Retail Trends in the UK

This report analyzes the retail industry in the UK, focusing on the latest trends and their impact on companies like Rolex. It discusses the importance of sustainability, the reinvention of retail practices through digitalization, and the concept of 'purpose is the new digital'. The report also includes a SWOT analysis of Rolex and provides recommendations for the company to improve its marketing techniques and establish an online presence.

Inquiry project

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
RETAIL TRENDS..........................................................................................................................1
Industry data..............................................................................................................................1
Retail industry trends................................................................................................................2
ANALYSIS OF ORGANISATION...............................................................................................3
Background of Rolex................................................................................................................3
SWOT analysis..........................................................................................................................3
Performance of organisation against industry trends..........................................................8
RECOMMENDATIONS................................................................................................................8
Recommendations....................................................................................................................8
Action plan..................................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
The process of research or inquiry is the procedure of collecting data about a
specific field (Miguelsanz, Martín and Martínez, 2012). A company is selected operating
in retail industry which is Rolex. Rolex is a watch manufacturer and retail company
based in Geneva, Switzerland. In this report, retail industry data is collected and then
presented in form of a literature review. Then, Rolex organisation will be analysed using
primary data and SWOT analysis. Lastly, various recommendations are provided for
Rolex along with an action plan.
RETAIL TRENDS
Industry data
According to Abdou and et.al., (2012), retail industry is the fastest growing industry
of United Kingdom and is the largest provider of private job employment. This industry is
vital for the entire economy of UK has it has been the highest contributor in the Gross
Domestic product of this industry. In year 2018, retail industry contributed 381 billion
pounds as the GDP of UK. Retail industry refers to the sector which is engaged in
buying pre manufactured products and then sells to its end users. Retail industry
involves selling of products and services such as customer service, loss prevention and
security and online retail. Unlike the historic events, retail industry is no longer
considered as super market chains, the industry of retail deals in retail of entertainment,
food, clothing, accessories, technology, sports and many more.
According to Nickson and et.al., (2012), the scope of retail industry is quite wide as
it is not important to be a large scale organisation for dealing in retail industry. The
organisations which are a part of this industry include high street retail stores,
manufacturing organisation which retail their products, street side vendors and large
chains of retailers. Due to current movements in retail industry of UK, tis industry is
suffering. In 2019, UK has faced its first in the last ten years decline in the sales
revenue. The reason which is observed is BREXIT. BREXIT is the commencement of
British exit from European Union. Due to this movement in UK, retail industry of this
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nation has been highly influenced as now the companies working in this sector has to
pay higher interest rates, labour rates and transportation rates.
Retail industry trends
According to Pantano, (2014), there are three most important trends which retail
industry of United Kingdom is facing which aims to revolutionise this sector. These
trends are sustainability paradigm shift, the re invention of retail and purpose is the new
digital. The first current trend of sustainability is related to the protection of environment
from pollutants. It has been observed that retail industry is the major contributor to the
global carbon emissions due to which Air quality of UK’s environment is continuously
degrading. Not only has the retail industry of United Kingdom but entire retail industry of
world left a strong carbon footprint on the environment. Considering this situation, a
trend has developed of being sustainable so that companies can fulfil their moral duties
and save the environment. There are various practices which are initiated due to this
trend such as discontinuing the use of plastic and selling organic products. Every large
scale retail organisation of United Kingdom is exercising the procedure of sustainability
which they are sustaining their activities.
From the view point of Monios, (2012), the most influential current trend in UK’s
retail industry is re invention the retail practices. According to this trend, customers
expect unique experience every time they go to a retail store and the most essential
way to provide a unique experience is use of digitalisation. Every well established and
large scale organisation dealing in retail industry of UK has huge online presence.
These organisations sell their products using online portal and market their organisation
using online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.
From the perspective of Parry, Bustinza and Vendrell-Herrero, (2012), third most
important current trend in retail industry is “Purpose is the new digital”. Despite of
providing digital and unique experience on online stores only, providing a digital
experience at offline stores is also a current trend in this market which has been
adopted by various organisations of UK’s retail industry. According to this trend, time is
the most valuable asset for human being and in order to save the time of consumers,
retail organisations has implement digital payment options at their stores so that people
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can be befitted with convenience and time management. There are other practices as
well which are initiated by this trend which is digital shopping lists etc.
ANALYSIS OF ORGANISATION
Background of Rolex
Rolex is a watch manufacturer and retailing company which manufactures luxury
and exclusive watches and then retail these watches from their stores. This company
has its headquarters in Switzerland and was established in London, United Kingdom in
1915 by its founders who are Wilsdorf and Davis. The products manufactured by this
company are sold under Rolex and Tudor SA design. This company is considered as
one of the largest retailer of watches due to its expensive and luxurious products
(Rolex, 2020).
SWOT analysis
In order to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of Rolex, primary data analysis
technique is used in which a survey questionnaire and interview is developed.
Questionnaire
A questionnaire with 5 questions is developed which is attached in Appendix, this
questionnaire was surveyed from the employees working at Rolex store in order to inquire about
their organisation’s performance. Results gathered from the survey are provided below which
represented using tables and charts.
Q 1. What is the purpose of your watches?
Frequenc
y
a) Leisure 10
b) Lifestyle 9
c) Checking time 1
3

Interpretation – From the above invesigation, it has been observed that the
primary purpose of Rolex watches is Leisure and Lifestyle due to their exclusitvity and
luxury.
Q 2. What is the most impactful marketing technique of your
company? Frequency
a) Celebrity endorsements 15
b) Sales promotion 3
c) Discounts 2
4

Interpretation – By collecting data from employees of Rolex store, it has been seen
that Rolex company influences their target market from large budget marketing
campaigns which includes celebrity endorsements.
Q 3. Which price range of Rolex watches are most
demanded? Frequency
a) Under $5000 9
b) Under $50000 2
c) Above $50000 9
Interpretation – It has been analysed that the most demanded watches of Rolex is
their watches of price range under $5000 and over $50000. This implies that high and
low range products of this company are more demanded than medium ranged products.
Q 4.Which Rolex watch is most demanded? Frequency
a) Submariner 5
b) Cosmograph Daytona 9
c) President 6
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Interpretation – After surveying the employees of Rolex stores, it has been
observed that the most demanded Watch of this company is Cosmograph Daytona.
Q 5. What is the target market of Rolex? Frequency
a) Net income under $50000 10
b) Net income under $500000 9
c) Above $500000 1
Interpretation – Rolex is a luxury watch brand which manufactures, retails and
service its products for the people who can afford this brand. According to the
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employees of Rolex store, it has been seen that people having a net income Net income
under $500000 is the target market of this company.
Interview
A telephonic interview is conducted from friends and family having 10 respondents. Those
interview questions along with summarised responses are presented below:
Question 1. According to you, does Rolex needs to change their marketing technique?
Ans. From the 10 respondents, a summarised response is gained which states that
Rolex must change their marketing and positioning techniques to acquire a competitive
edge in market.
Question 2. How Rolex is performing in this competitive market?
Ans. According to interviewed people, Rolex needs to review their strategies and plans
as they are not performing well in market. There are various competitors of Rolex which
are innovating their products to provide a unique experience of their customers but
Rolex is still following their traditional practices to attract customers.
Question 3. What are your recommendations for Rolex?
Ans. According all interviewed people few recommendations are gained for Rolex which
are that the company needs to digitalise their services and establish a fully operating
digital store. This company should innovate their products and adapt modern positioning
and marketing techniques.
From the above conducted survey and interview, various strengths and
weaknesses of Rolex are analysed.
Strengths Weaknesses
This company has clear goal and target
market.
The marketing techniques of this company
are obsolete.
Rolex earns high profit and they have
large revenue.
Their profits and revenues are growing
with a declining trend.
This company has high brand equity and
image.
This company does not have suitable
online presence.
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Performance of organisation against industry trends
Rolex is lacking behind due to their traditional practices. The most influential current
trend in retail industry is to digitalise the practices but Rolex does not even have a
online store where people can buy their products. As far as sustainability is concerned,
Rolex is concerned with their moral values and exercise their functions in such a way
that they can minimise their carbon footprint on environment (Ohgaki and Kleihues,
2013).
RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendations
Managers of Rolex Company are recommended to use digitalisation modes for the
purpose of establishing online presence so that wide population are attracted towards
the company. This can be done by using various online platforms that are Instagram,
Facebook and many more. Moreover, the managers can put suitable content about its
products and services along with upload attractive pictures that will help grabbing
attention of large population across globe. With this, the entity will be able to provide
unique experiences through surfing organisational website and this will result in building
online presence in digital world.
The next recommendation to marketing department of Rolex is to put more
emphasis towards improving marketing techniques. Addition to this, the company
should use updated marketing techniques and eliminate usage of obsolete marketing
techniques. For example, the company is using manual payments mechanisms and
telephonic orders from customers presently which are obsolete in nature. But it is
recommended to the entity delivery applications, digital payment options and other
techniques. Along with these, the company is also suggested to use relationship
marketing, internet marketing, transactional marketing and many other marketing
techniques for increasing awareness about its offerings among wide population across
globe. By adopting updated and innovative marketing technique, marketers of Rolex will
be able to understand choices, preferences and perceptions of audiences about its
products which will help in making necessary changes and achieving success.
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Action plan
Action plan is characterised as detailed plan which outlines actions that are
necessary for reaching towards objectives. It involves sequence of steps that are taken
into consideration while implementing practices for attaining particular goals. Following
is the action plan for Rolex Company to work towards achieving objectives:
Objective Resources
required
How to achieve
objectives
Benefits Time
Bound
To build
online
presence
For the purpose
of building online
presence, Rolex
company
requires
competent
Information
Technology
personal, access
to online platform
and time.
In order to build
online presence,
Rolex managers
will set objectives,
obtain Search
Engine
Optimisation,
create a website,
Start blogging,
build an email list,
always remain
active on social
media, manage
reputation as well
make better
decision.
With this, Rolex
will be benefitted
in making
relations with
wide numbers,
helping customers
in finding the
business,
reaching more
population,
increasing
credibility and
managing
reputation.
To achieve
the
objective,
required
time period
is of 2
months
To adopt
effective
marketing
techniques
For the purpose
of adopting
updated
marketing
technique,
required
resources involve
To achieve the
objective, Rolex
marketing team
has to push the
market despite of
chasing data,
considering
By adopting
effective
marketing
technique, Rolex
will be benefitted
in saving time,
making spending
Within 4
months,
the
company
will be able
to work
with
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monetary
resources,
expertise of
people, huge
time and
organisational
capacity.
everything to time,
dreaming big and
executing small,
concentrating
efforts towards
defining target
market,
recognising
benefits that are
satisfied by
products, defining
marketing
techniques,
implementing them
and evaluation of
all.
on advertisement
and promotion in
effective manner,
enhancing
scalability,
strengthening
sales addition to
marketing
partnerships and
measuring
concrete success.
effective
marketing
techniques.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that the main aim of this project
was to analyse the retail industry and its current trends and it has been fulfilled using
primary and secondary research.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Abdou, H.A. and et.al, 2012. Determinants of capital structure in the UK retail industry:
A comparison of multiple regression and generalized regression neural network.
Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management. 19(3). pp.151-169.
Nickson, D. and et.al., 2012. Soft skills and employability: Evidence from UK retail.
Economic and Industrial Democracy, 33(1), pp.65-84.
Pantano, E., 2014. Innovation drivers in retail industry. International Journal of
Information Management. 34(3). pp.344-350.
Monios, J., 2012, June. Retail logistics in the UK. In International Conference on
Logistics & Sustainable Transport, Celje, Slovenia.
Parry, G., Bustinza, O.F. and Vendrell-Herrero, F., 2012. Servitisation and value co-
production in the UK music industry: an empirical study of consumer attitudes.
International Journal of Production Economics, 135(1), pp.320-332.
de Miguelsanz, M.M., Martín, M.A.C. and Martínez, M.M.P., 2012. Assertive skills and
academic performance in primary and secondary education, giftedness, and
conflictive students. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology.
10(1). pp.213-232.
Ohgaki, H. and Kleihues, P., 2013. The definition of primary and secondary
glioblastoma. Clinical cancer research. 19(4). pp.764-772.
Online
Rolex. 2020. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.rolex.com/>
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APPENDIX
Primary research Questionnaire
Q 1. What is the purpose of your watches?
a) Leisure
b) Lifestyle
c) Checking time
Q 2. What is the most impactful marketing technique of your company?
a) Celebrity endorsements
b) Sales promotion
c) Discounts
Q 3. Which price range of Rolex watches are most demanded?
a) Under $5000
b) Under $50000
c) Above $50000
Q 4.Which Rolex watch is most demanded?
a) Submariner
b) Cosmograph Daytona
c) President
Q 5. What is the target market of Rolex?
a) Net income under $50000
b) Net income under $500000
c) Above $500000
Interview questions
Question 1. According to you, does Rolex needs to change their marketing technique?
Question 2. How Rolex is performing in this competitive market?
Question 3. What are your recommendations for Rolex?
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