Impact of Covid-19 on Sainsbury's Business Activities and Functions

This research proposal aims to identify the challenges faced by Sainsbury's due to Covid-19 pandemic in managing business activities and functions. The literature review discusses the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on business activities and functions of Sainsbury's, issues faced by Sainsbury's and strategies that can be adopted by Sainsbury's for managing business activities and functions. The research methodology includes research philosophy, research approach, research design, data collection and data analysis.

Research Proposal

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Research aim and objectives:.......................................................................................................3
Research Questions:.....................................................................................................................3
Rationale for the research............................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................4
Impact of Covid-19 pandemic on business activities and functions of Sainsbury's....................4
Issues faced by Sainsbury's due to Covid-19 pandemic in managing business activities and
functions......................................................................................................................................4
Strategies that can be adopted by Sainsbury's for managing business activities and functions.. 4
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY....................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
The changes within the external environment surrounding the retail industry highly impact
on their business activities and functions. COVID-19 global pandemic has adversely impact on
the overall economy and sectors. The main impact is on retail sector as they are not able to
execute their activities in a proper manner (Abay, Tafere and Woldemichael, 2020). There are
many issues which is faced by retail sector because of COVID-19 that is decline in performance,
ineffective working, non-fulfilment of demand and supply, not capable to bear expenses,
discontinue of stores and many more. All this has highly impact on the productivity and
profitability of retail organisation which is still not recover by them. In the present report, the
organisation chosen is Sainsbury's. The organisation is one of the second largest chain which was
founded in the year 1869 and headquartered in UK. In addition to this, it has around 1900 stores
globally which is operation with the help of 1,80,000 staff members. The main objective of the
report is to identify the challenges that arise in the retail sector due to Covid-19 pandemic in
their business activities and functions.
Research aim and objectives:
Research aim:
“To identify the issues faced by retail sector due to Covid-19 pandemic in their business
activities and functions”. A study on Sainsbury's
Objectives:
 To analyse the influence of pandemic on business activities and functions of
Sainsbury's.
 To identify the issues faced by Sainsbury's due to Covid-19 pandemic in managing
business activities and functions.
 To recommend the strategies that can be adopted by Sainsbury's for managing business
activities and functions.
Research Questions:
 What is the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on business activities and functions of
Sainsbury’s?
 What are the issues faced by Sainsbury's due to Covid-19 pandemic in managing business
activities and functions?

 Identifying the strategies that can be adopted by Sainsbury's for managing business
activities and functions?
Rationale for the research
One of the major reason to conduct the study is to analyze the issues faced by retail sector
because of global pandemic within their business functions and activities. In addition to this, it
help in gaining insight about the COVID-19 Influence on business activities and the strategies
adopted by companies to deal with it. Furthermore, the present study will help different
stakeholders that is organisation, researcher and so on. With reference to organisation, it helps in
developing effective strategies so in order to manage business functions and activities that has
positive influence on the company's performance. In context to researcher, it help in
development of the skills that involves time management, data collection, data analysis and
other research skills. Moreover, it will also allow researcher to carry out future studies in more
effective and systematic way.
LITERATURE REVIEW
It is defined as the procedure of gathering data from various sources which comprises of
Journals, articles and books. Moreover, all these sources are beneficial and useful for
investigator in achieving reliable and positive outcome that will lead towards attainment of
objectives (Arora and Srinivasan, 2020). The main objective of literature review is fulfil gaps
related to research from the past studies. In context to present study, the major gap issues faced
by retail sector due to Covid-19 pandemic in their business activities and functions but there is
lack of information about the future implications. For fulfilling this gap, few of the research
questions were analysed as mentioned below:
Impact of Covid-19 pandemic on business activities and functions of Sainsbury's
According to Liu (2020) COVID-19 has affected adversely on the overall business
functions as well as activities of an organisation. Due to COVID-19 global pandemic, there are
many organisations who stopped performing and running as they are not able to deal with the
expenses easily. This impact directly on their performance and profitability level of company in
a negative manner. Sainsbury's has faced £261m annual loss despite of boom in supermarket and
Argos sale, as the company spend millions on protecting and assisting its employees (COVID-
19: Implications for business, 2022). Sainsbury's registered 17% grocery sales, 8% boom in

online sales and Argos did really well it earned 11% increase in digital sales. During pandemic,
the company concentrated on click-and-collect I.e. online sales because of the restrictions. The
organisation converted its threats into opportunities that later became its strength and helped to
stand out from the competitors. The business house choose to open around 20-30 convenience
store in a year for continuous three years. Other than employees, Sainsbury's also took care of its
shareholders by distributing full dividend in spite of all the situations. The company distributed
£232m dividend which was £247m a year before. Sainsbury's created an application named
SmartShop for its digital sales, every third sale from the company was via this application. Like
any other company Sainsbury's also provided work from home opportunities to many employees.
The pandemic also pushed the business house to became more adaptive and conduct” real-time
experimentation” to make its stores a new socially distant reality. Other than all the profits and
boom the firm also faced some challenges, Sainsbury's was new in e-commerce but due to
conditions it is on boom so the company was facing challenges in smooth online sales interface.
The company was facing problems in fulfilling demands of the consumers as its supplies was
effected by issue in logistics because of all the lock down situations. All the initiatives took by
the company came up with the fruits of cash flows, more demand, increased consumer fan base,
motivated employees, better market share, increased sales , and many more. The duration of
Covid-19 came up with many challenges and lots of profits but Sainsbury's did fight with all its
strength.
In context to organisations, the COVID-19 has resulted in drastically affecting the business
and their operations. In relation to the organisations, the companies are struggling for the purpose
to recover the fixed costs. Moreover, there has been a sharp decline due to the restrictions on the
sale of the products, restrictions on travelling and social distancing. In context to Sainsbury's, the
organisation was highly affected due to the COVID-19 outbreak but the organisation
successfully handled the situation and carried out various measures for the purpose to deal with
the impact. The organisation spent huge amount of bonus payments to the staff who worked
during the time of pandemic and also implemented various measures for the safety of employees.

Issues faced by Sainsbury's due to Covid-19 pandemic in managing business activities and
functions.
Due to Covid-19 pandemic, everyone organisation faced some issues and challenges. In the
reference of Sainsbury's, the organisation faced several problems within managing their business
and operation and day to day work activities in the workplace. Sainsbury's has collapsed to
around £261m loss on sales during the Covid-19 pandemic. As the some of the stores face issued
that is shortage of products because of lack of lorry drivers, transportation and shipment of the
parcel to reach the location. The company often operates in difficult conditions, includes
shortage in labour supply, there was huge disruption in supply chain and working conditions and
there were sometimes large spikes of demand in specific product this affects the company's
yearly plans and goals that were planned in starting of the year which led the organisation to
make new plans and their business operation faced the consequence of the situation. During the
pandemic, customers were relying more on online shopping due to maintaining distance and
keeping self-isolated, which increased online sales but there was a downside of online shopping
on the organisation was that the sales of offline stores were down and the loss of products due to
the expiration. As customers were spending all time together and celebrating together so the
demand were rising and company has to increase their products level more than before which
leads to more investment and difficulty in managing the operation. Sainsbury's has also spent
huge amount on COVID- related- cost, such as paying to the employees that were required to
shield and self-isolating themselves, since the stores were closed due to the pandemic the
organisation has to pay their employees.
Due to the outbreak, the organisation faced various challenges in areas of supply, demand
of customer, logistics, staff members and various other factors. But in case of Sainsbury's, the
organisation successfully handled the situation. In context to organisation, there are various
issues which the company had to face during the time of COVID-19 which basically involves
challenges in relation to various areas. In reference to the company, the organisation had to face
major issues for the purpose to ensure the safety of the employees. During the challenging time,
the major concern for the organisation was to ensure the safety of the employees. In reference to
organisations, they faces issues in supporting the different populations of the workers and also
comprises of other factors such as providing protective clothing, increased hygiene and ensuring

distancing. Another challenge for the organisation is to mitigate the unnecessary spread of the
virus for the purpose to ensure business continuity for the purpose to split teams. Another issue
involved ensuring the flexible work arrangements for the purpose to ensure minimal contact
among the employees and suppliers.
Strategies that can be adopted by Sainsbury's for managing business activities and functions.
As per the viewpoint of Roma, (2020), the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic had
affected the organisation and it become really important for the companies to implement
effective strategies for the purpose to deal with the various issues and challenges. In context to
Sainsbury's, various strategies were adopted by the company for the purpose to perform their
functions and managing the business activities in a effective manner. In context to Sainsbury's,
the organisation used various strategies such as communicating in a transparent manner with the
customers and focusing on understanding their perception in relation to the solution or the
product.
Another strategy used by the company involved maintaining healthy relationship with
the contracted parties as it became difficult for the organisation to pay their suppliers and
vendors during the time of lock down. Another strategy implemented by the organisation was to
keep the employees engaged and updated regarding the new developments and changes taking
place in the organisation. At the time of lock down, the company used Google Hangouts and
Zoom for the purpose to stay connected with the employees and also focusing on maintaining
high spirits among the team members. In addition to that, it is very important for the company to
consult with the external experts and investors for the purpose to plan the proper form of the
communication with the stakeholders which majorly involved employees and the customers
(Survival strategies for businesses during COVID-19 lockdown, 2020).
In reference to COVID-19 pandemic, it not only affected the global economy but also resulted
in affecting the day to day business cash flows. For any organisation, it is very important to
understand the customers for the purpose to grow the business and boosting up sales. Proper
financial management and doing proper research about the competitors is considered to very
important factor for the organisation to take into consideration. In addition to that the pandemic
has resulted in affecting the spending of the consumers and has also affected the household
incomes. Another most important strategy was to keep in mind the various marketing strategies

for the purpose to compete with the established brands and using advanced technologies which
allows the staff members to engage with customers and working remotely (Key Business Growth
Strategies during and after COVID19, 2022).
In addition to that, it is very important for the organisation to use and implement these strategies
in the most effective manner for the purpose to deal with the outbreak of pandemic.
By analysing the above information, it is analysed that COVID-19 has impact directly on the
business activities as well as functions of retail sector and to deal with it there are various
strategies is developed and implemented. In addition to this, it is analysed that there are many
issues faced by retail sector because of COVID-19 such as decline in performance, decline in
sales, change in structure, change in policies and many more. Moreover, it is analysed that most
of the companies are shifted towards online so that they can deal with the issue and meet with the
customer requirement as well.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
It is considered to be the important investigation part as it states the research performing
used to carry out the study with the support of justification. Moreover, it is very crucial for
researcher to make effective use of the appropriate methods so reliable and valid conclusion
could be drawn (Kabir and et. al., 2020). The measures used for the current study is given
below:
Research philosophy: It is basically defined as the process used with the objective to
evaluate as well as collect data on a particular topic. Research philosophies are mainly of two
forms which comprises of the interpretivism and positivism. In relation to the current research,
positivism is valuable and effective as it assist researcher to gain positive and valid outcome. The
major reason to choose this method is it mainly based on subjective approaches instead of
feelings as well as emotions. It is analysed as one of the method that supports in getting more
accurate and appropriate decision within real time situation.
Research approach: It is basically the process and involves following within the survey in
order to evaluate data about specific. The 2 main research approach forms are inductive and
deductive approach and as per the topic of research, deductive approach is useful. One of the

reason to choose this is it support researcher to gather quantitative information in minimum time
period as well cost. Apart from this, it also assist researcher in better explanation of relationship
between concepts and variables.
Research strategy: It is defined as the step-by-step plan that is adopted by researcher to
gather information. The various research strategies are case study, action research, experiment
and so on. As per the topic of investigation, the research strategy which is effective and useful is
survey (Kang and et. al., 2020). The major reason to choose this is it assist in gaining valid and
reliable outcome of research. Furthermore, it will also assist in gathering first hand and
appropriate data from the participants.
Research choice: It is considered to be the important part of methodology that consist of
two choices that is quantitative and qualitative. In addition to that, it is analysed that both ways
are effective but according to the topic of investigation, quantitative as a research choice is
valuable as it provide reliable and numerical data in less time and cost. and Furthermore, use of
quantitative method is excusable as it assist in collection of the facts and figures properly and
systematically.
Data collection: It is the process that is adopted by researcher to gather secondary and
primary information with the help of effective and reliable sources. For the present study, both
primary and secondary data will be adopted. In context to collection of the primary information,
a questionnaire will be formed by the investigator as it help in acquiring of the positive and
reliable results. Moreover, it will also assist investigator to have in-depth understanding about
topic that leads to a valid conclusion (Kumar, 2018). On the other hand, secondary information
will be gathered through different sources that is books, articles, Journals and so on. The use of
both primary and secondary source will help in advantage of the accurate and reliable
information in a efficient way.
Sampling: It is defined as the procedure of choosing sample size from a whole population
by using two ways that is non probability and probability sampling. In context to the present
study, probability sampling will be applied as it assisting investigator in choosing large sample
size in minimum time period. The 30 employees of Sainsbury’s is chosen with the help of
random sampling which is a part of probability sampling. One of the reason for the purpose to
choose employees as respondents is they have deep understanding about policies and the

ground workings of companies because of which effective knowledge can be gained by
researcher.
Research instruments: Another significant part of research methodology is research
instrument which help in collecting data according to the topic. The various research instrument
is questionnaires , interviews, observation and much more. It is analysed that all these
instruments of research are useful but in relation to topic of investigation, questionnaire is
considered to be valuable and appropriate as it consume less time and help to collect data directly
from the respondents.
Data analysis: It is considered as the procedure which will assist researcher to analyse the
collected information in a effective manner. These are mainly two types of data analysis
method which is is frequency distribution and thematic analysis (Mason, Narcum and Mason,
2020). With reference to the present investigation, frequency distribution will be effective and
useful as it will help researcher to analyse the primary data in an appropriate manner.
Furthermore, it will also support the investigator to represent the form of charts and graphs that
are easy to interpret and understand.
Research limitations: It is identified that each study is related with some kind of
limitations and to agreement with important for investigator in state to execute activities in a
proper and systematic manner. Some of the research limitations are time constraints, limited
access to information, insufficient sample size, issues with research samples and many more.
Timescale: It is important for researcher to set a time of every thing connected with the
research so that objectives can be attained on time period. For this purpose, Gantt chart will be
formulated It is a chart which includes beginning and ending time of every activity which
further results to completion of study on time (Naeem, 2020). Gantt chart for present study is
mentioned below:

REFERENCES
Books & Journal
Abay, K.A., Tafere, K. and Woldemichael, A., 2020. Winners and losers from COVID-19:
Global evidence from Google Search. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper,
(9268).
Arora, A.K. and Srinivasan, R., 2020. Impact of pandemic COVID-19 on the teaching–learning
process: A study of higher education teachers. Prabandhan: Indian journal of
management, 13(4), pp.43-56.
Kabir, M and et. al., 2020. COVID-19 pandemic and economic cost; impact on forcibly
displaced people. Travel medicine and infectious disease, 35, p.101661.
Kang, M and et. al., 2020. COVID-19 impact on city and region: what’s next after
lockdown?. International Journal of Urban Sciences, 24(3), pp.297-315.
Kumar, R., 2018. Research methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners. Sage.
Mason, A., Narcum, J. and Mason, K., 2020. Changes in consumer decision-making resulting
from the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Customer Behaviour, 19(4), pp.299-321.
Mukherjee, S.P., 2019. A guide to research methodology: An overview of research problems,
tasks and methods. CRC Press.
Naeem, M., 2020. Understanding the customer psychology of impulse buying during COVID-19
pandemic: Implications for retailers. International Journal of Retail & Distribution
Management.
Panzone, L.A., Larcom, S. and She, P.W., 2021. Estimating the impact of the first COVID-19
lockdown on UK food retailers and the restaurant sector. Global Food Security, 28,
p.100495.
Ratnam, C., 2019. Listening to difficult stories: Listening as a research methodology. Emotion,
Space and Society, 31, pp.18-25.
Ross, K. and Call-Cummings, M., 2020. Reflections on failure: teaching research
methodology. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 43(5), pp.498-
511.
Sharma, A. and Jhamb, D., 2020. Changing consumer behaviours towards online shopping-an
impact of Covid 19. Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, 24(3), pp.1-10.
Shields, M., 2019. Research Methodology and Statistical Methods. Scientific e-Resources.

Online
COVID-19: Implications for business, 2022 [Online] Available through;
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/risk-and-resilience/our-insights/covid-19-
implications-for-business
Priya, 2020. Survival strategies for businesses during COVID-19 lockdown [Online] Available
through;
<https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/hr-leadership/leadership/survival-strategies-
for-businesses-during-covid-19-lockdown/articleshow/75371157.cms>
Key Business Growth Strategies during and after COVID19 [Online] Available through;
<https://www.nationwidesuper.com.au/key-business-growth-strategies-during-and-after-
covid19/>