Impact of Online Presence on Sales and Profitability: A Case Study of Mark and Spencer

This research proposal aims to identify the influence of e-commerce functions of Mark and Spencer on sales and profitability. The study will critically analyze the importance and benefits of e-commerce activities on the business of Mark and Spencer. The research will explore the benefits that Mark and Spencer have gained through online business planning and why it becomes essential for the organization. The online presence and business functions of retail organizations are having a positive impact on sales and profitability. The research will be conducted to evaluate the importance and influence of online tools and services on the profitability and customer retention policies of Mark and Spencer. The analysis of the impact on sales and profitability of Mark and Spencer due to online presence will help to identify the need for online tools and techniques.

RESEARCH
PROPOSAL

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS...........................................................................................................2
Title:...........................................................................................................................................3
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................3
1.1 Introduction......................................................................................................................3
1.2 Academic rationale and objectives...................................................................................3
1.3 Problem statement............................................................................................................4
1.4 Research questions...........................................................................................................4
1.5 Rationale of the research..................................................................................................4
1.6 Hypothesis........................................................................................................................4
2. Literature review....................................................................................................................5
2.1 Online presence of organization.......................................................................................5
2.2 Importance of online sales in business performance........................................................5
2.3 Benefits of online sales on the overall performance of organization...............................6
2.4 Impact of an online presence of organization on its sales and profitability.....................7
2.6 Research gap....................................................................................................................7
3. Research methodology...........................................................................................................8
3.1 Research philosophy........................................................................................................8
3.2 Research approach...........................................................................................................8
3.3 Research type...................................................................................................................8
3.4 Research design................................................................................................................8
3.5 Data collection.................................................................................................................9
3.6 Data analysis....................................................................................................................9
3.7 Ethical consideration........................................................................................................9
4. Timeframe..............................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................11

Title:
Impact of the online presence of the organization on sales and profitability, the case
study of Mark and Spencer
1. Introduction
1.1 Introduction
Online sales and customer relationship approach are having a significant part in
today’s business operations. The organizations are valuing online functions and sales tools
and techniques for increasing the business and profitability by exploring the global market.
The customers are also giving preference to online services for buying and analyzing the
products and services that best suits their needs. The innovation and everyday modification in
the technology are helping to improve the security and facilities in online business planning
and management (Srinivasan, Rutz, and Pauwels, 2016, p. 440-453). The major benefits of
online sales and payment for products and services are involving time and cost saving as well
as the effective analysis of competitor products and prices. Apart from that, online functions
are also valuable in marketing and creating awareness about the goods by using social media
and Smartphone application tools. These kinds of approaches are helping organizations to
increase sales and profitability.
1.2 Academic rationale and objectives
Aim
The aim of the current research is to identify the influence of e-commerce functions of
Mark and Spencer on sales and profitability.
Objectives
 To examine ecommerce functions undertaken by Marks and Spencer
 To critically analyze the importance and benefits of e-commerce activities on the
business of Mark and Spencer.
 To identify the influence of the online sale of organization on the revenue and
profitability

1.3 Problem statement
Online business is becoming very popular all around the globe and having a
significant impact on the sales and profitability of leading and small size organizations. The
Mark and Spencer is one of the leading retail organizations of UK and using the online mode
of business to sustain the place in the market. The e-commerce organization like Amazon is
offering tough competition to the organization for maintaining the business. To sustain the
market position, the Mark and Spencer have decided to invest in the online customer
relationship and product selling system (Cao, and Li, 2015, p. 198-216). The amount was
very high and top management was concern about the return on investment. The research will
explore the benefits that Mark and Spencer have gained through online business planning and
why it becomes essential for the organization. Moreover, the customers are facing some
issues related to payment and gaining information about the products and services that
influencing the buying decisions. Moreover, the research will focus on improvement in the
sales and profitability of the Mark and Spencer through online business.
1.4 Research questions
The research questions to achieve the research aim will be:
1. What are the e-commerce activities has been adopted by Marks and Spencer’s
2. What is the impact of e- commerce activities of the business on organizational
performance?
3. What online activities and promotional measures have been undertaken by M&S?
4. How are the online activities of Mark and Spencer influencing the sales and
profitability?
5. Why online presence has become important for Mark and Spencer to sustain the
business position?
1.5 Rationale of the research
The online presence and business functions of retail organizations are having a
positive impact on sales and profitability. The research will be conducted to evaluate the
importance and influence of online tools and services on the profitability and customer
retention policies of Mark and Spencer (Floyd et al., 2014, p. 217-232). The analysis of the
impact on sales and profitability of Mark and Spencer due to online presence will help to
identify the need for online tools and techniques.

1.6 Hypothesis
The hypothesis for the study is as follows:
H0: There is no influence of the online presence on the overall business functions of Mark
and Spencer
H1: The online presence enhances the sales and profitability of the Mark and Spencer
2. Literature review
2.1 Online presence of organization
As per Scott and Walker (2017, p.179-201), the new digital era, specifically internet
had emerged with a wide range of challenges and opportunities for the business organization
having customers centric approaches. With the increase in opportunities out of the internet,
the organizations have also increasingly inclined toward its platform. The introduction of
internet usage and sources like social media, websites, e-commerce platform, etc. had made
the businesses establish their presence at global platforms. It has become a trend to move
towards the online platform and enhance the probabilities of availing higher profits into the
business. Mark and Spencer is a leading organization in the retail industry of the UK which is
making use of the online mode of business to sustain its position in the market.
The marketing team of the organization conducts various activities to make the online
presence of the brand through social media sources like like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
etc. to promote the business and enhance its sales. It has been found that the large-scale
organizations are inclining towards the development of effective customer relationship so that
to acquire loyal customer segment out of it. Marks and Spencer highly focus upon the
development of their own social network so that to avail enhanced number of customers,
sales, brand recognition, and profitability out of the online sources (Thaichon et al, 2018, p.
1-26). The retail store offers a wide range of products and services over the online platform
which enhances its boundaries to approach the target customers and make profits out of it. It
has been found that the brand had emerged in e-commerce team in partnership with Amazon
to expand its roots over the internet.

2.2 Importance of online sales in business performance
In the opinion of Banerjee, Bhattacharyya, and Bose (2017, p.17-26), the online
presence of the organization plays an important role in enhancing its brand awareness and
positioning in the market. The increasing trend of internet usage had made people prefer
online activities upon physical store to a great extent. Providing the customer with 24/7
assistance, facilities of online transactions, home deliveries, discounts, offers and many more
had made the organization establish themselves at the online platforms. The digital marketing
activities had enabled the businesses to reach the maximum number of targeted customer
segments and convert them into prospective leads for the future. It has been observed that the
online sales had become important for the business performances as it contributes in availing
higher revenues, reduced operational costs, brand developments, provide greater exposure
and real-time results out of the transactions.
The online sales activities highly contribute to the enhancement of the business
performances making the brand more popular and established within the industry
(Ramanathan et al, 2017, p.478-488). People nowadays are more likely to move towards
online shopping as it provides them with wider areas of choices and offers along with higher
customer satisfaction. The organizations with online sales activities are also inclining towards
the development of a strong relationship with the customer through feedbacks and other
reviews which makes them more trustworthy. In addition to this, it has been also seen that
brands with online sales are able to easily approach wider area of customer segment and
extract loyal customers out of the same. Thus, the online brand establishment would highly
contribute in enhancing the sales performances of the business along with its overall
performances in the industry (Ramanathan, Subramanian, and Parrott, 2017, p.105-123).
2.3 Benefits of online sales on the overall performance of organization
Morgan, Tallontire and Foxon, (2017, p.227-238) had discussed in their studies that
online sales had proved to be beneficial to the retail organization in many senses. Selling the
products over online platform had made the businesses move faster towards their goals and
incur low operating costs to enter into the marketplace. It contributes to enhancing the brand
awareness and value among the customers which makes them potential leads for future terms.
People using the internet nowadays tend to research the products first whether they buy
online or in-store which helps in approaching the customer for present or future sales. It has
been identified that the online sales provides with various benefits to the overall performance

of Mark and Spencer in terms of market exposure and reach the global audience effectively.
The enhanced brand value and positioning facilitate the organization with the enhancement in
the overall performance as increased customer satisfaction, sales, brand positioning and
market exposure of the business (Bock, Zawiasinski and Bug, 2017, p.50-62).
It even helps in improving the offering by using the collected data by tracking the
customer purchases and the reviews provided by them. It also benefits in showcasing the
products to the existing and the new customers over the online platform. It has been recorded
that the current global revenue of Mark and Spencer is approximately about 10.7 billion GBP.
In addition to this, online sales had contributed to enhancing the business performance of
Mark and Spencer by making the organization grow with the rapid growth of profitability and
revenue outcomes. The organization had made effective measures to attract customers and
offers a wide range of different varieties of products online (Thaichon et al, 2018, p.1-26).
2.4 Impact of an online presence of organization on its sales and profitability
Digitalization in the marketing and business activities had made the organization
enhances their profitability and sales performances across its market area. The retail
organization had initiated to modernize the business activities with the help of accelerated
change. It had provided the customers with better services who are more increasingly moving
towards online shopping. Thompson and McLarney, (2017, p. 234) had stated that the
organization had made a growth of nearly about 62% in the annual profits across its different
range of products online. The adoption of technological platforms and increase in demands of
home delivery had made the business expand their approaches at wider platforms.
Mark and Spencer offer numerous products and services online with attractive
discounts and offers to attract maximum attention to customer segments. However, the online
presence had made negative and positive impacts on the sales and profitability of the
business. The online presence does not require any additional cost to set up the store or any
physical existence which facilitates the organization with cost efficiencies. The higher
insights of the customers through tracking and analytic systems provide Mark and Spencer
with real feedbacks and review about its products and services and make them develop the
same accordingly. The higher customer delights would directly lead towards the higher sales
and profitability at the online platform (Wang and Goldfarb, 2017, p.706-719). It has
impacted the business of Mark and Spencer majorly in a positive manner making the business
more profitable and efficient in the industry.

2.6 Research gap
There are immense numbers of research being carried out upon the analysis of the e-
commerce functions of the organization on its sales and profitability. But there are no specific
studies which focus upon the business of Mark and Spencer and Australia. The researcher
had bridged the gap by collecting suitable literature and evidence by assessing various
literature found relevant to the topic (Hu, Koh, and Reddy, 2014, p. 42-53). Sufficient efforts
are made by the researcher to meet the objective of the current research and had highly
focused upon the aspects of online presence and its impact over sales and profitability of
Mark and Spencer.
3. Research methodology
3.1 Research philosophy
For managing research, the philosophy provides the ground of handling the various
directions for study. For research majorly three research philosophies considered such as
interpretive, positivism and realism (Mackey, and Gass, 2015, p. 11). I will focus on the
objectives of the research and select the positivism philosophy to analyze the online functions
of Mark and Spencer on its sales and profitability.
3.2 Research approach
For research two types of research approaches can be used such as inductive and
deductive. For the current study, I will consider the deductive approach which will help to
confirm the theory on the basis of data analysis. The consideration of deductive approach will
be helpful for drawing a valid conclusion (Taylor, Bogdan, and DeVault, 2015, p. 21).
3.3 Research type
The selection of the right type of research is important for maintaining the direction of
the study. The selection of the type of research is done on the basis of segmentation, barriers,
and divers of the study. Quantitative, qualitative and mix types are generally used for
conducting the research. For the current study, I will choose the quantitative type for
analyzing the sales of the organization after using the online tools and methods of sales and
customer relation. This type of research method will help to analyze the positive and negative
influence of online presence of the Mark and Spencer on the overall business performance

considering the hypothesis of the study. The statistical data will be helpful for supporting the
qualitative data (Lewis, 2015, p. 473-475).
3.4 Research design
In order to manage the research, exploratory, experimental and descriptive can be
used. I will apply the descriptive design for conducting the study to analyze the sales and
profitability of the Mark and Spencer on the basis of online business. This design of the study
is beneficial for analyzing secondary data for achieving the desired objectives.
3.5 Data collection
The collection of data plays an important role for the research to meet the objectives
and aim. For the collection of data, primary and secondary methods are used. The primary
sources of data collection involve the questionnaire, survey, interview, and observation. The
secondary data collection sources are online articles, books, journals, and websites of the
organizations (Panneerselvam, 2014, p. 17). I will choose the secondary method for
collecting the data. For the collection of data about sales and profitability of Mark and
Spencer related to online sales, I will focus on annual reports of the company, information
available on the website and journals.
3.6 Data analysis
The analysis of collected data is one of the key parts of the research that helps to meet
the objectives and satisfy the hypothesis. For the current research, I will use SPSS tool for
secondary data analysis. According to this method, the numerical data has been imported to
SPSS tool using the excel sheet (Smith, 2015, p. 19). The proper consideration of quantitative
data will improve the validity and reliability of the research outcome and support the
objectives.
3.7 Ethical consideration
I will consider the ethical issues to improve the effectiveness of the study. The
implementation of ethical issues is helpful for keeping the research on the right track. The
major ethical policies that researcher will consider for study involve that no data is taken by
copying from any secondary sources and tried to present the authentic information (Ledford
and Gast, 2018, p. 17). Moreover, the data of the study will not be used for other purpose and
it is free from bias.

4. Timeframe
The research is been estimated to be completed in 8 weeks by the researcher in a
proficient manner. The time frame includes all the activities to be performed from the
initiation to the completion of the research effectively.
Table 1: Timeframe
Activities/
Time
Wee
k 1
Wee
k 2
Wee
k 3
Wee
k 4
Wee
k 5
Wee
k 6
Wee
k 7
Wee
k 8
Wee
k 9
Wee
k 10
Research
proposal and
approval
Information
assessment and
discussion
with
supervisor
Literature
review
Methodology
framework by
meeting with
supervisor
Data collection
Data analysis
and meeting
with the
supervisor
Finding and
discussion

with the
supervisor by
meeting
Conclusion
and
recommendati
on
Submission
through
meeting with
the supervision

References
Books and journals
Banerjee, S., Bhattacharyya, S. and Bose, I., 2017. Whose online reviews to trust?
Understanding reviewer trustworthiness and its impact on business. Decision Support
Systems, 96, pp.17-26.
Bock, T., Zawiasinski, T. and Bug, P., 2017. Indexing Fashion Omnichannel Retailing
Performance. Hochschule Reutlingen.
Cao, L. and Li, L., 2015. The impact of cross-channel integration on retailers’ sales
growth. Journal of Retailing, 91(2), pp.198-216.
Floyd, K., Freling, R., Alhoqail, S., Cho, H.Y. and Freling, T., 2014. How online product
reviews affect retail sales: A meta-analysis. Journal of Retailing, 90(2), pp.217-232.
Hu, N., Koh, N.S. and Reddy, S.K., 2014. Ratings lead you to the product, reviews help you
clinch it? The mediating role of online review sentiments on product sales. Decision support
systems, 57, pp.42-53.
Ledford, J.R. and Gast, D.L., 2018. Single case research methodology: Applications in
special education and behavioral sciences. Routledge.
Lewis, S., 2015. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five
approaches. Health promotion practice, 16(4), pp.473-475.
Mackey, A. and Gass, S.M., 2015. Second language research: Methodology and design.
Routledge.
Morgan, E., Tallontire, A. and Foxon, T.J., 2017. Large UK retailers' initiatives to reduce
consumers' emissions: a systematic assessment. Journal of Cleaner Production, 140, pp.227-
238.
Panneerselvam, R., 2014. Research methodology. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..
Ramanathan, U., Subramanian, N. and Parrott, G., 2017. Role of social media in retail
network operations and marketing to enhance customer satisfaction. International Journal of
Operations & Production Management, 37(1), pp.105-123.
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Ramanathan, U., Subramanian, N., Yu, W. and Vijaygopal, R., 2017. Impact of customer
loyalty and service operations on customer behavior and firm performance: empirical
evidence from the UK retail sector. Production Planning & Control, 28(6-8), pp.478-488.
Scott, P. and Walker, J.T., 2017. Barriers to ‘industrialization for interwar British retailing?
The case of Marks & Spencer Ltd. Business History, 59(2), pp.179-201.
Smith, J.A. ed., 2015. Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods. Sage.
Srinivasan, S., Rutz, O.J. and Pauwels, K., 2016. Paths to and off purchase: quantifying the
impact of traditional marketing and online consumer activity. Journal of the Academy of
Marketing Science, 44(4), pp.440-453.
Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research
methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.
Thaichon, P., Surachartkumtonkun, J., Quach, S., Weaven, S. and Palmatier, R.W., 2018.
Hybrid sales structures in the age of e-commerce. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales
Management, pp.1-26.
Thaichon, P., Surachartkumtonkun, J., Quach, S., Weaven, S. and Palmatier, R.W., 2018.
Hybrid sales structures in the age of e-commerce. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales
Management, pp.1-26.
Thompson, J. and McLarney, C., 2017. What effects will the strategy changes undertaken by
next Plc have on themselves and their competition in the UK Clothing Retail Market?.
Journal of Commerce and Management Thought, 8(2), p.234.
Wang, K. and Goldfarb, A., 2017. Can offline stores drive online sales?. Journal of
Marketing Research, 54(5), pp.706-719.
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