Current Trends in Retailing: Analysis and Recommendations for M&S

This report provides an in-depth analysis of current trends in the retail sector, with a specific focus on Marks & Spencer (M&S). The report begins with an introduction and background on the retail industry, highlighting its significance and the emergence of online shopping as a key trend. It then outlines the research objectives and questions, followed by a literature review that explores various perspectives on retail trends, including the impact of Brexit and the rise of e-commerce. The report analyzes M&S, examining its business model, product portfolio, and performance using the BCG matrix. The research methodology, including primary and secondary data collection methods, is detailed, followed by an analysis of the findings from questionnaires. The report concludes with recommendations for M&S, emphasizing the importance of e-commerce and adapting to current retail trends. This report is contributed by a student and is available on Desklib, a platform offering AI-based study tools.

Current Trends in
Retailing

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
BACKGROUND........................................................................................................................1
Chosen organisation sector for the research................................................................................1
Rationale of study.......................................................................................................................1
Research Objectives....................................................................................................................1
Research questions......................................................................................................................2
Current Trend in retail sectors-........................................................................................................2
Literature Review........................................................................................................................2
Analysis of organisation..................................................................................................................3
An analysis of Marks & Spencer................................................................................................3
Research Methodology....................................................................................................................5
Recommendation.............................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND
Retail is one of the world's largest and most important industries in the market. There are
many communities in this industry, and with the help of the whole world. The retail industry is
now growing by regularly providing an appropriate amount of goods and / or services to
customers. Therefore, there are many stores in the retail market that sell it and deliver their
products and services to consumers (Beacom, Hollywood and McLaughlin, 2020). In addition,
the use of advanced technologies in the system, the growth of transactions and data that will be
re-incorporated in the transition operations with the possibility for sellers to be able to have their
future growth and success In any case, the market structure is constantly changing, and this is a
high-risk industry. With the completion of this work, structural changes in the retail market will
be considered.
Chosen organisation sector for the research
In addition, Marks ' and Spencer's work will be evaluated in the light of the changing
situation to distinguish it from shortcomings and threats. Depending on the circumstances, it can
provide reasonable advice on how to fill in gaps in the organization of individual elements
(Kirillova and et. al., 2020). Further, M&S are also engaging in offering the variety of the
products in their product manifest and are also engaging in the financial services too, this is one
of the emerging retail organisation in UK,
Rationale of study
The foremost aimed of the following undertaking study is to examine the emerging
trends in the retail industry for anticipating the development strategy for M&S. one of the
emerging trend which has arises due to mobile internet penetration which made the shopping
more reliable and convenient in form of online shopping
Research Objectives
Research Purpose
Purpose of this study is “to classify the emergent style in the Retail in context to the
upsurge of online shopping and its stimulus on the organisational development”. A study on
Marks and Spencer.
Research Goals
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 To be aware of the worth of online shopping trend within retailing industry. To classify the emergent and existing retail trends.
Research questions
 What is the impact of click and brick business structure for a retail business?
 What is the influences of online shopping upon evolution and supply chain of Marks and
Spencer’s?
Current Trend in retail sectors-
Literature Review
According to the viewpoint of Heinemann (2021), it was noted that the retailing sector in
the heat of deep roots whose critical role is to anticipates with the requirements and needs of
millions of people. In short, the retailing industry, working in the, B2C business segment. In the
case of the UK, this country is well known from various marketing programs aimed at meeting
the needs of the population. It is prominent that, linked to the last decade, the industry, retail has
changed a lot and has become more consumer-oriented, with easy consumer access to goods and
services, From the point of view of Brexit, the retail sector will have the greatest impact-this is
one of the most important policy areas, changing the dominant segment in retail. Retail
companies are taking steps towards Brexit, and the risk of its expected impact, but selling styles
based on the process, not the product, and the main tasks in this style are to put on free business
processes that would be too expensive and efficient and will allow you to specialize in sales in
the shortest possible time.
In line with opinion of Peirson-Smith and Craik (2020), they have talked about to the UK
retail industry, where it was noted that there are many opportunities in the industry. As for the
large-scale transformation of people from the traditional to online shopping, and the ambitious
renovation of the Clicks and Bricks, as well as digitization and online payment systems. Online
shopping is one of the most important models in which many sellers are often the trigger for it,
especially those who are sensitive and have the ability to use real estate to make how best to
communicate with a large number of customers (Yanco, 2020). E-commerce is becoming the
most popular store form. Up to the central post are now sold online. However, the main problem
is that the market is very busy, so retail sector organisation need to take the appropriate evolution
to differentiate themselves from the competitors.
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As stated by John and Wang, Chen and Kang (2020), they believe that there are various
companies in the UK that sell products such as, Mark & Spencer, Tesco Plc, Morrison, etc.
Although it is true that in the retail industry, in particular, hypermarkets and others, organisation
are not able to rebuild because of their structure and the need to hire more people. It has been
found that over the past five years, the entire retail sector has become increasingly standard
sound. An online store is more likely to sell, because of the advent of the Internet and the
concept of smart and digitization, but it has been noticed that after the epidemic of the new
COVID-19, this trend is doing a great job. People to in order to prevent the spread of virus are
avoiding going out in store and this is where online delivery become bless to deliver product by
avoiding direct content. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is also an acceptable form of
industry sectors in the retail sector, as a result of building relationships with the consumer.
Analysis of organisation
An analysis of Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer is a British trading company operating in many countries. Michael
Marks and Thomas Spencer founded the company in 1884. Since then, it has been an M&S
brand, reaching over 1,463 locations worldwide. The main offices are located in London. Some
of Mark and Spencer's staples are paying for groceries to eat and drink, and clothing. The
company sells its products under the brand name. M&S is a public retail company listed below
the London Stock Exchange. Here's a breakdown of Stamp Marks & Spencer. In the UK, M&S
is a leader in the production of women's, men's clothing and underwear. As an international
company, it consists of 468 fully owned, co-owned and / or retail properties, stores, and 59
furniture properties in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, worth $ 1.1 billion in the previous
fiscal year (Marks &Spencer, 2021). During the years of the financial crisis, the company
maintained its strong product, the intensity of maintaining high costs and financing investments
in advertising.
BCG matrix of M&S
Stars
M&S.com it is also a star product and service portfolio. The site was launched in 2013 and will
be supported by its new e-commerce distribution center in Castle, which can produce millions of
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products for every day, and M&S see great growth potential. The goal is to continue to evolve to
help us improve the website and more of their products online, as well as be able to get a cow in
the future.
Question mark
This would recommend that you do not distinguish between clothing items, accessories,
and add information about what is the main part of the funds that are in the company's product
portfolio. Upgrade the design of women's clothing and stylish clothing for market 30 locations
plus as preferred growth strategy (Leimstoll and Wölfle, 2021). Since, the cosmetic product has
not yet reached the top, the goal of the design must be objective, even if they are at a low level.
Cash cows
M&S has two high quality products, don't forget food and underwear. These products,
which form the backbone of the company, must be protected according to the size of sales and
market. Money earned from these cows can now be distributed under the stars and in M&S. com
Dogs
Cheap clothes that are defined in the dog category. With little adult involvement in the
M&S market, they should seriously consider implementing a product offering, as it may be
related to delivering products that have the required level of profitability. Invest in shorts, a
delicious and healthy dinner to support the growth of the advertising strategy that M&S should
follow in the future.
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Research Methodology
Primary Data
The primary data in the study were accumulated at the beginning of the research.. This
information is stored by the researcher when conducting the study. The most popular ways to use
core data include questionnaires, answering questions, interviews, tests, observation, and more..
Here, the researcher has prepared a list of questions that are asked by providing an alternative to
the respondents to choose one of the answer methods.
Secondary Data
Secondary data is a pre- available data (Leimstoll and Wölfle, 2021). Here the investigator, will
need to search for the correct technology on the site and the source of information. In other
words, the data set that is first analyzed by the researcher is called the secondary data data. Here
is the information that should be collected, both 5-year-old or 10-year-old and more years ago, in
the research collection of the most recent data. So, in this way, it doesn't make sense.
Q1. How do you think the Internet or business models affect an
organization's growth and profitability?
Frequency
Q2. What is the importance of buying a company over the phone and on
the organization's website?
Frequency
Q3. Do you think company benefited from a store or an e-commerce
organization
Frequency
Findings
Theme 1 in how to work online or in a business model, the impact of an organization's growth
and profitability?
Q1. How do you think the Internet or e-commerce business models
affect an organization's development and productivity?
Frequency
a) Progressive influence 15
b) Negative impact 07
c) Neutral 04
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Interpretation:
So, from the above illustration this has been estimated that most of the respondent are
selecting the positive influence of profitability when company choose online business model.
which illustrates that more than 60% participant are favouring to this retail trend. On another
hand, three are negative responsive which means they few are not favouring that organizational
progression and their productivity have an influence on the business of M&S.
Theme 2: The significance of online trade and shopping over the smartphone application and on
the organization's website
Q2. What is the importance of buying a products of the company over
the phone and on the organization's website?
Frequency
a) gaining of new prospectus 07
b) fostering prospectus relationship 06
c) Productivity and sales 07
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Interpretation:
Therefore from the above illustration it has been stated that 7 out of 20 from the above
graph are giving their consent that online shopping is valuable for business success. Whereas, , 6
out of 20 come to an understanding that online business is significant for nurturing better
relationship with the clients. The enduring 7 accused approve that online-shopping is chief to an
organisation’s productivity and sales.
Theme 3: Prior advantage of the implementation of M&S.com online shopping business
Q3. According to you, do you think company benefited from online
store or an e-commerce organization
Frequency
a) Enhance customer commitment and transformation 11
b) Increase store sales in epidemic outbreak 09
Interpretation:
Therefore, it has been illustrated that half of the participant of the questioner which is 11
respondent out of 20 are in the favour and belives that the online shopping business creates and
enhance the commitment of the prospectus to M&S. Whereas, 9 participant out of 20 are
assenting that online shopping is valuable for increasing the sales of M&S in the COVID-19
outbreak.
Recommendation
From the above review of Marks and Spencer it is recommended that the organization
review work should focus in e-commerce to accelerate overall growth. The following changes
should correspond to current retailing trends that will help the company to gain more customers,
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increase profitably and to attain the short-and long-term goals. In addition, the transformation of
businesses from offline to offline, with digital revenue accumulation, deals with many digital
trends in the industry. The company has all the software made easy for customers, so they can
easily purchase products and services to provide them with the best shopping experience and
offer. For example, M&S the third largest store in the UK, is recommended to hold this position,
the company needs to make sure that e-commerce sales of goods to the customer are able to help
them achieve their desired goals for the future, which are always guided by the customer. This
will have a positive impact on your overall health and the severity of Marks and Spencer (Xu and
et. al., 2020). Compared to other UK retailers, Marks and Spencer's future strategies, often
offensive and defensive, aimed at achieving a highly competitive market environment, help them
find customers. Therefore, in the light of the recommendations, Marks and Spencer will be able
to remain on the market.
CONCLUSION
Thus, from the carried out study it has been demonstrated that a retail sector is one of the
developed and the fast phase sector which is growing and numerous trends are emerging daily.
SO, in order to better understand the retail trend this study used as the analysis. Online shopping
is one of the fast emerging trend in the retail which assist the retail sector to satisfy the customer
need with ease and the convince.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Xu, Z., and et. al., 2020. Superspreaders and superblockers based community evolution tracking
in dynamic social networks. Knowledge-Based Systems, 192, p.105377.
Leimstoll, U. and Wölfle, R., 2021. Direct to Consumer (D2C) E-Commerce: Goals and
Strategies of Brand Manufacturers. In New Trends in Business Information Systems and
Technology (pp. 237-250). Springer, Cham.
Leimstoll, U. and Wölfle, R., 2021. Direct to Consumer (D2C) E-Commerce: Goals and
Strategies of Brand Manufacturers. In New Trends in Business Information Systems and
Technology (pp. 237-250). Springer, Cham.
Wang, Y., Chen, Q. and Kang, C., 2020. Prospects of Future Research Issues. In Smart Meter
Data Analytics (pp. 287-293). Springer, Singapore.
Yanco, G., 2020. Retail investing during COVID-19: Snares and scams. Equity, 34(8), pp.4-5.
Peirson-Smith, A. and Craik, J., 2020. Reaching for the Sun, Moon and Stars: Experiencing
Fashion Retail in the Neighbourhood in Hong Kong. Fashion Practice, pp.1-28.
Kirillova, O.V., and et. al., 2020. Current trends in the development of the Russian agrarian
economy in ensuring food security. In BIO Web of Conferences (Vol. 27). EDP
Sciences.
Beacom, E., Hollywood, L.E. and McLaughlin, C., 2020, September. Investigating the
healthiness of food products on promotion: market brands and own brands.
In Transforming Retail Channels in the Digital Era: Marketing and Operations
Perspectives: 5th Colloquium on European Research in Retailing (CERR 2020) (p.
381).
Kupfer, A. and Schmidt, M.G., 2021. In search of retail investors: The effect of retail investor
attention on odd lot trades. Journal of Empirical Finance, 62, pp.315-326.
Heinemann, K., 2021. Playing the Market: Retail Investment and Speculation in Twentieth-
Century Britain. Oxford University Press.
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