LSBM300 - Asda Case Study: Evaluating the Changing Face of Retail

This case study investigates the evolving retail landscape, focusing on Asda Stores Ltd. It identifies key drivers of change, such as empowered consumers and the adoption of cohesive data management strategies. The study explores challenges faced by large supermarkets due to new market entrants, including controlling operational costs and optimizing logistics. It further discusses strategies adopted by Asda to cope with these challenges, such as personalizing customer experiences and integrating virtual and physical retail channels. The research employs a quantitative methodology, using data collected from a sample of 50 employees to provide a comprehensive analysis of Asda's adaptation to the changing retail environment. Desklib provides access to similar case studies and solved assignments for students.

Research project
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CONTENTS
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
Topic:...............................................................................................................................................3
“To evaluate about changing face of retailer”, a case study on Asda stores ltd..............................3
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................3
Overview of investigation............................................................................................................3
Research background...................................................................................................................3
Research aim................................................................................................................................4
Research Objective......................................................................................................................4
Research Questions......................................................................................................................4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................4
Determine the various factors that act as the driver of changing in retail industry.....................4
Evaluate about the challenges and issues that are face by big supermarkets like Asda stores
due to the enhancement in number of new entrants....................................................................5
Discuss and identify various steps and strategies that are adopted by company to cope with the
challenges of new entrants together to keeping a phase with changing face of retail industry...6
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.............................................................................7
CHAPTER 4: FINDING, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION........................................................10
Data interpretation: -..................................................................................................................11
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.....................................................17
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................17
Recommendation.......................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................19
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Topic:
“To evaluate about changing face of retailer”, a case study on Asda stores ltd.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Overview of investigation
In today’s techno-driven and competitive world, changes have now become more crucial for the
retailers which not only help them with increasing competitors but also contribute toward
fulfilling the changing demand and expectation of customers. The changes support the retailer to
offer its customer base with product and services as per their expectation while matching it up
with updated changes or trend within the industry so that best possible outcome can be achieve
that leads to maximum customer satisfaction (Rapp and et. al., 2015). These changes help in
improving the current offering of the company and at the same time support in preparing it to
deal with the challenges that it may face due to changing scenario of business environment. But
while dealing with these changes there are number of challenges that an organisation have to
face such as huge investment over the upgradation of its current system of working, culture
resists to change, dissatisfaction and lower morale among employees, lack of employees
engagement, ineffective practices, more investment over training and development practices etc.
which affect the operation of largely. In order to perform the current investigation ASDA is
taken into consideration which is large multinational retail organisation that offers range of
grocery and other food related items.
Research background
The retail industry is experiencing change at a rapid pace with the increasing in number of
retail players and increasing demand of consumers which influence the retailer to bring
something different that help retaining customers for longer. To develop understanding in this
area effectively present research is conducted which help in determining about the changing face
of the retail industry (Woerner and Wixom, 2015). On the other side it also helps in determining
the challenges that an organisation faces while bringing the changes within the company. For this
ASDA is consider to perform this investigation which is a British supermarket retailer that is
headquartered within West Yorkshire. It offers range of products related with the grocery items,
financial services and general merchandise which it offers while maintaining its stores at several
different locations and with the help of its on online channel. As the competition is rising within
retail industry, ASDA is required to bring modification within its current practices as well as
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offering (Huang, Xing and Gamble, 2019). This brings up number of challenges that are bundled
with the benefit that these changes brings in current position of the company.
Research aim
“To determine the changing face of retail industry together with evaluation of challenges faced
by big supermarkets because of new entrants.” A study on ASDA Stores Ltd.
Research Objective
 To determine the various factors that act as driver of changing face in retail industry.
 To evaluate about the challenges and issues faced by big supermarkets like ASDA Stores
Ltd. due to enhancement in number of new entrants.
 To discuss and identify various steps and strategies that can be adopted by ASDA Stores
Ltd. to cope with the challenge of new entrants together with keeping a phase with
changing face of retail industry.
Research Questions
 What are several factors that act as driver of changing face in retail industry?
 Explain about the challenges and issues faced by big supermarkets like ASDA Stores Ltd.
due to enhancement in number of new entrants.
 Describe certain strategies that can be adopted by ASDA Stores Ltd. to cope with the
challenge of new entrants and changing face of retail industry?
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Determine the various factors that act as the driver of changing in retail industry
According to Gilbert D. 2017, retail marketing is a procedure which is useful in
promoting and spreading awareness and interest about the offered commodities that has become
increasingly important as in present time many retailers open their own Store. Many Evolutions
are faced by Retail Industry and Asda as well in terms of recent advancement in technology. In
this they embrace their customers engaging their retailers in order to develop and alter the entire
shopping experience of their respective. In order to analyse the factors that act drive for change
are discussed as:
 In present Times the consumers are increasingly empowered by the use of online
techniques and tools that have become the major part in their life as it makes their
shopping more convenient. In terms of this they have no their own voice by which they
can give suggestions and feedback to their retailer about the offered product. In addition
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to this few sites and online blogs social media also helpful for customers to you know
about the product which they want to purchase. Along with this negative review of public
impact the sales and revenues of Asda.
 More and more retailers are adopting cohesive strategy in order to analyze data and
Management that helps in then in their supply chain to streamline store operations in
effective manner and engaging their customers in order to develop loyalty (Bernon,
Cullen and Gorst, 2016). By considering the demand arises from the side of consumers it
needs to increase the volume power complexity of data sources and applications as well.
In addition to this there are some prominent challenges which affect the retail change like
decision maker at the right time information Logistics and technologies that robust the
retail platform.
Evaluate about the challenges and issues that are face by big supermarkets like Asda stores due
to the enhancement in number of new entrants
According to Kanya, 2018, Retail Industry is dynamic and constantly changes according to
the new challenges that are faced by the retailers in competitive industry. In 2017 there are many
retail companies that face bankruptcy that leads to continue through upcoming year. Along with
this retailers constantly improve customer service satisfaction that leads to impact their sales and
customer service goals as both are common with all the retailers and Retail Management
challenges can hinder the grocery stores chances to attain these objectives. In terms of this
prominent challenges that are faced by Asda are discussed as under:
 Controlling operational cost is considered as the biggest challenges that the retailers face
bye typically going through with their low profit margin. In terms of this they require
efficient operations and lean in order to control their expenses and labour cost. In Retail
Industry many of the stores have tendency to cut the labour during their tough Times
(França and et. al., 2017). That leads to affect the customer service and store conditions
as it results in loss of customers and sales as well. In addition to this some retailers also
does not make proper budget I considering the requirement of training program that leads
to develop employee turnover and reduce customer service because of the lack of
training.
 The retail stores are always looking to squeeze expenses from the part of their profit and
loss. In relation with this they squeeze in their logistics and inventory as the retail
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software are helpful in order to reach their customers. Moreover they also need to focus
on the profit loss ratio of the expenses by developing and analyzing prominent benefits
that are achieving from the investment. In addition to this cost benefit ratio is most
significant in order to choose the prominent process and software for the business.
Discuss and identify various steps and strategies that are adopted by company to cope with the
challenges of new entrants together to keeping a phase with changing face of retail industry
Pantano, E., 2014, stated that in present Times Retail Industry face many challenges and
issues regarding their survival and for this they need to develop from and strategies to overcome
the challenges. Retailers need to develop an integrated strategy that is aligned with the Talent
physical process space marketing and merchandising to meet the requirements and demand of
customer. This strategy should be supported by the updated and advanced Technologies and also
remain relevant for the future customer. For this few prominent Retail Industry strategies are
mentioned as under:
 The transformation in the retail store starts with the deep analysis and understanding of
their customer’s behaviour and also develop strategy to personalize the experience at
each and every point of interaction. In relation with this Asda develop most appropriate
technologies are leveraged to enhance the experience of customers (Ferreira and Ferreira,
2018). Moreover there are prominent number of steps that as the can follow in order to
retain their customers and again their loyalty including the quality of ring excellent
customer experience and personalization of production services.
 The Retail Industry is the midst of customer revolution and also considers the collision of
virtual and physical world that fundamentally changes the purchasing behaviour of
customers as it integrates the demand the shopping experience across all distribution
channels. In relation with this the prominent key drivers which is opted by Asda is the
customer revolution that is rapidly adopting the mobile devices and digital media in order
to enhance their shopping experience that leads to save their time as well (Smith, Hair Jr,
and Ferguson, 2014). In terms of this the old retailers also find prominent opportunities
that are seamlessly embed the virtual world towards the Retail Industry by developing in
store and online Technologies as it is useful for them to create and maintain healthy
connections with customers across all channels.
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CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology is considered to be most significant part of an investigation which
mainly put emphases toward describing about several methods and tools that are used for
performing the research effectively (Omland and Thapa, 2017). This help in presenting the
validity and reliability of study in front of the readers. The methods used for this investigation is
mentioned below:
Type of investigation: It is considered as the research strategy to get a prominent data and
information that is helpful for company. It has to effective methods in order to collect data that
are qualitative and quantitative. In terms of this qualitative are useful in gathering information
that explains the topic in descriptive manner (Mackey and Gass, 2015). It helps in gathering
death understanding about the research with the help of questionnaire. Meanwhile quantitative
data is gathered in numeric form as it analyses with the help of statistical and mathematical
method. In terms of this study quantitative method is useful as it provides a quantified
information which make it easier to present conclude the findings with more accuracy.
Sampling: Data sampling is the significant method in order to conduct research in effective
manner as it is quite important for the researcher to conduct research by analysing suitable
suggestions of all the individuals (Wiek and Lang, 2016). In terms of this study 50 employees as
a sample are considered by the researcher that help in getting prominent result in the most
effective way. By analysing the present research random sampling is the most effective manner
that is used by researcher in order to gather reliable information data mining the suggestions of
their respondents that are selected for the prominent information.
Data collection methods: This methodology is helpful in bid to gather prominent
information concerning the overall success of Investigation in suitable manner. It is divided into
two methods considering the primary in which data is collected with the help of questionnaire in
present study whereas secondary in which data is gathered with the help of journals books
internet sources and so on (Kumar, 2019).
Data analysis methods: By analysing the present conditions qualitative data collection
method is helpful in order to collect information that leads to getting reliable outcomes
(Walliman, 2017). As this method is useful for the purpose of data validation in order to find out
the possible result and the possible Data Collection according to the please set standards as it is
divided in the four steps including fraud screening procedure and completeness. In addition to
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this data editing and coding also considered as the important step for the preparation of data as it
defines the grouping and assigning values to responses with the help of questionnaire. This
questionnaire is mentioned below:
Q1. Do you have an idea regarding the changes that are taking place within retail industry?
a) Yes
b) No
Q2 What kind of influence these changes bring in management of ASDA?
a) Positive
b) Negative
c) Neutral
Q3 According to you what are several changes that are frequently arising within retail industry?
a) Technological upgradation
b) Personalisation of services
c) Virtual transactions
Q4. What are several different forces that act as a driver of change that attracted ASDA for
adopting changes?
a) Changing consumer expectation
b) Increasing competition
c) Adoption toward improvement
Q5 As per your perception, what influence does new entrant within the retail industry have over
ASDA?
a) Increase competition
b) Divert customer attention
c) Affect pricing strategy
Q6 In what manner, ASDA can deal with the issues that get arises due to new entrant in its
operations and market performance?
a) Perform market research
b) Improve strategies continuously
c) Maintain customer interaction
Q7 As per your perception what are some challenges that ASDA faces while implementing
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changes within organisation?
a) Lack of knowledge and expertise
b) Low employee’s morale
c) Environment resist to change
Q8. Among the following, which one is the main benefit that ASDA will get with adoption of
new changes anticipated within retail industry?
a) Dealing with market challenges
b) Competitive advantage
c) Sustainability at marketplace
Q9 What are different actions that ASDA can take for dealing with the challenges it faces while
adopting new changes?
a) Better communication channel
b) Training & development
c) Effective leadership practices
Ethical considerations: This element in research methodology is considered as the
significant factor that enables the researchers to maintain the quality of the Research report and
also complete the task in the stipulated time period without any hurdle (Tuohy and et.al., 2013).
In terms of this investigators make proper initiative to collect information about the proper and
accurate sources. In addition to this by managing the research ethics it supports the researcher to
better solution in order to identify research problems with the proper objectives in order to place
the report in suitable position in front of Publishers (Taherdoost, 2016). In terms of this
investigator follow suitable ethical guidelines in order to perform the investigation effectively
and efficiently.
Research limitations: It is determined that research also have some limitations that is
normal and it is critically important in order to stripe and minimise the range of scope of
limitations throughout the research procedure full stop in this all the researches need to offer the
acknowledgement of their research limitations by considering the conclusion chapter (Silverman,
2016). For this the research limitations has very difficult dissertations considering the
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formulation of research aims and objectives implementation of data collection methods sample
size lack of the studies in the research area and scope of discussions.
CHAPTER 4: FINDING, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
For conducting this investigation, content analysis will be used as it help in analysing the
quantitative data much effectively (Scotland, 2012). This will support the researcher in
presenting information in more appropriate and meaningful manner by forming up themes
regarding each question so that reader get an idea regarding the area over which the discussion is
going to be performed. This help in making the explanation easier to understand.
Q1. Do you have an idea regarding the changes that are taking
place within retail industry?
Frequency
a) Yes 43
b) No 7
Q2 What kind of influence these changes bring in management of
ASDA?
Frequency
a) Positive 30
b) Negative 15
c) Neutral 5
Q3 According to you what are several changes that are
frequently arising within retail industry?
Frequency
a) Technological upgradation 30
b) Personalisation of services 10
c) Virtual transactions 10
Q4. What are several different forces that act as a driver of
change that attracted ASDA for adopting changes?
Frequency
a) Changing consumer expectation 25
b) Increasing competition 10
c) Adoption toward improvement 15
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Q5 As per your perception, what influence does new entrant
within the retail industry have over ASDA?
Frequency
a) Increase competition 10
b) Divert customer attention 25
c) Affect pricing strategy 15
Q6 In what manner, ASDA can deal with the issues that get
arises due to new entrant in its operations and market
performance?
Frequency
a) Perform market research 20
b) Improve strategies continuously 15
c) Maintain customer interaction 15
Q7 As per your perception what are some challenges that ASDA
faces while implementing changes within organisation?
Frequency
a) Lack of knowledge and expertise 25
b) Low employee’s morale 15
c) Environment resist to change 10
Q8. Among the following, which one is the main benefit that
ASDA will get with adoption of new changes anticipated within
retail industry?
Frequency
a) Dealing with market challenges 20
b) Competitive advantage 15
c) Sustainability at marketplace 15
Q9 What are different actions that ASDA can take for dealing
with the challenges it faces while adopting new changes?
Frequency
a) Better communication channel 20
b) Training & development 15
c) Effective leadership practices 15
Data interpretation: -
Theme 1: An idea regarding the changes that are taking place within retail industry
Q1. Do you have an idea regarding the changes that are taking Frequency
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place within retail industry?
a) Yes 43
b) No 7
Interpretation: - The retail industry is going through several changes which in turn
changing the manner in which players within the sector operates or offer their services. These
changes are very frequently and by performing study it has been identified that around 43
respondents are one that said yes, they have idea regarding the regular changes that area
anticipating within the industry. On the other hand, 7 respondents are the one who said no to this
as they are working as per the instruction and not much have idea regarding the changes within
industry.
Theme 2: Influence these changes bring in management of ASDA
Q2 What kind of influence these changes bring in management of
ASDA?
Frequency
a) Positive 30
b) Negative 15
c) Neutral 5
Interpretation: - The changes get anticipated within the retail sector brings up a huge
change within management of ASDA. While performing study on this it has been identified that
around 30 people said that it brings positive influence over the management, while 15
respondents said that it bring negative influence by increasing the burden of employees. But 5
respondents said that it is neutral somethings it acts in favour of management and other time
against it. Hence, from analysing of gathered data it has been determined that it bring positive
influence over the management of the ASDA by improving its practices as well as bringing
innovative approach to improve such practices.
Theme 3: Several changes that are frequently arising within retail industry
Q3 According to you what are several changes that are
frequently arising within retail industry?
Frequency
a) Technological upgradation 30
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