Trends in Retail Industry: Analysis of Wilko Retail Ltd

This report analyzes the trends in the retail industry and provides an analysis of Wilko Retail Ltd. It also offers recommendations for adapting to the changing practices and aligning with the trends.

Inquiry Project

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
The trends in retail industry........................................................................................................1
Analysis of Wilko Retail Ltd......................................................................................................2
Recommendations.......................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Retail industry is undertaken as the market area in which business owners and
organisations take their decisions in terms of purchasing and selling various products and
services in terms of reaching towards the customers. In other words, retail sector tends to bridge
gap among the suppliers and buyers and their objective is to hold their operations within the
retail sector and also keep customers satisfied regarding their needs and preferences (Seyfang
and Gilbert-Squires, 2019). This report is based on Wilko Ltd. Which is a British high street
chain and founded by James Kemsey Wilkinson in 1930 and headquartered in England, UK.
Company deals in groceries, basic products, toiletries and so on. The report tends to conduct the
detail secondary research for collecting knowledge regarding the trends for retail sector and also
examine the organisational external environment. Lastly, when effective analysis is done then
suitable recommendations is provided for changing the further practices and aligning with the
trends.
MAIN BODY
The trends in retail industry
The economy at the global level is suffering because of current pandemic and occurred
unhealthy situation which slowly harm the whole economy and affect it inevitably. For this,
world is entering into an unpredictable situation of recession that has long term impact and
negatively influence various industries across the world. Due to this disease named COVID-19,
UK is majorly impacted and the whole country and world in under the situation of Lockdown.
For this, people have strict instructions to stay at their homes, industries and manufacturing get
stop and also not allowed to leave their places in terms of being safe.
Hence, these measures are taken for the safety and security of people and well being of
population but due to this, the whole economy and industries gets negatively influenced
(Hemphill and Longstreet, 2016). For this, the trends in retail industry in which Wilko operates
gets changes undertaking the norms and standards as fluctuations takes place within the society
by bringing uncertain changes that tends to impact the retail sector. As some of these trends in
which industry gets flourish are going to run in next few years which are as follows: Brands and products: Undertaking the recent years, customers face major issues in terms
of the availability of products. By undertaking the current situation the degree of
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popularisation of products gets influenced in terms of the choice of purchasing products
for the particular brand. Hence, the current trends depicts the increment in the trading in
which people only support the branded and expensive products. Furthermore, fluctuations
among the trading tends to result for moving towards the cheap products. In terms of
trading off, customers are more prominently purchase cheap products at one time and
other goes towards the expensive goods for the particular brand (Lee, 2018). Localism and community: Lockdown and threat among people in terms of getting
infected by COVID-19 tends to make people not to use and less usage of public transport.
It tends to result in that people are being engaged within the local environment in terms
of making purchase from the close areas and local retailers. For this, not in the UK but
also in other places of the world including, Brazil, Italy and so on that tend to
prominently support strong community (Deshmukh and Mohan, 2017). Furthermore,
people who come together in terms of fighting in sever situation in terms of supporting
for purchasing of products from the local retailers in terms of enhancing the power of
prominent communities to face the consequences that increase because of COVID-19.
 Shopping confidently: People are quite scared in terms of making them more aware
regarding their purchasing decision and tends to set effective pattern. Every customer
make their own choice in front of retailers to purchase products undertaking the safety
and protection components regarding the security and significant actions that are
performed by the retailers considering the security that make them purchase their
products (Diallo and Lambey-Checchin, 2017). For this, the purchasing decision making
procedure of retailers tends to evolve and shop confidently in terms of shopping in an
effective manner and keep them much secured.
Analysis of Wilko Retail Ltd.
Wilko is the well known and famous supermarket store that tends to offer various
products and services to consumers by their supermarket, convenience shops and other
superstores. Wilko is the popular supermarket store and also have effective revenues in terms of
dealing in food and non-food items. For this, store is exposed to the several global economies
and has prominent operations around the world undertaking the global pandemic. It represent
that COVID-19 has major impact on various brands undertaking the economies of world which
is impacted in terms of moving towards the global unpredictable recession.
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PESTLE Analysis:
PESTLE Description
Political/Legal Wilko tends to follow various norms and standards and also
comply with them to make sure the security and safety of products
and services. It is required in terms of keeping a tap on the
changing political conditions towards various regions. Along with
this, COVID-19 has major impact considering the changes in the
dynamics as the lot of economy is stable at the present time within
the world that cause major fluctuations and drastic changes within
the political situations that majorly influence the safety and
security measures which is quite compulsory for company in terms
of following and also track to know the prominent changes that
occur in environment (Kotni and Karumuri, 2018).
Economical Wilko tends to offer wide variety of products and services
undertaking the economic factors as it plays an important role in
terms of making their sales and influencing the overall
consumption of these products and services. In terms of this,
taxation policies, exports and imports are quite differ as in
COVID-19 period of the company is not stable (Ko, Phau and
Aiello, 2016). In this, people tends to lose their job and it impacts
their financial condition as it directly impact the retail sector
undertaking the income flow that gets stop and also tends to
eliminate the causes to purchase products in terms of fulfilling the
primary needs which put negative impact on the running and
functioning of Wilko.
Social Social dimensions are also important like the needs and
requirements of people got change and because of the global
pandemic people got scared in terms of purchasing and dealing
with others regarding any requirement. Hence, it tends to bring
major changes within the purchasing behaviour and social trends.
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For this, the most influential factor over the purchase that made
over the safety of consumers. Customers tends to choose the local
retailers and also avoid public transport for travelling in terms of
moving from one place to another (Banerjee and Mishra, 2017).
Wilko have prominent place in terms of measuring and also follow
the guidelines of government to make sure that people does not
faith and also keep people attracted towards the brand and make
sure their safety.
Technological Technology plays an important role within the retail sector in
these conditions of spread of the concerning disease. For this,
smart retail trend leads to flourish and concerning the current
situation which is the best solution to the problems regarding
human contact. For this, people have prominent access to all the
needed resources on their phones with the hep of just just one
click (Hagberg, Sundström and Nicklas, 2016). Wilko is the
company which promote techno-friendly environment and also
offer products through online that make them potential in terms of
maintaining their aggressiveness and also remain stable to their
position in market.
Environmental These factors at the time of post COVID-19 which is the lastly
impact Wilko but with the prominent enhancement in carbon
emission within the air and excessive with the use of natural
resources that tends to impact the whole environment. Wilko is the
company in which working eliminate its carbon footprints and also
tends to change their operations into the environment friendly and
also tends to eliminate negative impact of their operations from
the world.
Porter's Five Forces Analysis:
Five Forces Description
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Threat of new entrants In retail industry, threat of new entrant is quite low as the
existing businesses tends to face various problems regarding
their survival in market as new entrants cannot face the
challenges that goes on in market and industry as well.
Bargaining power of
customers
The negotiation power of customers is quite low and for this,
they need proper efforts in order to fulfil the requirements of
people and they also can pay required prices for proper
satisfaction (Lorino, Mourey and Schmidt, 2017). The reason
is effective demand and supply graph which is unbalanced.
Bargaining power of suppliers The bargaining power of suppliers is moderate as Wilko run its
own store but due to the pandemic, the factories are closed
because of Lockdown and organisation have to depend on the
external suppliers for retailing activities.
Threat of substitute It is low due to the economy which is not stable and the
barriers for the entry is quite wide which not so easy to
manage considering the current situation (Hemphill and
Longstreet, 2016).
Existing rivalry Wilko is the leading brand but the market area is quite
saturated and there is competitive competition takes place in
market. For this, various brands like Walmart, Tesco,
Sainsbury's and so on compete with Wilko undertaking various
aspects.
Recommendations
By undertaking the above discussion, it is identified that Wilko has strong brand image
across the world undertaking its potential products and profile of company. It is analysed that
company suffers because of unpredictable and complex situation that occur because of COVID-
19 and pandemic. In the above part, secondary research in conducted in which trends are
identified and profile of company is examined in terms of gaining knowledge which is more
influential but face deprive consequences (Lee, 2018). For this, few recommendations are given
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that are helpful for company in terms of dealing with current and future challenges and also helps
in for the long term survival. Compliance with government rules and regulations: The political environment is quite
strict and complex of UK as for this, people always try to overcome from these issues
that are also related with Brexit. The current pandemic is not just undertake the
operations of UK but it also tends to impact the operational units. Wilko need proper
suggests and also tends to follow considering guidelines and safety regulations of
prominent areas. Hence, it is helpful for company in terms of earning more trust and faith
and also keep employees more safe from legal penalties.
 Effective use of digital tools and technology: Smart retail is the trend that tends to
flourish from various years and is also very effective. Moreover, undertaking current
situation of pandemic it tends to focus on the digital tools and technology for making
sales effective and earn more revenues (Deshmukh and Mohan, 2017). Presently,
company should be more effective and productive in terms of offering online services
and its operations. In present times, people tends to ignore the current options of going
out from their place and shop. For this, safety and health is major concern and due to this,
online shopping is required and effective in terms of keeping people safe at their own
place.
CONCLUSION
By considering the above discussion it is identified that the retail industry trends are
useful for company in terms of earning more and more profit and helpful in surviving in external
environment. For this, retailers need to be aware about the external market because economy is
not stable and also beneficial for the business. Hence, in considering the current situation,
company also tends to make themselves more adaptable towards the changes and effective
development that takes place in industry regarding the proper functioning and working as per the
needs and requirements of customers. In terms of this, trends tare identified by showing the
proper fluctuations as per the needs and preferences of customers in terms of changing the
purchasing behaviour. Furthermore, PESTLE and Porter's fiver forces are used in terms of
identifying various practices of company and also tends to deal with prominent changes. Lastly,
few suggestions are given like prominent use of technology and so on.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Banerjee, M. and Mishra, M., 2017. Retail supply chain management practices in India: A
business intelligence perspective. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. 34.
pp.248-259.
Deshmukh, A.K. and Mohan, A., 2017. Analysis of Indian retail demand chain using total
interpretive modeling. Journal of Modelling in Management.
Diallo, M.F. and Lambey-Checchin, C., 2017. Consumers’ perceptions of retail business ethics
and loyalty to the retailer: The moderating role of social discount practices. Journal of
business ethics. 141(3). pp.435-449.
Hagberg, J., Sundström, M. and Nicklas, E.Z., 2016. The digitalization of retailing: an
exploratory framework. International Journal of Retail & Distribution
Management. 44(7). pp.694-712.
Hemphill, T.A. and Longstreet, P., 2016. Financial data breaches in the US retail economy:
Restoring confidence in information technology security standards. Technology in
Society. 44. pp.30-38.
Ko, E., Phau, I. and Aiello, G., 2016. Luxury brand strategies and customer experiences:
Contributions to theory and practice. Journal of Business Research. 69(12). pp.5749-
5752.
Kotni, V.D.P. and Karumuri, V., 2018. Application of Herzberg two-factor theory model for
motivating retail salesforce. IUP Journal of Organizational Behavior. 17(1). pp.24-42.
Lee, K.C., 2018. Grocery shopping, food waste, and the retail landscape of cities: The case of
Seoul. Journal of Cleaner Production. 172. pp.325-334.
Lorino, P., Mourey, D. and Schmidt, G., 2017. Goffman's theory of frames and situated
meaning-making in performance reviews. The case of a category management approach
in the French retail sector. Accounting, Organizations and Society. 58. pp.32-49.
Seyfang, G. and Gilbert-Squires, A., 2019. Move your money? Sustainability transitions in
regimes and practices in the UK retail banking sector. Ecological Economics. 156.
pp.224-235.
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