Inquiry Based Learning: Retail Trends Analysis for Asda Store Ltd.

This report examines current trends in the retail industry and their application to Asda Store Ltd. It begins with an introduction to trends, defining their importance for business success, customer satisfaction, and market competitiveness. The main body delves into specific retail trends, including flexible payment options like mobile wallets, the impact of social media on sales, the rise of omnichannel distribution, and the increasing importance of sustainability. The report then analyzes Asda Store Ltd., discussing its business model and how these trends align with its operations. The analysis highlights the suitability of flexible payment methods and sustainability initiatives for Asda. The conclusion summarizes the findings and provides recommendations for Asda to implement eco-friendly practices, such as reducing plastic use, and adopting flexible payment options. The report emphasizes the importance of adapting to market changes for long-term success and brand image enhancement.

Inquiry Based
Learning

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Trends in retail ...........................................................................................................................1
Analysis of the organisation........................................................................................................3
RECOMMEDATION & CONCLUSION.......................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Trend is generally direction within that something is getting change, develop or veering
toward. For an organisation it is essential to follow current trends for making their customer
satisfy as well as also for fulfilling their needs and wants in effective manner (Pantano and et. al.,
2017). Thus, for identifying current market trend company have to do market analysis because
there are several factors which involved within this and help in identifying trends available
within market area. This report is based on Asda Store Ltd. Which is British supermarket retailer
located at Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1949 on 19th February and its
founder was Peter and Fred Asquith, Sir Noel Stockdale. Products offering by them are Grocery,
general merchandise as well as financial services. According to data of 2020, Asda Store Ltd. Is
located at 631 locations. Moreover, there are approx. 1,65,000 staff members are working in
respective organisation. Besides its core supermarket, Asda is offering several other services
such as financial services as well as mobile phone provider that uses existing EE network.
It is important for Asda Store Ltd as they have to follow current trends which are
available in market area. Because this is the way through which company can make their
customer's satisfy, enhance sales, generate high profit as well as their customer base also get
increase (Nucamendi-Guillén, Moreno and Mendoza, 2018). This report will going to conduct
discussion on current trends within retail market. Along with this, analysis will going to conduct
for current trend in relation of Asda store Ltd. In the end section of report recommendation will
be given to respective organisation.
MAIN BODY
Trends in retail
In retail sector there are several trends which organisation have to adopt in their working
for attracting large number of customer's and also for serving them in effective manner. Retail
industry is said to be one of the fastest growing industry in the United Kingdom. Below is the
brief mention of some the trends in the retail industry (Giri, Thomassey and Zeng, 2019).
Explanation of these recent trends within retail industry are as follows :-
 Flexibility in Payment - There have been an advances of some contemporary approaches
to payment such as mobile wallets, digital payments and online payments. The presence
of such flexible approaches to payment helps customers in better management in their
1

finances. A research identified that presence of flexible approaches carries a direct impact
of sales revenue of the organisation. For instance: Klarna bank have started “buy now pay
later” facilities which have been successful in garnering attention from target people. It is
major trend as for billing purpose people have to stand in queue which sometimes not
possible for everyone as they are in hurry or have some other urgent work (von Briel,
2018). In addition to this, issue related to money change may also rise in which these
approaches to payment such as mobile wallets, digital payments and online payments
play their important role.
 Social Media leading to sales - Earlier was the time when social media was used to
promote and spread awareness relating to the products and services of the company. At
present social media have been updated in such a manner that they will lead to higher
conversion rates for a business (Wilking, Gottlieb and Rickles, 2019). This trend will be
helpful for a business to increase their sales revenue and will assure that awareness
reaches to the untouched markets. With the assistance of social media companies can take
feedbacks from their customer's and make changes according to that. Such practices
provide assistance to business firm in fulfilling need and wants of their buyers as well as
also make them satisfy.
 Omni-channel distribution - Omni-channel can be considered as an another trend which
focuses on undertaking more than one approach through which products and services are
delivered to consumers. Retailers operating in the contemporary business environment
have to make sure that they have undertaken digital as well as physical outlets to deliver
their product to the end consumers (Bodolica, Spraggon and Soueid, 2019). The
undertaking of this approach to distribution have been emerged as engaging for
customers and ultimately resulted in higher sales revenue for the business.
 Sustainability – From last few years it has been identified that seven out of 10 grocers
stop or reduce uses of plastic bags and packaging. Along with this, they pledge for
reducing their carbon footprint. It is important because retail industry is major contributor
of global carbon emission and play big role in negative impact on environment. In
addition to this, today's consumers are big fan of sustainability which have been founded
through InRiver survey that 62% of young consumers in United Kingdom said that they
will purchase from the brand who is more transparent with their impact on environment.
2

In addition to this, 63% said that they stop buying from the brand who are harmful to the
environment. Thus, it is essential for retail company to conduct their operation in such
manner as it will not harm environment. Because people are more focusing towards
environment and impact of organisation in it (Malar, 2019). If their will be negative
effect of any business firm on surrounding people try not to purchase from that company.
After going through these current trends within retail industry it has been identified that,
for Asda Store Ltd. More suitable are sustainability as well as flexibility in payment. These are
trwo major trend which will provide assistance to company in their long term sustainability as
well as also in attracting large number of customer's.
Analysis of the organisation
Asda Store Ltd. Which is British supermarket retailer located at Leeds, West Yorkshire,
England. It was founded in 1949 on 19th February and its founder was Peter and Fred Asquith,
Sir Noel Stockdale. Products offering by them are Grocery, general merchandise as well as
financial services. According to data of 2020, Asda Store Ltd. Is located at 631 locations.
Moreover, there are approx. 1,65,000 staff members are working in respective organisation.
Besides its core supermarket, Asda is offering several other services such as financial services as
well as mobile phone provider that uses existing EE network.
Business environment is very dynamic in nature due to which several modification take
place within that (Gullo and et. al., 2017). For organisation it is important to analyse current
trends which are available within market and adopt them as per requirement of business. In
relation of Asda store Ltd., suitable current trend is sustainability as well as flexible payment
method. These are more suitable for company and provide assistance in grabbing attention of
customer's and making their needs as well as wants satisfy. Explanation of these are as follows :-
Flexible payment method adoption will be effective for Asda Store Ltd. Because their
will be no more requirement of standing in Queue for long duration and money change issue will
also not face by both company as well as its customer's. There are several payment approaches
such as mobile wallets, digital payments and online payments. The presence of such flexible
approaches to payment helps customers in better management in their finances (Reinartz and
Linzbach, 2018). Such practices save time of people as in hurry also they will not feel difficult
in purchasing things from Asda Store Ltd.
3

Sustainability is also current trend because people are getting more aware about effect of
organisation operations on environment. In addition to this, today's consumers are big fan of
sustainability which have been founded through InRiver survey that 62% of young consumers in
United Kingdom said that they will purchase from the brand who is more transparent with their
impact on environment. In addition to this, 63% said that they stop buying from the brand who
are harmful to the environment (Rao, 2016). Thus, Asda Store Ltd. Have to follow current trend
of sustainability as it will have positive impact on both customer's as well as environment. For
this, respective organisation have to stop using plastic bags for packaging purpose and not to
dump their waste in water.
RECOMMEDATION & CONCLUSION
After going through above discussion it has been summarised that, Trend is generally
direction within that something is getting change, develop or veering toward. For an organisation
it is essential to follow current trends for making their customer satisfy as well as also for
fulfilling their needs and wants in effective manner. In addition to this, if company follow
current trends then for them it will become easy to fulfil their customer's demand in proper
manner. In simple term it can be said that, following current trends result in building brand
image of company within business environment. This will result in increasing sale as well as
profitability of business.
Through this entire discussion some recommendation has been in relation of Asda Store
Ltd. This is British supermarket retailer located at Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was
founded in 1949 on 19th February and its founder was Peter and Fred Asquith, Sir Noel
Stockdale. Products offering by them are Grocery, general merchandise as well as financial
services. According to data of 2020, Asda Store Ltd. Is located at 631 locations. Moreover, there
are approx. 1,65,000 staff members are working in respective organisation. Besides its core
supermarket, Asda is offering several other services such as financial services as well as mobile
phone provider that uses existing EE network. For sustaining within competitive business
environment it is essential for company to follow current market trends because it will help them
in attracting large number of customer's as well as also in fulfilling their needs and wants.
Thus, for Asda store Ltd. It is essential to implement some current trend within their
working as it will help them in taking competitive advantages. Respective company is adopting
sustainability within their working as current trend because it will provide assistance to them in
4

taking better advantage within business environment. It has been recommended to Asda Store
Ltd. As they have to adopt eco-friendly practices which will not harm environment. Such as
retail company have to stop using plastic bags and other packaging items because these are not
recyclable and harm to environment. As they have to use paper bags and also perform some
responsibilities towards environment by planning activities like planting trees. It will result in
positive effect on surrounding and also grab attention of existing and potential customer's.
Apart from this, Asda Store Ltd. Have to put scan QR code on their billing counter for
flexible payment. Because for money change customer's have stand in queue which sometimes
may take much time due to which people get frustrate. So for respective retail sector organisation
it is important to follow current trend related to flexible payment which can be possible by
implementing approaches to payment such as mobile wallets, digital payments and online
payments. Because of this current trend staff member of Asda Store Ltd. Will feel comfortable
and their loyalty for organisation also build.
5

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Pantano, E. and et. al., 2017. Does innovation-orientation lead to retail industry growth?
Empirical evidence from patent analysis. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services.
34, pp.88-94.
Giri, C., Thomassey, S. and Zeng, X., 2019. Customer analytics in fashion retail industry. In
Functional Textiles and Clothing (pp. 349-361). Springer, Singapore.
von Briel, F., 2018. The future of omnichannel retail: A four-stage Delphi study. Technological
Forecasting and Social Change. 132, pp.217-229.
Wilking, C., Gottlieb, M. A. and Rickles, N., 2019. The role of chain pharmacies to promote
healthy food retail: Current trends, legal limits, and policy opportunities. Health
marketing quarterly. 36(4), pp.291-306.
Bodolica, V., Spraggon, M. and Soueid, M. A., 2019. Innovation drivers and trends in the retail
industry: an application to emerging markets and the case of the Gulf region.
International Journal of Comparative Management. 2(1), pp.51-66.
Malar, M. S., 2019. Industry 4.0 Transforming Global Retail Industry. Indian Journal of
Computer Science. 4(1), pp.19-25.
Gullo, P. and et. al., 2017. State-of-the-art technologies for transcritical R744 refrigeration
systems–a theoretical assessment of energy advantages for European food retail
industry. Energy Procedia. 123, pp.46-53.
Reinartz, W. and Linzbach, P., 2018. Customer loyalty and reward programs in retail in the
digitalage. In Handbook of Research on Retailing. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Rao, A. V., 2016. The role of internal communication in enhancing organizational
competitiveness a case study of retail industry in Visakhapatnam. JIMS8M: The Journal
of Indian Management & Strategy. 21(4), pp.33-37.
Nucamendi-Guillén, S., Moreno, M. A. and Mendoza, A., 2018. A methodology for increasing
revenue in fashion retail industry. International Journal of Retail & Distribution
Management.
6