Analysis of Asda's Performance Against UK Retail Industry Trends

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Inquiry Based Learning
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Table of Contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................... 3
Retail trends..................................................................................................................... 4
Analysis of organisation...................................................................................................6
Performance of organisation against industry trends.....................................................15
Recommendations......................................................................................................... 16
Action plan..................................................................................................................... 16
Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 18
References.....................................................................................................................19
Appendices.................................................................................................................... 20
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Introduction
It is very important to conduct proper market analysis which can help the management
of any organisation to understand and evaluate the changes in the market. The
strategies need to be developed according to the trends in the market. In the present
study, analysis of current trends in the retail industry and its impact on the chosen
organisation is done in detail. The choice of organisation for the study is Asda. The
study also highlights the current trends in the company of choice and the strategies it
need to consider in the present time.
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Retail trends
Asda is one of the trend setting companies in UK. It offers a number of services in the
retailing industry that includes range of products along with financial services and
mobile phone provider. The company has been innovating new services in order to
expand itself and sustain in a highly competitive market. The strategies developed by
the company have helped them to open new stores around the country and attract new
customers. It has a strong hold in the market due to the reasonable price of the
products, which it offers to the consumers. Asda is one of the most innovative
organisations in marketing and as well as management. The company is also trying to
enhance its position in the online world with the help of several marketing strategies.
The company requires understanding the demands of the customers with the help of
regular feedbacks.
Industry data and literature search
Asda is one of the leading supermarket retailing companies in UK. The enterprise has
around 600 stores throughout the country and it has a workforce of 130,000 employees.
The net revenue of Asda is around 22,000 million Euros. The organisation was acquired
by Walmart in 1999 for almost 6 billion Euros. The company has enhanced its services
in the financial and technological sector. The company is third largest supermarket
chain in UK after Sainsbury’s and Tesco.
The company is also an active participant in the “Corporate Social Responsibility” area.
It also serves to the local community and has a history of 30 years of helping vulnerable
people. The company has spent around 35 million Euros for voluntary services. The
company tries to maintain the affordable products of everyday use like grocery items
and others for their consumers. Asda believes in doing “appropriate things” and having
a positive impact on health of the consumers.
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Retail industry trends
In UK, the retail industry has been facing several challenges due to the political scenario
of the company. The trends have been dynamic due to the changing attitude of the
consumers. Black Friday has been a new such trend where people have been inclined
to one day event in order to shop for the rest of the week. The retail industries have
been trying to meet the demands by decreasing the prices for people who is impacting
on their profit margins (Fernie and Sparks, 2018). In the retail industry the focus is on
the format of small urban store to enhance the profit margin with the help of less
investment. The customers also want to express their feedbacks in the retail industry
(Laffy and Walters, 2016).
Asda has been trying to cut the prices of the commodities. The organization has spend
around 1 billion Euros with Sainsbury’s into prices cuts and help the people to continues
with their shopping in supermarkets. The company has been trying to cut the prices of
everyday items by 10% to meet the expectations of the consumers.
The company has been trying to implement new strategies in order to expand the
business. The “organic growth strategies” is one of the most commendable strategies
that are incorporated by Asda. This practice can help the company to impose the
blueprint of product consumption that is home-based. Asda has overtaken its
competitors in clothing department in the supermarket price war (Pantano et al., 2017).
The organisation has 11.1% of clothing market in the area of volume of goods that are
sold. Asda has also been trying its hand in IT application services. The company is
using a new type of delivery model called “DevOps” in order to have effective data drive
and analysis of the data to support the office applications with the help of full cycle of
development and testing along with support.
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Analysis of organisation
In the present section, detailed discussion to the selected organisation is performed.
The company chosen for the present study is Asda. The method implemented for data
collections is questionnaire along with the performance of the company in the context of
the trends that are emerging is also highlighted in the study.
Background of chosen retail organisation
Asda is the UK based organisation that was founded in 1949. The company has range
of services and products it offers to its customers (Asda.com, 2019). They have been
innovating the methods of product retailing of everyday use with the help of several
strategies like cost cutting and online promotion. Asda is known for setting trends and
providing affordable prices for the products along with maintaining the quality. The
company has been owned by the multinational Walmart in 1999 and has helped them to
enhance the services in the entire UK.
Primary data and secondary data
It has been observed that Asda is trying to set new trends in the strategies related to
marketing and the range of products around UK. There are many types of customers
whose expectations are required to be considered in the marketing strategies (Newing
et al., 2015). Targeting such people can help the company to enhance its position in
competitive market (Bogomolova et al., 2015). The main target of the respective
organisation can be the families that need products in affordable prices. The target area
of consumers for Asda can be considered to be the age group 25 to 45 who are the
regular visitors of supermarket. The following questionnaire can help Asda to determine
the consumer’s expectations and mindset.
1. What is your age?
2. What is your gender?
3. How often do you visit to Asda supermarket?
4. Do you agree with the fact that the affordable price of the products introduced by
Asda is reason for your frequent visits?
5. Are the affordable products and services offered by Asda satisfactory?
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6. Are you willing to try out any new supermarket shops that offer similar kind of
products and services like Asda?
The marketing team of Asda has performed research and analysis with the help of
questionnaire. The discussion is done below:
1. What is your age?
Age group No. Of Participants Total No. Of
Participants
% of Participants
18 to 25 10 50 20%
26 to 33 15 50 30%
34 to 41 15 50 30%
41 to 50 5 50 10%
50 to 60 5 50 10%
Table 1: What is your age?
(Source: Created by author)
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Figure1: What is your age?
(Source: Created by author)
From the above survey, it can be said that the target area of the consumers lie between
the age of 26 to 41. This is the target group for Asda that it needs to consider.
2. What is your gender?
Criteria No. Of Participants Total No. Of
Participants
% of Participants
Male 28 50 56%
Female 22 50 44%
Table 2: What is your gender?
(Source: Created by author)
Figure 2: What is your gender?
(Source: Created by author)
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From this survey, it can be said that the number of male and female consumers are
almost comparable. The male participants are around 56% and the female respondents
are around 44%.
3. How often do you visit Asda supermarket?
Criteria No. Of Participants Total No. Of
Participants
% of Participants
Daily 12 50 24%
Weekly 18 50 36%
Monthly 10 50 20%
Yearly 6 50 12%
Never 4 50 8%
Table 3: How often do you visit to Asda supermarket?
(Source: Created by author)
The daily and weekly visitors of Asda are most in numbers. Most participants are quite
frequent visitors of the stores. This help to determine the strong position of Asda in the
market.
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Figure3: How often do you visit to Asda supermarket?
(Source: Created by author)
4. Do you agree with the fact that the affordable price of the products introduced by
Asda is reason for your frequent visits?
Criteria No. Of Participants Total No. Of
Participants
% of Participants
Strongly agree 15 50 30%
Agree 15 50 30%
Neutral 10 50 20%
Disagree 8 50 16%
Strongly disagree 2 50 4%
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Table 4: Do you agree with the fact that the affordable price of the products introduced
by Asda is reason for your frequent visits?
(Source: Created by author)
Figure4: Do you agree with the fact that the affordable price of the products introduced
by Asda is reason for your frequent visits?
(Source: Created by author)
From the survey it can be said that most number of people are happy with the
affordable prices that Asda is offering. Almost 60% of the participants agree with the
prices of the products.
5. Are the affordable products and services offered by Asda satisfactory?
Criteria No. Of
Participants
Total No. Of
Participants
% of Participants
Highly satisfied 18 50 36%
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Satisfied 12 50 24%
Neutral 10 50 20%
Dissatisfied 5 50 10%
Strongly
dissatisfied
5 50 10%
Table 5: Are the affordable products and services offered by Asda satisfactory?
(Source: Created by author)
Figure 5: Are the affordable products and services offered by Asda satisfactory?
(Source: Created by author)
From the above survey, it can be said that people are quite satisfied with the services
offered by Asda. 60% of the people are satisfied with the products and services.
6. Are you willing to try out any new supermarket shops that offer similar kind of
products and services like Asda?
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