Covid-19 Impact on Primark: Business Performance Review Analysis

This research proposal examines the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the business performance of Primark, a fast-fashion retailer. The study begins with an introduction outlining the background, aims, objectives, research questions, and rationale for the research. A literature review explores the critical impacts of Covid-19 on businesses, particularly retailers like Primark, including financial losses, store closures, and job cuts. It also highlights the benefits of remote work flexibility, such as better work-life balance and reduced stress. The research methodology section details the qualitative research approach, interpretive research philosophy, and inductive research approach used in the study. The report concludes with a discussion of strategies that can help retailers mitigate the negative impacts of the pandemic, such as focusing on the online market, shifting to crisis management, and managing costs. The document provides a comprehensive analysis of the challenges faced by Primark and offers potential solutions for adapting to the changing business environment.

Business Research
Methodologies

Table of Contents
TITLE: To review effects of Covid-19 on business performance. Study on Primark.....................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Background of the study..............................................................................................................1
Aims and Objectives....................................................................................................................1
Research questions.......................................................................................................................2
Rationale or justification..............................................................................................................2
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................2
Critical impacts that is lead by pandemic covid-19.....................................................................2
Benefits of remote or work from home flexibility.......................................................................3
Strategies that can help retailers in reducing negative impacts lead by Covid-19......................3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY....................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

TITLE: To review effects of Covid-19 on business performance. Study on Primark
INTRODUCTION
In regards to covid-19 it can be said that it is the infectious disease that is caused by the most
recently found corona virus. This infectious disease spread people to people if they come in close
contact, sneeze, cough and others (Spinelli and Pellino, 2020). It does not only affect health of
people but this infectious disease has affected businesses to the great extent. It has also affected
economy of countries. Covid-19 has several negative impacts on businesses but there are some
positive impacts and experiences faced by people after this as people got opportunity to spare
time for their family and live with them after busy schedule.
Background of the study
Covid-19, infectious disease has affected people and businesses to the great extent. This
present study is based on Primark, that is fast fashion retailer with headquarter in Ireland. It was
founded by Arthur Ryan in the year of 1969. This study is going to show impacts of Covid-19
that has on performance of Primark retailer and in this regards it is found that it losses around
£800m in Covid-19 lockdown and their revenue falls around 75% in just three months. It will
also discuss Some benefits of remote working and work from home facility for both employers
and employees that also being developed after lockdown (Lysyakov, Viswanathan and Zhang
2020). It will show some effective ways by which retailers and people can solve all negative
impacts and can continue their work as like before Covid-19 and can improve their lives.
Research methodology also plays a vital role as it helps scholar in gathering information relevant
to the topic on which study is going to be conducted and these data help them out in making
better decision.
Aims and Objectives
Aim
To explore impacts lead by pandemic convid-19 on overall performance of Primark and its
employees.
Objectives
 To identify critical impacts that is lead by pandemic convid-19.
 To explore benefits of remote or work from home flexibility.
 To discuss ways or strategies by which all negative impacts lead by covid-19 can be
reduced by Primark.
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Research questions
1. What are some positive and negative impacts of Covid-19 on performance of Primark
retailer?
2. How Primark is making itself beneficial by remote and work from home facility?
3. Which strategies can help retailers in reducing negative impacts lead by Covid-19?
Rationale or justification
Corona virus is the main hot topic on which everyone discuss and people often hear about
this. One of the main reason of choosing or selecting this topic is it is the main business issue and
has affected all sectors like hospitality, healthcare and others. It has affected people mentally,
physically and financially. So, for helping out retailers and people in solving this problem by
identifying appropriate ways or strategies, is one of the main reasons of selecting this topic
(Klöwer and et.al., 2020). By conducting this research, people can identify all reasons as why
they are getting affected along with possible strategies that can help them out in reducing these
negative impacts and can improve their lives in all manners.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Critical impacts that is lead by pandemic covid-19
Covid-19 has significant impacts on performance of retailers. As per the view of Bartsch
and et.al., (2020) covid-19 affected retailers like Primark and others to great extent in negative
manner and it is stated that Primark losses around £800m in just three months after this
lockdown due to Covid-19, infectious disease. It decreased its sales as it was not possible for
customers to come to stores and buy products. In addition, for supporting this views,
Seetharaman, (2020) stated in regards to impacts of Covid-19 on Primark it is found that this
retailer shuts down around 375 stores within only 12 days because it was not possible to afford
them in lockdown due to decreasing rate in sales and revenue.
Aday and Aday, (2020) argued and said that due to covid-19, employees got affected the
most than employers because Primark and other retailers cuts thousands of jobs and people
became unemployed. Due to this some people became bind to commit crimes like kidnapping,
theft and others and it increases fear among society members. So, it can be said that it is affecting
both employees and employers to the great extent. Fernandes, (2020) also said that due to covid-
19 and cutting jobs to great extent it decreased overall performance and productivity. Employees
find difficulties in performing tasks from home and communicating with customers as well as
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meeting them personally. It was time consuming. Due to lack of ability of flexibility, employees
face problems in performing tasks and improving performance. It is also stated Mollenkopf,
Ozanne and Stolze, (2020) that some retailers that mainly focused on online delivery of products,
took advantages of this and increased competition and it was not good for Primark and other
retailers that sell products offline.
Benefits of remote or work from home flexibility
As said by Seetharaman, (2020), due to COVID-19 there has been change in way of living
life and working. So it has been identified that many companies have allowed the employees to
work from home in order to maintain their health and safety. however it has been found that
there are several benefits of working from home. it is as follows
Better work life balance- the employees can start and end their work according to their phone
schedule. they do not have to follow the office routine. Hence, it enables them to have control
over their schedule and work according to it. hence it has led to providing a better work life
balance and working in more easier way from home.
Less stress - by working from home employees feel less stress as they work inflexible way.
hence they are able to focus on their mental as well as physical health. besides that saving of
time allows them to focus on other areas such as getting extra sleep spending more time with
family eating healthy lunch etc
Money saving- this is the main benefit of working from home as employees do not have to
incur cost on transportation parking fees and other expenses. hence they are able to reduce their
overhead cost and saving money.
Positive environment impact- working from home gives a positive environment two
employees. it is because they can work anywhere in better surroundings where they feel most
pleasant.
Increase productivity and performance- it is also a huge benefit of working from home as it
allows staff to working more effectively when they get a positive environment. with this they are
able to focus on their work. also with less stress and few interruptions quiet environment etc
results in increasing productivity.
A happy healthier work life- it has been evaluated that working remotely leads to providing
healthier work life. it is because staff is able to focus on their interesting hobbies as well. besides
that there is more positive relationship between co workers and managers due to less politics.
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along with it working from home gives more time for physical activities. does this all Leeds 2
happy and healthier work life (Melgar Estrada, and Koolen, 2018).
Thus, this all are the benefits of working from home as employees are able to spend more
time with family and also they can take rest hard small breaks between their work
Strategies that can help retailers in reducing negative impacts lead by Covid-19
As elucidated by Lysyakov,, Viswanathan, and Zhang (2020) it is necessary for retail
companies to sustain in market for long term and reduce the negative impact of COVID-19. this
is because it will allow them to competing market and survive. therefore they need to develop
strategies an effective way so that the impact is minimized. Hence the strategies are as follows
Focus on online market this is an important strategy that can be followed by retailers. here they
can focus on online market rather than brakes and motor business model. It will help in reaching
more customers and maintaining sales from it.
Shift from business continuity to crisis management it is a strategy invest retailers must revise
their plans, manage supply chain and prioritize business activities etc. hence they should build a
flexible crisis management capability to steal their response based. They need to take right
decisions any store operation logistics pricing etc so that they are able to continue in market.
In view of Aday and Aday, (2020), the retailers must analyze that which product is at risk
so that they are able to manage their pricing promotion etc to ensure that it is available for long
time. in addition to that retailers should manage short term cost so that they are able to retain
their customers. besides that retailers need to take harsh decisions of closing of stores and supply
chains that is leading to rising cost and are no longer affordable by company. they need to focus
on digital way of promoting and advisor advertising products and services so that cost incurred is
less. This will enable in sustaining for long term in market.
Also retailers should deliver only products when there is demand in the market. this
means that they should fulfil online order as much as possible rather than bricks and mortar.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research type: Research type is also known as research strategy on which basis further elements
of research methodology depends. It is being divided into 2 types such as qualitative and
quantitative. Research strategy refers a form in which researcher gathers information and it may
be numerical form and non numerical. All information that is being gathered in numerical form
is known as quantitative research and data that are being gathered in non numerical form is
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known as qualitative (Boddy, 2016). In qualitative type, researcher gathers information in
feelings and word form and they can understand data in an effective manner in this type. It is the
reason for selecting or choosing qualitative research for this study.
Research philosophy: It is a belief about techniques in which researcher should gather data
about phenomenon. It is being categorized into 4 types such as interpretive, positivism, realism
and pragmatism. Positivism in tangible and single in nature and with the strong prediction they
can make better decision. In positivism, researcher believes that society shapes individuals as
they consist of social facts. They can explain people’s action and can know as why and how
people react with social norms. Whereas, in interpretivism type of research philosophy
individuals have consciousness and does not act as puppets and they react to external forces in a
real and effective manner. Pragmatism philosophy views scientific inquiry as attempts for
finding theories that can work and make differences to intellectual problem. Whereas realism
views world as independent (Ryan, 2018). For this research study, researcher will focus on
interpretivism research philosophy because it is found that this is suitable and associated with
qualitative research strategy. As like this, positivism is suitable with quantitative research
strategy. So, because of this reason, researcher uses interpretivism.
Research approach: A process that consists of some steps of broad assumptions of detailed
method of collection, analysis and using data is known as research approach. It is also being
categorized into 2 types such as inductive and deductive. In inductive research approach, scholar
focuses on generating brand new theory and by generating that theory they gather appropriate
information that can help them out in taking better decision and making study successful.
Whereas, in deductive research approach, rather generating new theory, researcher develops an
existing theory that already has been generated. By moulding and making some changes they
develop theory and gather information relevant to the research topic. For this research study that
is being conducted on covid-19 and its impact, researcher will use inductive research approach
because it is associated with interpretive research philosophy (Woo, O'Boyle and Spector, 2017).
Whereas, deductive research approach is associated with positivism research philosophy. One of
the other reasons of using this approach is it allows flexibility and support researcher in making
study successful by increasing knowledge and skills.
Data collection: There are two types of collecting data such as primary and secondary In
primary data collection, researcher gathers brand new data that are not being used before by any
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other researcher. On the other hand, in secondary data collection, researcher gathers second hand
data that may be used before by other people and researchers as they are being published before.
Some sources by which researcher can collect primary data are: questionnaire, interview, survey
and others. Sources that can be used for gathering secondary data include: internet, books and
journals, articles, literature, library and others (Apanasevic, 2018). For this research, scholar will
mainly focus on primary data collection and with the help of literature review he will gather
some secondary data. By conducting questionnaire, researcher will collect primary data because
it can give accurate and detailed information.
Data analysis: For improving image, researcher requires making research study successful and
effective and it is possible when they gather accurate data and make them reliable for the study.
It can be done by making use of appropriate data analysis tools. Selection of data analysis tools
relies on main research strategy as whether it is qualitative and quantitative. Data analysis tools
help researcher in making better decision and making collected data reliable, accurate and
effective for using. Qualitative and quantitative are 2 main tools (Melgar Estrada and Koolen,
2018). For qualitative data, researcher uses qualitative data analysis tools and for quantitative
data, they use quantitative data analysis tools. For this research study, scholar will use qualitative
data analysis tools or thematic analysis because research study is qualitative or data are being
gathered in non-numerical form.
Sample: Sample refers a group of people or target people that are being selected by researcher as
participants for research study. Process that is being used for targeting people is known as
sampling that is being categorized into 2 type such as random and non random. In random
sample type, researcher target people randomly as they do not set any criteria for selection of
people. Whereas, in non random type of sample, researcher set some criteria like age of people,
experience, gender and other and on these basis people are being selected. For this study on
identifying impacts of Covid-19, scholar will make use of random sampling because it makes
people or participants feel valued and increase trust towards research study (Etikan and Bala,
2017). It also reduces discrimination or biased nature of researcher. 30 employees of Primark
will be taken as sample in this study.
Ethical consideration: Ethics refers moral principles that need to be considered by everyone
and while conducting research, scholar requires following some ethics for improving image and
making study successful (Cascio and Racine, 2018). Some ethical considerations are:
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 To give equal and fair chance to target people of sharing their views.
 To not pressurizing anyone for taking participation in research study.
 To make confidentiality or keeping personal and professional information safe and
secure.
 To conduct all functions in a fair manner.
Research limitation: Lack of time can be the main limitation because developing questionnaire
and collecting information in qualitative type is time consuming. But it can provide detailed as
well as accurate information. Other main limitation is cost. As compared to secondary data,
collecting information by conducting questionnaire can increase cost but with the help of bank
loan and other it can be conducted in cost effective manner
CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been summarized that covid-19 and current climate change
situation is the main business issue that has affected people and businesses to the great extent. It
has discussed several critical impacts as how it has affected economy, performance of retailers. It
has shown some positive impacts such it people got time and opportunities to spend time while
doing work from home. There are several companies that continued their work by providing this
flexibility and work from home and it also made them able to improve performance. It has
further, shown some ways or strategies that can be used by retailers for reducing negative
impacts led by covid-19 and lockdown. It has shown effectiveness as well as reasons of
following all steps of research methodology in a systematic manner as it helps scholar in
gathering as well as analysing relevant information.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aday, S. and Aday, M.S., 2020. Impacts of COVID-19 on food supply chain. Food Quality and
Safety.
Apanasevic, T., 2018. Primary data collection: Approaches of service providers towards mobile
payments.
Bartsch, S. and et.al., 2020. Leadership matters in crisis-induced digital transformation: how to
lead service employees effectively during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Service
Management.
Boddy, C.R., 2016. Sample size for qualitative research. Qualitative Market Research: An
International Journal.
Cascio, M.A. and Racine, E., 2018. Person-oriented research ethics: integrating relational and
everyday ethics in research. Accountability in research. 25(3). pp.170-197.
Etikan, I. and Bala, K., 2017. Sampling and sampling methods. Biometrics & Biostatistics
International Journal, 5(6), p.00149.
Fernandes, N., 2020. Economic effects of coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) on the world
economy. Available at SSRN 3557504.
Klöwer, M. and et.al., 2020. An analysis of ways to decarbonize conference travel after COVID-
19.
Lysyakov, M., Viswanathan, S. and Zhang, K., 2020. Retailers' Content Strategies on Social
Media: Insights from Analysis of Large-scale Twitter Data.
Melgar Estrada, L. and Koolen, M., 2018. Audiovisual media annotation using qualitative data
analysis software: A comparative analysis. The Qualitative Report. 23(13). pp.40-60.
Mollenkopf, D.A., Ozanne, L.K. and Stolze, H.J., 2020. A transformative supply chain response
to COVID-19. Journal of Service Management.
Ryan, G., 2018. Introduction to positivism, interpretivism and critical theory. Nurse
researcher. 25(4). pp.41-49.
Seetharaman, P., 2020. Business models shifts: Impact of Covid-19. International Journal of
Information Management, 54, p.102173.
Spinelli, A. and Pellino, G., 2020. COVID‐19 pandemic: perspectives on an unfolding
crisis. The British journal of surgery.
Woo, S.E., O'Boyle, E.H. and Spector, P.E., 2017. Best practices in developing, conducting, and
evaluating inductive research.
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