Sales Decline and Impact on Retail Industry due to Covid-19: A Study on Marks and Spencer

This study aims to evaluate the challenge of sales decline and its impact on the retail industry, specifically focusing on Marks and Spencer. It explores the reasons for the decline in sales, the impact on the company, and provides strategies and recommendations to overcome the challenge.

Professional development and
practice
Management Report

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Background..................................................................................................................................3
Aim and objectives......................................................................................................................4
Research questions.......................................................................................................................4
Rationale......................................................................................................................................4
Significance.................................................................................................................................5
Research methodology.....................................................................................................................6
Research type...............................................................................................................................6
Research design...........................................................................................................................6
Research approach.......................................................................................................................6
Research philosophy....................................................................................................................7
Data collection:............................................................................................................................7
Sampling......................................................................................................................................7
Data analysis................................................................................................................................8
Ethical considerations..................................................................................................................8
Reliability and validity................................................................................................................8
Limitations of the study...............................................................................................................9
Data Analysis...................................................................................................................................9
Primary research: Questionnaire method.....................................................................................9
Secondary research....................................................................................................................17
Findings and discussion.................................................................................................................17
Conclusion and recommendations.................................................................................................19
References......................................................................................................................................21

Topic: To study the challenge of sales decline and its impact on retail industry due to Covid-
19 pandemic: A study on Marks and Spencer
Introduction
Background
In present times, the entire retail sector is going through a major disruption in terms of
sales decline and lack of customers. The various areas that have been affected are poor logistics
and transportation facilities, sudden need for adoption of technology, inefficiencies in supply
chain and lack of customers due to lockdown. The decline in sales has led to heavy losses for
clothing and food-based retailer like Marks and Spencer which is facing huge losses and had to
terminated m huge section of its employees to optimize their costs and finances. Marks &
Spencer has is a major British multinational company that deals primarily in clothing and
apparels section, home based products of own label and also food products. The company is
headquartered in London and was established in 1884 in Leeds, UK. There are more than 1400
stores operating worldwide and the company is considered a top performing company with high
brand equity (Mitchell and et.al., 2020).
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit Marks & Spencer hugely and affected majority of its
business functions and presenting it with challenges such as management of the demand
functions and falling demand to visit bricks and mortar stores of the company, negative cash
flow and financial instability, supply chain and logistics inefficiencies, trading issues and heavy
reliance on single manufacturing facilities, source to consumer traceability in supply chains. The
company has to improve in various areas as the new normal post lockdown would be completely
different in context of reorganisation, focussing on online stores, social distancing within stores,
recruitment of skilled candidates, adoption of different safety measures, security, risk
management, technology improvements, inventory management and distribution in order to
survive and regain the market share and improve the sales performance (MIRCHEVA, 2020).
There is a high need for the company to incorporate new technology systems, remotely engaging
the employees and provision of effective training to become adaptable to the new normal and
provide customer service accordingly and preparing the entire organisation and frontline workers
to deal with the challenges and making the physical stores successful to recover the major losses
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faced by the company. In order to increase the sales and attracting customers, the company has to
create new shopping experiences for its customers and expand its online markets (Kaine, Payne
and Coneybeer, 2020).
Aim and objectives
Aim: To evaluate the sales decline challenge and its impact faced by Marks and spencer due to
Covid-19 Pandemic
Objectives:
 To study the concept of sales performance as a business organisation challenge in retail
industry.
 To determine the reasons for the decline in sales in respect to covid-19 pandemic.
 To understand and evaluate the impact of sales decline on Marks and spencer.
 To devise strategies and recommendations for marks and spencer in dealing with the
challenge
Research questions
 What is the concept of sales decline as a business challenges that retail industry is
currently facing?
 What are the reasons responsible for decline in sales in Marks and Spencer in context to
covid-19 pandemic?
 What is the impact of sales decline on the finances, employees, operations and
management in Marks and Spencer?
 Propose recommendations on how Marks and spencer can deal with the challenges
presented by Covid-19 pandemic?
Rationale
The major reason for the selection of this topic is that the retail sector is facing difficult
business situations due to COVID-19 pandemic and Marks & Spencer being a fashion and
clothing company is individual challenges in context to decline in sales due to its pre-existing
trading problems. The COVID-19 pandemic has proved that it is essential to adapt in the
V.U.C.A (vulnerable, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world for surviving in the business
industry and the importance of receptiveness to change. There are various problems that the
4

company might encounter post lockdown and is necessary to value the challenges to come up
with relevant solutions to counter them. These may include dealing with maximum capacity in
the bricks and mortar stores once they are open, fitting room issues, disinfection of the clothes,
queue management and payment methods and changes in employee training. To deal with the
clothing industry challenges and successfully making strategic plan to adapt with the new normal
and has been a major motivation of the study (SZYDLOWSKA, 2020). The new normal will
also come up with issues in managing the cash flows of the company and adaptation of
capabilities in the entire retail sector. It is essential that Marks & Spencer survives through the
pandemic by adoption of relevant changes, improve their ability to meet contingency challenges
and demonstrate a strong and more competitive approach to increase the declining sales. The
company has to focus upon cultural changes and shifting to new paradigms for responding
efficiently to the new needs and requirements of the customers, their habits and even experiment
new and innovative solutions after considering the experiences learned in the pandemic
(Sokolova and Li, 2020).
Significance
This research report will prove highly significant for all the stakeholders of Marks &
Spencer and other companies working in the retail industry such as employees, top management,
finance, marketing and HR departments, investors, suppliers and vendors, and operations team
that are facing financial and sales challenges to understand the depth of the issue and the major
reasons for the sales decline. It will prove significant to all the government institution, business
organisations and scholars who are researching about the challenges in retail industry due to the
pandemic and help in the closure of the literature gaps.
5

Research methodology
Research type
Research types can be broadly categorised into two methods, that are qualitative and
quantitative researches. Qualitative research is concerned with the discovery of human behaviour
understanding that is done from the perspective of the informant and assumes a dynamic and
negotiated reality. On the other hand, a quantitative research is aimed at finding out the facts
regarding any social phenomenon and there is an assumption of a fixed yet measurable reality.
This research will undertake qualitative research method to gather deeper insights into meanings,
issues, concepts and themes as per the data collected and analyse it on the basis of a grounded
theory involving naturalistic approach to the subject matter (Durdella, 2017).
Research design
There are various kinds of research designs such as descriptive, exploratory, correlation,
experimental and the basic purpose of selection is because it is the overall strategy that is chosen
for integration of different components of the research in coherent manner. The research design
will also help in setting up the cause and effect linkage among different variables.
The research design undertaken in this research will be descriptive which will explain the
population, challenges, issues, problems, situations and phenomenon of the subject matter in a
systematic and accurate manner. This is highly suitable for application on a broad variety of
research methods, especially with qualitative method for investigation of one or more variables.
Research approach
There are two approaches in context to research two approaches can be adopted by the
scholar, inductive or deductive. The inductive approach follows the order of gathering the data,
analysis s after looking at the patterns and developing the theory with a general level of focus.
Deductive approach adopts the above steps in a reverse order, and begins with hypothesising on
a general level of focus, analysing the data and concluding if the hypothesis is supported or not.
This research will adopt the inductive style of research as the research will use data collection to
gather relevant data and observe the data and analyse it from specific experiences and general set
of propositions and interpret meanings (Zalaghi and Khazaei, 2016).
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Research philosophy
The research philosophy can be elaborated as the views and beliefs in which manner the
data collected about any phenomenon has to be gathered, analysed and utilised. There are
different belief systems in context to positivism, pragmatism, realism and interpretivism. The
philosophy that has been adopted in this research is interpretivism. He interpretivist’s philosophy
is based on the ideology that the scholar undertakes evaluations and analysis and particular role
of the scholar in the observation of the problems, responses and deeper meanings and theories
(Ryan, 2018).
Data collection:
The data collection refers to the process of gathering the relevant information in context
to subject matter and its analysis from two major sources that are primary and secondary data.
The primary sources include data that are collected on a first-hand basis through interviews,
questionnaire distribution, observations, surveys and focus groups. This source needs more
involvement of the scholar, higher resources and time although allows a targeted and specific
collected material. The secondary data is the second-hand data that can be collected from various
third-party sources and are deemed to be directly applicable to the existing subject and
evaluation questions (Corti, 2018). This research will use both primary and secondary sources
for substantiating the subject highly accurately. The primary sources of collection will be
questionnaire method using which relevant questions will be framed for a selected population
and they will respond to it through emails. The secondary data used for understanding the
challenges in Marks & Spencer will be use of various journal articles, internet articles and
editorials, books, business reports, government data and statistics.
Sampling
Sampling is the method used to conduct the statistical analysis where a predetermined
number of respondents or a population is selected from a larger subset of a population to conduct
primary researches for gathering relevant data to solve the research question. There are two types
of sampling techniques, probability and non-probability. This research study will adopt the
purposive sampling or judgemental techniques, which is a type of non-probability sampling and
a specific population is selected as per the requirement of the scholar to gather data (Etikan and
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Bala, 2017). The sample population undertaken in the research will be senior managerial level
employees at Marks & Spencer. The sample size will be 30 top management employees
designated in different departments from various branches of Marks & Spencer in the UK.
Data analysis
Data analysis is the process of application of different statistical tools and even logic-
based techniques for description and illustration, condensing and recapping and evaluation of
data gathered through questionnaire method using purposive sampling. The method of thematic
analysis will be adopted in this research, and themes will be created out of all questions asked
through questionnaires and the relevant responses will be represented through graphical
illustration to analyse them using qualitative method and interpreting findings to come to
relevant conclusions.
Ethical considerations
In the conduction of this research, the scholar has adopted all ethical methods in the
entire duration, from data collection, questionnaire distribution to data analysis. An ethical
condition and informed consent form were also given along the questionnaire to the participants
acting that their anonymity, privacy and confidentiality will be protected. There was no use of
coercion, hindrances, offences, use of deception for the collection of any responses. Along with
this, the respondents addressed their objectivity and honest perceptions regarding responding.
There was no conflict of interest in any area with any individual, group or institution in the entire
research (Smith and et.al., 2020).
Reliability and validity
Reliability refers to the consistency in the measurement of the data concluded and
gathered and which upon further analysis would cater similar outcomes. Validity on the other
hand represents the accuracy of the measure. Both these aspects have been adopted in gathered
and measuring the collected data. All the questions were formed to be less subjective and more
object in order to gain effective results without any bias or assumptions. Only authentic sources
of publication were used which were highly relevant to the subject matter and substantiated the
data analysis.
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Limitations of the study
In terms of resources like time and budget, there were constraints and it resulted in a
more quickly performed research on a short scale. There is also a lack of research on the topic
and limited information could be availed from internet sources and other secondary sources. The
sample size considered was also small sized to constraints of time and budget for a full fletched
research and the respondents might have certain hindrances and personal issues. Inspite of these
limitations, the scholar has addressed to the subject matter most appropriately and utilised all the
resources optimally for getting the best results in this limited extent (Ahmi and Mohamad, 2018).
Data Analysis
Primary research: Questionnaire method
Theme 1: Majority opted for all of the above challenges due to pandemic
What are the present challenges that the company is facing due to
the pandemic?
Respondents
Business continuity 1
Supply and demand 0
Employee downsizing 1
Sales decline 1
All of the above 27
Total 30
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Interpretation:
From the above collected data it can be interpreted that majority of the top management
employees working in different branches of Marks & Spencer, that is 90% of them have stated
that all of the above options in terms of challenges are being faced by Marks & Spencer in the
times of the pandemic which consists of challenges pertaining to continuity of the business,
supply and demand, firing of employees and a huge decline in sales. All these challenges have
highly impacted the performance of the company.
Theme 2: Majority stated that lower sales is the challenge that impacted the company the
most because of the Covid-19 pandemic
Which among these is the most impactful challenge faced by your
organisation due to Covid-19?
Respondents
Supply chain and logistics 4
Decrease in customers 6
Lack of finance 3
Cash flow issues 2
Lower sales 15
Total 30
Interpretation:
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It can be observed from the above pictorial illustration that the majority of the
respondents that is 50% of them have opted for lower sales as the most impactful challenge or
issue that Marks & Spencer has been facing as a consequence of the economic conditions due to
Covid-19 pandemic. About 20% of the respondents have stated that a decrease in the number of
customers has been challenging while 13% stated that supply chain and logistics disruption
impacted the company the most.
Theme 3: Majority of the respondents have chosen all of the above as the major concerns
for the company in continuation of the crises.
What are the major concerns if the crisis continues? Respondents
Decrease in the number of customers 1
Shortage of supplies/ Supply chain issues 1
Shift of trends towards luxury clothing 5
All of the above 23
Total 30
Interpretation:
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As per the collected data from the questionnaire, it can be seen that 77% of the top
management employees agree that all of the mentioned concerns can significantly impact the
company. These include a reduced number of customers, shortage of supplies or issues with
logistics, and a growing shift of the trend of luxury clothing due to the changes brought by the
lockdown and pandemic. It can also be noted that about 17% of the respondents have said that
the major concern is only the change in consumer behaviour in case the crisis continues.
Theme 4: Majority have opted for all of the above reasons that led to a loss of sale
What are the major reasons for the loss in sale? Respondents
Lockdown due to pandemic 1
Closure of the bricks and mortar stores 1
Economic conditions and purchasing power of customers 1
Shift in the demand for luxury clothing 1
All of the above 26
Total 30
Interpretation:
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It can be concluded from the above pictorial representation that majority of the
employees, which constitute of up to 87% of the total respondents have opted for all of the above
in the multiple-choice question which stated the reasons for the decline in sales and heavy losses
due to the closure of the physical store and selling place by more than half across the UK, the
economic conditions which have led to a reduction in the purchasing power of consumers and
also a visible sift from demanding certain luxury and fashion items to more home based
comfortable clothing due to the lockdown. Apart from this only a small portion of respondents
have selected other options individually being the reason for this sales decline (Horgan, 2020).
Theme 5: Majority have stated that the loss ranged from 80-90 million pounds
What is the range of total loss faced by the company in the first six
months of the lockdown?
Respondents
50-60 million pounds 0
60-70 million pounds 1
70-80 million pounds 1
80-90 million pounds 28
Above 90 million pounds 0
Total 30
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Interpretation:
It can be interpreted from the above pictorial representation that an evaluation of the total
loss that company faced due to the pandemic was estimated in different ranges as per the
managers of the various branches and almost all or 93% of the respondents agreed that the loss
ranged between 80 to 90 million British pounds. Only 7% or 2 of the respondents stated a
different range in terms of revenue loss. Therefore, it can be concluded that Marks & Spencer
has been facing a major loss in the first six months since lockdown due to various reasons of
shutting down of the stores, lower customer numbers, less demand for clothing goods etc (Chetty
and et.al., 2020).
Theme 6: Majority have stated that the operating profit declined by 10-20%.
By what percentage has the international operating profit of the
company declined due to the loss of sales?
Respondents
0-10% 1
10-20% 28
20-30% 1
30-40% 0
Above 40% 0
Total 30
Interpretation:
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It can be interpreted from the above graphical representation that 93% of the total
respondents have clarified in the questionnaire that that total decrease in the operating profit of
Marks & Spencer in global context has been in the range from 10 to 20% due to the affect of the
Covid-19 pandemic which led to economic and consumer behaviour disruption. Operating profit
can be interpreted as the profitability of Marks & Spencer before consideration of taxes and
interest and is calculated by deducting the operating expenses from the gross profit. The
operating profit remains to be a primary number that the managers need to consider as it directly
reflects on the total revenue and such expenses that can be mitigated (Lea, 2020).
Theme 7:
Is the company investing and operating efficiently in the online
market to keep up with the situation?
Respondents
Yes 21
No 9
Total 30
Interpretation:
It can be interpreted from the above pictorial illustration that a majority of the top
management employees of various branches of Marks & Spencer have agreed to the statements
that the company has adopted online selling and is investing appropriately for its operations in
order to keep up with the pandemic situation and losses due to closing down of the shops. On the
15

other hand, about 30% of the managers do not agree with this and therefore want company to
perform more efficiently in its online markets (Chetty and et.al., 2020).
Theme 8:
Is the company making strategies to deal with the situation, if yes,
rate the strength of the measures on a scale from 1 to 5?
Respondents
Level 1 6
Level 2 2
Level 3 20
Level 4 1
Level 5 1
Total 30
Interpretation:
It can be observed from the above graphical illustration that the majority of the
respondents have marked a rating level of 3 on the Likert scale which states regarding the
devising of strategies by Marks & Spencer and the intensity of the measures adopted by the
company to counter the covid-19 situation. About 20% of the respondents have market the scale
at level 1 while 7% have marked it at level 2. Only a few have marked it at level 4 and 5. This
data interpretation sates that Marks & Spencer needs to devise better strategies, policies, action
plan and measures to deal with the sales decline and other effects of the pandemic (Bhattacharjee
and Lisauskaite, 2020).
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Secondary research
As per Leite, (2020), Marks & Spencer has fallen to major losses due to the Covid crisis
as it hit the clothing sales and also reported a pre-tax loss of £87.6 million in the first six months
post the lockdown was implemented and the shares of Marks & Spencer were down by 2.8 %,
and extended losses were estimated to be 48%. The operating profit showed a year-on-year
decline of 15.2 % in the clothing and home product division which amounted to £110.7 m. The
company is aiming to retain cautious approaches for planning the balance of the entire year. The
group sales also reported a plunge of 19 % year after year in the 19 weeks to August. This
timeline included the period where Britain was in a lockdown and he clothing and home product
sales went down to 49 % whereas the food sales plunged down to 1% (The guardian, 2020).
Griffith, Levell and Stroud, (2020) has elucidated that Marks & Spencer could start
working more productively and flexibly with higher number of employees who can multitask
and even switch between clothing, home and food division. The use of technology has been
increased by the company (Marks & Spencer,2020). However, the total losses came from
regional management, central headquarters and UK stores post Covid-19. In the months of
August, 2020, the UK based retailer had to downsize its employees and around 7,000 employees
were laid off. The total number of employees that are being downsized represents around 9% of
the total workforce strength in Marks & Spencer (Griffith, Levell and Stroud, 2020)
However, as per Szydlowska, (2020) the company has witnessed a high sale in the online
platforms as the customers in UK are avoiding in store shopping. Marks & Spencer has also
reported that more than 67 % of the total orders were delivered to the houses of all the customers
rather than 28 % of the previous year. The company has also agreed regarding the uncertainties
that exist in the present market conditions, the company is aiming to devise strategies to balance
the losses and take cautious steps further ahead (Marks & Spencer,2020).
Findings and discussion
The findings from both the primary research conducted via questionnaire method from
top management employees of different branches of Marks & Spencer in the UK as well as the
secondary research using internet, articles, books, journals, business reports and publications
have elaborated that the company is facing major decline in its total revenue, operating profit and
sales, especially in the clothing and home division sectors (Veeragandham and et.al., 2020). On
17

the contrary it was noted that the food delivery section of the company has witnessed a slightly
higher growth rate. This primarily suggests that the company is facing losses due to the
lockdown imposed by the UK government and the shift in the social trends. This has led to a
decline in the usage of luxury and fashion clothes and home division products that Marks &
Spencer majorly deals in, whereas the demand for food-based and online delivery of products
have increased. Apart from that the respondents have stated that the major issues faced by the
company are continuity of the business, supply and demand, firing of employees and a huge
decline in sales. It can also be noted that impact extends to decrease in customers, logistics and
supply chain issues, lack of financial investments and cash flow issues (Singh and Raje, 2020).
The primary concerns for the company can be brought down to a shift in the demand for
luxury clothing, supply chain issues, and a permanent reduction in the number of customers that
could further decline the potential growth post pandemic. As per the primary research, the major
causes for the huge sales decline were estimated to be the closing down of the physical selling
spaces and a drop in the number of customers visiting the existing stores due to the lockdown,
demand and supply issues and reduction in the purchasing power of the buyers, as they try to
prioritise the purchase of necessity goods more rather than non-essential items like luxury
clothing (Patil and Patil, 2020). As er the research it can be noted that there are losses in the
overall sales turnover and percentage decline in the operating profit of the company due to the
pandemic. The company has moved its investments on the online delivery of clothes and food
delivery business section, although the company needs to market and strategize the online
business more effectively. As per the secondary research, it was clarified that a major loss of
£87.6 million in the first six months post the lockdown was noted in the clothing division of
Marks & Spencer. Also, there was an operating profit decline of 15.2% amounting to more than
£ 110 million, in comparison to last year (Bhattacharjee and Lisauskaite, 2020).
As per the analysis framework growth share matrix by the Boston consulting group, to
study the portfolio of company in this competitive and unpredictable landscape of industry, it can
be noted that better investment and position in products can help the company to sustain. The
major division of products segments for Marks & Spencer are clothing and home products and
the food segment (Hossain and Kader, 2020). As per the framework the products fall under the
four quadrants of question mark, stars, cash cows and pets. Question marks are the low market
share items that have high growth can be general merchandise segment. Marks & Spencer can
18

place Star products, the ones with high market share and high growth into the food segment. The
cash cows, which are low growth but high share products are high end designer clothes in this
category. The pets, which are low growth low share products and needs immediately to stop
investment are the least demanded product in the clothing division globally, like specific
collections (Kader and Hossain, 2020). As per the Ansoff’s growth vector matrix, which consists
of primarily four strategies such as product development, market penetration, market
development and diversification, Marks & Spencer at this stage should work into product
development for its existing markets and focus on differentiation and analyse the consumer
behaviour (Martins, 2020).
Conclusion and recommendations
It can be concluded from the above research project that there has been a significant
impact of covid-19 pandemic on the sales turnover of Marks & Spencer. The various areas that
have been affected are poor logistics and transportation facilities, sudden need for adoption of
technology, inefficiencies in supply chain and lack of customers due to lockdown. The decline in
sales has led to heavy losses for clothing and food-based retailer Marks and Spencer which is
facing huge losses and had to terminated a huge section of its employees to optimize their costs
and finances. The research methodology was based on qualitative method and inductive design
where data was collected through both primary and secondary methods. For the primary
research, questionnaire method was adopted where non-probability sampling was adopted and
the sample size of 30 respondents was taken which consisted of the top management employees
of various branches of the Marks & Spencer across the UK through email method. The results of
the study indicated major decline in its total revenue, operating profit and sales in clothing and
home division sectors due to shift in the social trends. Issues faced by the company are
continuity of the business, supply and demand, firing of employees and a huge decline in sales,
decrease in customers, logistics and supply chain issues, lack of financial investments and cash
flow issues. Marks & Spencer has started investing on the online delivery of clothes and food
delivery business section, although the company needs to market and strategize the online
business more effectively.
Major recommendations for Marks & Spencer to counter the covid-19 challenges
includes creative solutions and major change implementation. The company needs to minimise
19

its costs and secure its cashflow. As the working capital is increasing due to the unsold stocks of
clothes, the company experiences cash outflow and drawing s may peak high (Kumar and et.al.,
2020). To counter this, capital expenditure can be reduced and mere essential payback
investment has to be focussed upon. To manage cash, in -year deferral of Vat and corporate tax
can be paid. Marks & Spencer needs to cancel all seasonal collection and stock and hibernate the
unsold stock. A major change implementation in organisational and leadership structure is
needed that allow digital consolidation, flexible management, employee participation in
decision-making, front-line tech enabled communication, reduction in forward order volumes
etc. A near sourcing supply chain has to be development and changing the international model of
operations (Li and et.al., 2020). By moving away from direct ownership to more franchising and
joint ventures, localising ranges, reduction in pricings and expansion in ranges. Aside from these,
few general recommendations are ensuring the hygiene and safety of the employees and using
government support wherever possible. A certified face mask has to be introduced for key
workers and a training has to be govern to employees regarding the new regulations of pandemic
in order to gain back the trust of customers regarding health and safety. The company has to
develop its online sales and enhance its presence and increase investments in digital marketing
and social media communication (Mavela, 2020). New ideas for clothing collections has to be
devised, focus on sustainability and changing from mass production to made to measure. All
these strategies can be followed by Marks & Spencer to devise its action plan and counter the
challenges to gain back its customer loyalty, sales turnover over, brand equity and deal
effectively with economic conditions, demand fluctuation and sales decline (Peiyu, 2020).
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