in the
Retail Sector, an Examination of the Role of Coaching in a Leading Retailer in Dublin,
Republic of Ireland. A Case Study of Mark and Spencer’s Store Dublin (Doctoral
dissertation, Dublin, National College of Ireland).
Pizzi, G., and et. al., 2019. Virtual reality, real reactions?: Comparing consumers' perceptions
and shopping orientation across physical and virtual-reality retail stores. Computers in
Human Behavior. 96. pp.1-12.
Poushneh, A. and Vasquez-Parraga, A.Z., 2017. Discernible impact of augmented reality on
retail customer's experience, satisfaction and willingness to buy. Journal of Retailing
and Consumer Services. 34. pp.229-234.
Scott, P. and Walker, J.T., 2017. Barriers to ‘industrialisation’for interwar British retailing? The
case of Marks & Spencer Ltd. Business History. 59(2). pp.179-201.
Toms, S. and Zhang, Q., 2016. Marks & Spencer and the decline of the British textile industry,
1950–2000. Business history review. 90(1). pp.3-30.
Wilson, D., 2016. Marks & Spencer: the quest to master the new millennium. The Business &
Management Collection.
Yang, C.J. and Wu, C.F., 2020, July. Study on Learning Effectiveness of Virtual Reality
Technology in Retail Store Design Course. In International Conference on Human-
Computer Interaction (pp. 327-337). Springer, Cham.
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