Analysis of Digital Business Trends and Strategies for Marks & Spencer

This report provides an in-depth analysis of digital business trends, focusing on Marks & Spencer (M&S) as a case study. It begins by presenting key trends and advantages of digital technology, including artificial intelligence and robotic process automation, and discusses their implications for managing virtual businesses. The report then critically evaluates new and emerging business models, addressing key business issues such as cyber security, data management, customer relations, and resource constraints. Furthermore, it examines the impact of new collaborative relationships and strategic alliances facilitated by digital technology, including robotics and virtual reality, and explores how e-commerce principles can be utilized within M&S. The report highlights the importance of digital transformation in enhancing customer satisfaction, improving forecasting, boosting sales, and increasing productivity. It emphasizes the significance of managing virtual business operations effectively and the role of digital business models in mitigating challenges. The report concludes by emphasizing the positive impact of digital collaboration on brand image, inventory management, and overall business performance.

Digital Business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. Presenting the key trend and advantages of digital technology along with implication of
managing virtual business......................................................................................................1
2. Critically evaluating new and emerging business model regarding key business issues...3
3. Impact of new collaborative relationship and strategic alliance through digital technology..4
4. Usage of e-commerce principles in the business................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
In the emerging era, businesses uses range of innovative ideas to create a positive
impression over the customers. Among all, digital business become trendy because it uses
technology in order to create new value for a business models and enhance the customer's
experience. Through this, entity offer products online that saves time as well as money. The
present report also highlights the importance of digital business and their ability to rapidly
develop into new markets. For that, the chosen company is Marks and Spencer (M&S) which is
deal in online and offered range of products online. The company is deal in retail business and
its headquarter is in UK, however it's digital business at global level.
The report will provide an overview of key trends and advantage of digital technology in
the context of chosen business. Further, study will also critically evaluate new and emerging
digital business model regarding key business issues. Also, it evaluates the new collaborative
relationship and strategic alliance through digital technology and also describe how e-commerce
principles could be used within M&S.
MAIN BODY
1. Presenting the key trend and advantages of digital technology along with implication of
managing virtual business
Digital technology are the electronic tools, systems that assist to grab attention of
customers and this includes social media, online games, multimedia etc. Large business uses
range of digital technology that helps to increase the market share and meet the demand of
customers as well.
Key trend Artificial intelligence: AI helps a business to examine the changing behavior of
customers and enable the business to make decisions accordingly. This in turn assist to
detect the changing pattern and analyze the data in real time that drive revenue. In the
context of quoted firm, this new trend assist to improve the demand forecasting and
optimize the product placement (Top 9 new technology trend for 2021, 2020). Therefore,
customer connects with right products at right place. Robotic process automation: Another trend of digital technology which helps in
interpreting application, processing transaction so that operations becomes smooth. Also,
in M&S, such digital technology trend will aid in adjusting pricing, production and
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inventory faster that helps to improve the business performance (Reis, Amorim and
Melão, 2020). Apart from this, robots can also used by the company in order to clean the
floor and attend the query of customers as well.
 Edge computing: M&S already uses cloud computing and edge computing assist to
solve the problems of cloud computing (Nissen, Lezina and Saltan, 2018). Also, it is
designed to solve issues in data processing due to low connectivity. By 2022, the new
trend will be expected to reach by 6.72 billion pound and create various job for the
engineers as well.
Advantages of digital technology
There are numerous benefits of using digital technology especially from 2020 because
pandemic has changes the entire business process and as a result, it will be beneficial to invest
within a digital technology. Such as: Improve customer satisfaction: With the help of digital technology, companies able to
provide product on demand and this in turn improve the customer satisfaction (Wirtz,
2019). For example, posting about any product on Facebook, will assist company to let
customer know about the offerings and improve their satisfaction level as well. Improve in forecasting: Through digital technology, companies are able to create
accurate demand forecasting and analyze past, present sales in order to make forecasting
for future (What are the benefits of digital transformation, 2020). Thus, forecasting can
also be changed as per fluctuation identified within market. Therefore, M&S able to
improve the projections in near future and make planning accordingly. Boost up sales: Another benefits of using digital technology is to boost up sales. Such
that through post upon social media, company is able to attract the new customers and
encourage them to avail the benefits which in turn improve the business performance in
positive manner (Porfírio and et.al., 2021). Improved productivity: It has been analyzed that digital technology assists company to
improve the productivity of employees as well as business due to its streamlines
workflow. Through automation, companies are able to integrate the data throughout
organization and also improve the team members to work in more effective manner.
 Enhance communication: It is one of the biggest advantage that company gain in order to
improve the operations. Also, through digital technology companies are immediately
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communicate to customers so that they enjoy the services or products offered by M&S
(Saura, Palos-Sanchez and Correia, 2019). Through Internet, organizations transfer the
large amount of information across the web in order to let the customer know about new
offers and improve business performance.
Implication of managing virtual business
It is quite essential for the organizations to manage virtual business because it helps to
improve the business performance and employees become also contribute to their work-life
balance effectually. Moreover, through virtual business, company keep modify the operations as
per the changes identified within the market. Also, there are lower expenses and business also
have access to new market as well as attain new customers that contribute towards a business
operation (Wirtz, 2019). Also, it can be stated that virtual business take advantages by trimming
unnecessary cost and invest time upon product development as well as marketing. Also, online
business assist to decrease the operating cost and increase the customer satisfaction level by
offering 24 hours services.
2. Critically evaluating new and emerging business model regarding key business issues
With an emerging era, business also faces numerous issues that might affect the business
in opposite manner. For that, different digital business models have been introduced in order to
minimize the impact of such issues over the business. There are several issues that are currently
faced by the businesses due to the introduction of the digital technologies. But the better part is
that the solution for the same in the form of digital business models are also the contribution of
the digitization. These are as mentioned below:
Cyber security: One of the major issue faces in the current trend by M&S as well as
other top business due to sharing and storing the data in a system. As a result, there are many
viruses that damage the overall system and corrupt the data that creates adverse impact upon the
business performance (Montealegre and Iyengar, 2021). For example, ransomware that bane of
cybersecurity, data professionals and IR and this is also growing day by day. For that, managers
and leaders must have to make action in order to control the attack because it causes direct
impact upon business performance. Similarly, Marks and Spencer also uses SureCloud in order
to manage the Cyber security governance, in this, it provides solutions and its capability to
integrate with current framework across the entire number of department. As a result, it also
replaces retailer's previous manual, spreadsheet based system in order to improve the visibility
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for management. This in turn reflected that company keep complied with digital business models
in order to minimize the issues and generate the best outcomes. Ineffective data management- The company manages the customer data in the business
to get the deeper insights into their buying behaviour, taste and preferences, future
potential demand. The information includes all the personal details which is highly
confidential but with the transformations in the digital world the unauthorized access,
hacking, data leakages have became the big issue that is faced by Mark and Spencer
(Jabbour and et.al., 2019). In order to improve the situation the cloud computing business
model and maintenance of the separate databases are used to effectively store the data
within the premises such that any of the misuse can be prevented. Managing the customers- One of the most significant tasks of the company is to keep
the customers satisfied and motivated to retain with the company for the longer time. The
timely meeting of the customer demands, knowing the customer preferences and also
solving all their problems in the real time is the issue with the company (Common
Digital Transformation Challenges & How to Overcome Them, 2021). In order to solve
this issue of the businesses the specialized software of customer relationship
management is maintained in the organization such that strong and healthy customer
relations are managed by the company.
 Resource constraints- In the presence of the major resource constraints of the company
it has to function efficiently such that all the operations of the business can be undertaken
smoothly and efficiently (Chong and et.al., 2019). With the availability of the finite
business resources it is quite difficult for the company to function and this is the reason
most of the companies have now adopted the business model of enterprise resource
planning helping in the optimum allocation of the scarce resources. This saves the cost as
well as increases the efficiency of the businesses.
So it can be assessed that the major issues of the business are sorted by the application of the
digital business models are they are effectively used to solve the various business issues that are
faced by the businesses.
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3. Impact of new collaborative relationship and strategic alliance through digital technology
In this emerging and digitalization era, it has been analyzed that companies are looking
for the new collaboration and strategic alliance which in turn improve the workplace
environment and performance. Also, in present scenario, where entire work is depended upon
the online business such that data syncing, file sharing through online application, collaboration
with digital technology creates a positive impact upon Marks and Spencer as well. This, further
enable real-time information exchange to facilitate the business process which in turn minimize
the error as well as delays (Sathananthan and et.al., 2017). As a result, it creates positive impact
upon customer experience and increase the productivity as well. In addition to this, there are
range of digital platforms that needs to be to followed by company in order to enhance the
market share along with sales. For example, due to pandemic most of the retail stores
implemented virtual reality dressing rooms that helps customer to protect from being contact
with other.
Similarly, for new digital collaboration, Marks and Spencer collaborate with robotics in
order to improve the business operations. Along with this, it has been analyzed that such
collaboration assists business to improve the brand mage and save time which can be invested
upon different areas. Apart from this, the new collaboration creates a direct positive impact upon
the business performance in the context of performance as well as productivity. Moreover, it
also assists company to accurate and correct stocking, tagging and pricing the products and
reduce the operating cost as well (Boojihawon and Ngoasong, 2018). Hence, it is clearly defined
that through an effective collaboration company is able to improve the brand image and attract
new customers as well. Apart from this, M&S also increase the efficiency and accuracy
regarding inventory management, through this, company is able to reduce the human resource
cost and as a result, they can invest time to meet the changing demand of customers as well.
With the evolution of the digital era and the innovation of the multiple digital
technologies, the formation of the strategic alliances are facilitated in the M&S company
impacting the operations of the business in the most significant manner possible. The strategic
alliances with the multiple organizations are formed in order assume the benefit of synergy,
obtain the information regarding the research and development as conducted by the several
organizations, outsourcing of some functions of the company, obtain consultancies etc. With the
help of the IT enabled drivers of technology the functioning with such strategic alliances across
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the boundaries have become quick and easy (Klus and et.al., 2019). All the major meetings can
be carried out though the video conferencing and the major business decisions of the mergers
and acquisitions are undertaken at distance with the help of digitalization.
The impact of these strategic partnerships and alliances on the fashion business of M&S
is also high as the benefit of the synergy helps in the attainment of the economies of scale
thereby reducing the overall costs of the company and minimizing the costs per unit of the
output. It can also be regarded such services in which the company is competent enough can be
obtained through the strategic alliances that are framed through the help of the digital technology
(Pagani and Pardo, 2017). These can be like the information pertaining to the research and
development area, financial consultancy services, outsourcing of the IT based work and also the
human resource management. All these services shall be facilitating the routine operations and
increasing the efficiency of the working of the company. The increased efficiency shall then be
contributing towards the achievement of the organizational objectives like the profitability and
growth of the company. Apart from that the planning for the expansion activities and building
the competitive advantage in the market. Overall. It can be stated that new collaboration and
strategic alliance can be considered a good choice for the company so that it helps to improve
the business performance and generate more chances of revenue as well.
4. Usage of e-commerce principles in the business
The various e-commerce principles can be applied by Marks and Spencer to digitalize its
operations and widen the reach of its products and services to the larger potential customer base
of the company. It can also be ascertained that with the efficient use of the digital platforms the
company can optimize the offerings and thereby can build competitive advantage in the industry
as against the competitors. These are some major e-commerce principles that can be applied by
the business to prosper in the market:- User Friendliness- This is one of the most essential principles that needs to be applied
by M&S to optimize its company website in the manner that its easily accessible by all
the potential customers of the company. All the products and services must be disclosed
with the relevant details, pictures for references so that the correct information is
provided at the consumer end (Wang, Tjaden and Heydari, 2019). The clothing brands
that are displayed must portray the realistic view so that it can be converted to sale.
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 Emphasis on the security of data- The company website from where the customers are
making the online purchases of the products and services should be safe and secure and
the databases must be protected from the unauthorized access. The customer data of
M&S must be stored using the cloud computing such that the information leakage to the
competitors like Next, Shoppers shop etc. cannot misuse it. Highly responsive technology- The website of Marks and Spencer must be developed in
the manner that it is highly responsive to the target audience of the company. The layout
and the design must be minimalistic such that it avoids all redundancies and the stuff that
makes the processing slow of the website and takes time to load the contents. Customer oriented- The digital technologies and the platforms that are used by the
company should be keeping in mind the perspectives of the customers and the target
audiences of the company. The M&S needs to identify that whether the customer base is
tech savvy or not and accordingly the website must be designed, the keywords in the
search engine are selected, the internet ads are provided on the specific social networking
applications etc. This should provide the users with the better experience such that the
revenues of the company can be maximized (Fang, 2018). Uniqueness in the design- The customers shall be attracted to the fashion brands based
on the unique design and the presentation such that the traffic can be generated on the
website of the company. The M&S should stand out in the various online rivals of the
company by providing the different alternatives to the buyer, adversities, exciting offers,
better user interface and eye catchy specifications so that the crowd over the website of
the company can be maximized. This also is responsible for the increment in the market
share of the company. Constant branding and marketing- The consistent branding and the marketing policy
should be applied by the business such that the customers are well updated with the
current features of the products and services that are offered and the new innovations,
new designing and the offers that are prevalent in the company. This shall make the
customers well-versed with the values that are offered by the company and ultimately
shall be leading to establishing the better relations with the company.
 Call to action must be clear- Post ensuring all the other areas are perfect and working for
the company then it must ensure upon the call to action facility of the website as
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provided to the customers of the company (Cuihong, 2018). The CTA is the most
important element on the page that be clearly visible to the customers so that they can
click and the convert the demand to sales from the company. The M&S website should
specify the terms like the “Add to Cart” or “Shop Now”.
All these e-commerce principles can be applied by the business to further modify the online
services that the company is providing through the usage of the digital technology such that the
revenues of the entity can be boosted by widening the target market for the company.
CONCLUSION
It can be summarized from the above project that digitalization is one of the most
essential part of the lives these days and the businesses has come a long with the help of the
various digital technologies. The digital technologies help the businesses to prosper and grow in
the manner that it fastens the processes and improvises the operations. The digital technologies
facilitate establishing the global footprints, building the strategic alliances and collaborative
partnerships, access to the various digital business models in order to solve the issues within the
business. Further the M&S can apply the e-commerce principles in the business so that the
digital processes can be optimized.
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