Dissertation: Digital Marketing's Role in Enhancing Tesco's Sales

This dissertation investigates the role of digital marketing in enhancing sales for Tesco Plc, a multinational retailer. It begins with an overview of digital marketing concepts, emphasizing its importance for organizations and explores Tesco's use of digital channels to connect with customers and drive sales. The study examines the company's background, aims, and objectives, including an analysis of digital marketing platforms, strategies, and challenges. The research methodology outlines the methods used to gather and analyze data, while the results and discussion chapters present findings, interpretations, and a critical analysis of Tesco's digital marketing efforts. The dissertation also identifies key challenges and privacy threats associated with digital marketing and proposes strategies for overcoming them. The conclusion summarizes the research findings, provides recommendations, and reflects on the learning and experience gained throughout the study.

DISSERTATION
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CONTENTS
Topic: Role of digital marketing in enhancing sales of an organisation. A research work on
Tesco plc..........................................................................................................................................3
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................3
Overview of the study .................................................................................................................3
Background of organisation.........................................................................................................4
Aims & Objective........................................................................................................................4
Rationale of research....................................................................................................................5
Discussion of each chapter...........................................................................................................5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................7
The concepts of digital marketing and their importance for an organisation..............................7
To determine the crucial role played by digital marketing in enhancing sales of Tesco plc. .....9
To evaluate about the main challenges and privacy threats associated with the use of digital
marketing strategy by an organisation.......................................................................................11
To develop better ways and strategies to overcome the challenges associated with use of
digital marketing by Tesco plc...................................................................................................13
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................................................15
CHAPTER 4: RESULT AND DISCUSSION...............................................................................21
4.1) Analysis of results..............................................................................................................21
4.2) Interpretation of results.......................................................................................................23
4.3) Discussion...........................................................................................................................36
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION...........................................................39
5.1) Conclusion..........................................................................................................................39
5.2) Recommendation................................................................................................................41
CHAPTER 6: REFLECTION........................................................................................................42
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................44
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Topic: Role of digital marketing in enhancing sales of an organisation. A
research work on Tesco plc
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Overview of the study
In today’s techno driven world, digitalisation has become a major part of everyone’s life
which support them in getting connected with one another by reducing the physical barrier. The
digital technology is not just restricted to a become a communication source among people are
far away from one another rather it also act as a significant tool for organisation in order remain
competitive and approachable to the consumers (Dumitriu and et. al., 2019). There are number of
organisations which are using digital technology as a platform to serve the customers from
several different part of the world. By using online medium special a web page of social media
platform, organisations usually try to approach customers by providing them with personalised
information regarding the product or services they are seeking for and that can fulfil their basic
demand. Other than this, online platform is also used to have a direct interaction with customers
to provide them with product they require and resolving the issues if they have any related with
product or services which in turn reduce the chance of any kind of dissatisfaction among the
customers regarding a particular brand. This in turn help in encouraging more and more sales as
well as referrals to group of people that further call for increase in volume of sale. For getting
better understanding about it, this investigation is performed over Tesco Plc which is a
multinational retailer and a great example of digital retailer (Fontich and Camps, 2014).
The topic of current assignment is simply based on digital marketing which is refers to
the way of advertising which delivered through digital channels like search engines, use of
websites, implication of social media, sending and receiving of email along with use of mobile
apps. In present scenario, the use of these online media channels and implication of digital
marketing is taken up as a viable sort of method by which organisation is marketing and
endorsing their goods, services along with their brands (Kumar, 2019). In modern days the use
and application of digital marketing has become most vital and crucial aspects for every business
organisation as it provide an enormous system of online and digital channels that makes it simple
and more easy for companies to onboard their products and services along with enhancing their
image of brands at local as well as global level. In today's world where cut throat competition is
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there especially in retail industry use and implication of digital-marketing is become for viable
and crucial for Tesco to discover and set strategies which ensures and lead to better marketing
engagement. Thus, it can be summarised that use and implication of digital marketing sets out
an effective way and implied a viable strategy to ensure effective communication landscape to
lead and have a vital interaction with customer at global level (Ledford and Gast, 2014).
Background of organisation
The digital marketing is used as a tool by several organisations in order to enhance their
brand reputation, improve their relationship with customers, approaching potential clients nad
enhancing the sales of the organisation by [providing 24/7 availability to customers. IN order to
further develop understanding about the role which is played by digital marketing in enhancing
the sale of organisation, Tesco plc is taken into consideration for this investigation (Lutz and et.
al., 2018). Tesco Plc is a larger multinational retailer which operates in several different country
and deals in product categories like grocery items, food, book, clothing, furniture, toys, financial
services, telecom etc. Since, the company is offering its services by using both the medium such
as by establishing physical outlets and using online webpages, this investigation will support in
determining the ways through which Tesco used digital marketing as an effective tool to
enhancing its approach in market as well as increasing its sales. The information from this
investigation will further support Tesco in improvising its practices toward utilising digital
marketing and further enhancing its sales.
Aims & Objective
Aim:.
The aim behind leading out and conducting current research project is “To investigate about
the importance of digital marketing along with its role in enhancing sales of an organisation”. A
research work on Tesco plc
Research objectives
The objectives associated with current research work on Tesco Plc are listed as follows:
• To review about the concepts and platforms of digital marketing along with their
importance for an organisation.
• To determine the crucial role played by digital marketing in enhancing sales of Tesco
plc.
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• To evaluate about the main challenges and privacy threats associated with the use of
digital marketing strategy by an organisation.
• To develop better ways and strategies to overcome the challenges associated with use of
digital marketing by Tesco plc.
Research questions
• Explain about the concepts and platforms of digital marketing along with their
importance for an organisation?
• What is the main role that digital marketing plays within enhancing sales of Tesco plc?
• What are the major challenges and privacy threats associated with the use of digital
marketing strategy by an organisation?
• Enlist better ways and strategies to overcome the challenges associated with use of digital
marketing by Tesco plc?
Rationale of research
This study aims “To investigate about the importance of digital marketing along with its role
in enhancing sales of an organisation”. Conducting this study is significant for researcher as this
assist in gaining deep information and knowledge on the topic which assist in improving the
knowledge base not only about the topic or title but the other areas of associated with the topic
also. This study helps in reviewing the different platforms and concepts of digital marketing
along with its importance to the organisation that ultimately helps the company in determining
the benefits of using digital platforms to promote its business. Apart from this, it also helps in
analysing the role that digital marketing play in improving the sales of company (Fontich, and
Camps, 2014). There are several challenges and privacy threats related to use of digital
marketing which can also be determined by the researcher by performing this investigation. This
helps the organisation developing the ways and strategies through which it can overcome the
challenges associated with digital marketing in an effective way. Beside this, the current research
topic also meets the personal interest and educational aspects of investigator and ensures better
development of skills and personal competencies of researcher. Thus, selection of current reserch
topic is rationale from both professional as well as personal perspectives of investigator.
Discussion of each chapter
This part involves a description regarding the chapters that are being included within
current investigation in order to present an overview regarding information that each chapter
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within research contain/ this help reader in getting an idea about purpose behind a particular
chapter to be includes in researcher and why it is there, so this structure act as a blueprint of
research. The current report involves following chapters within its structure,
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION – The first chapter is about basic introduction of
research area of dissertation that help reader in identifying about the meaning of topic chosen,
background of the study and reason behind selecting the topic. Other than this it also contains
information such as aim and objectives of the study on which whole dissertation depends. It
forms the crucial section of research project as makes aware about the set topic under
background of study and also facilitates information about the main aim and set objectives on
which the whole investigation is based.
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW – After introduction the next chapter is
literature review which help in presenting in-depth information about the research topic that help
in understanding the nature of study. For performing literature review the information from
secondary sources will be gathered in order to critically review the view point of several authors
who have already performed investigation over topic which is related with current study.
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY – This is the third chapter of
dissertation which involve a discussion regarding the range of methods or tools that are adopted
by the investigator for performing current study in order to gather, analyse, interpret and
arranged data in effective manner along with reason behind adopting a particular method. The
combination of tools and methods used by researcher help in identifying the reliability and
validity of study.
CHAPTER 4: RESULT AND DISCUSSION – In this chapter the data collected for the
investigation such as primary and secondary information are arranged and then analysed to
determine the finding of the investigation. The data analysed within this section help in
presenting the actual finding out of data that further utilised to conclude the outcome. In this
section the primary data will be evaluate and presented with the help of graph and secondary data
will be discussed to summarise the understanding gathered from it.
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION – This is the second last
chapter of investigation which focuses toward summarising the overall finding of study in order
to conclude the actual result that researcher get from analysing of primary and secondary data
analysis. This section helps in determine that whether the finding of study is in line with research
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objectives and does it support in achieving the main aim of the study. On other side, it also
presents recommendation about the issues that are found with the help of investigation so that
problem can be resolved with the help of information present in study.
Chapter 6: Reflection- This is the last chapter or section of a research project which
comprises of discussion about personal learning and experience availed while leading out a
specific investigation. Reflection comprises of evaluation of efficiency of method applied along
with analysis of personal development of skills and other experience during course of study.
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
It consists of analysis and evaluation of set of secondary data which is related with
specific topic to provide better nearness and understanding about that. Literature review forms a
vital part of every dissertation as it its necessary to evaluate and analysis about set topic and its
objective to set a base and framework for further investigation (Mackey and Gass, 2015). The
current literature review for this specific dissertation is based on analysis of online articles and
authenticated journal associated witch the topic of digital marketing and its objective an
evaluation of which is provided below:
The concepts of digital marketing and their importance for an organisation
According to the view point of Deshpande. I., 2020, digital marketing refers to as a
marketing approach which is basically relies over the internet and support in connecting the
targeted audience with several different digital media channel and platforms. It is considered to
be a kind of all-encompassing term which contains several digital channels like SEO, social
media marketing, content marketing, email marketing, mobile marketing and so on. These all
support in elaborating the strategies for reaching and connecting the existing as well as potential
customers with a company. An average person mainly consumer informative content through
computer, television, smartphone, tablet, radio and other kind of traditional media which make
the journey of buyer more complicated. But digital marketing allow the brand to stay relevant to
their customer by making themselves relevant to customers by making them visible using several
different channels as well as touch points which in turn also help customers to reach their
destination by making their purchasing journey more simpler (Martin, 2014). There are several
channels that are used as a source to perform digital marketing by organisation. These are
explained below:
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Content marketing: The content is consider as the crucial essence of digital marketing,
whether it remain documented content marketing or not, it is used to create content for
entertaining, persuading, inspiring and informing the buyers using digital platform. Some of the
most common format used for content are videos, text, infographics, images, eBooks, slide decks
etc.
Search engine Optimization: This act as a jet pack which assist in content marketing
efforts. The SEO mainly contains the on page and off page activities which help in boosting up
the visibility of website within search engine result pages for the most preferable keywords.
Earlier the SEO was primarily remaining text based but now in recent year the most prominence
gained by voice search due to which the SEO activity is required to have a conventional
approach (Mzi, 2017).
Digital advertisement: It is considered as an umbrella term which is used for several
different online advertising strategy. The pricing or bidding strategies used for the digital
advertising are usually termed as cost per mile or cost per click. The most common format used
for presenting digital advertisement are search engine marketing, native advertising,
programmatic advertising, display advertising and social media advertising.
Social media marketing: This platform mainly focuses over increasing the presence of a
brand over a channel on which customers pend majority of time. It mainly includes LinkedIn,
Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and twitter, using which one can share the content using both
organic as well as paid channels. Social media channel has also paid up a crucial role within
propagating video marketing as well as ephemeral content wave. This allow a two-way
communication and fans as well as followers who can interact with the content presented using
like, share, comment or posting content on official pages of company (Tuohy and et.al., 2013)
(Walliman, 2017).
On the other hand, as per the view point of Sean, 2019, the digital marketing is considered
to be a new as well as different way of marketing which open up new form of media to peddle
product or services. This is so because now it become an integral part of the business for
approaching and dealing with the customers. There are certain importance of digital marketing
are explained underneath in context of business. These are,
Become more personalised: There are certain characteristics available within digital
marketing which allow an organisation to have a more personalised interaction with customers.
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The email marketing is one among them where one can target customers at individual level.
Majority of customers prefer that they get direct information through email directly from
company which provide them a sense of comfort by having more relatable information.
More advanced analytics: With the help of digital marketing an organisation become
able to identify whether their ads are actually being assess by the customers, they liked it or not,
if any sharing of ad take place etc. All these become possible to being track with the help of free
analytics software such as Google Analytics or an insight can be gained with the help of some
paid tools. With the help of this organisation get an idea about what kind of content or
advertisement are being prefer by customers so that the organisation can alter the content as per
the choice and like of customers (Chaffey, 2019).
To determine the crucial role played by digital marketing in enhancing sales of Tesco plc.
As per the information presented by Niculescu, A. and et. al., 2019, digital marketing has
now become one of the most demanding platform for a business in order to interact with
customers and provide them with the information which they want in order to complete their
journey of purchasing a product. In relation to this it is consider as one of the most cost effective
as well as beneficial medium which help an organisation in enhancing its sales. This is so
because it acts as a technique which allows a business to get spread all over the global and
generate unexpected sale for the business (Dodson, 2016). In a similar manner digital marketing
also consist of several methods through which customers can share the product they like with
their reference group. This in turn help the business in spreading about the basic information
about product or services in front of huge market which support it in increasing its sales and at
the same time get prominence among the competition present in marketplace.
In continuation to this, Dumitriu, D. and et. al., 2019, presented certain ways through
which digital marketing support Tesco in increasing its sales within marketplace. These are
explained below:
Market research: Digital marketing proves to be one of the most effective tools which
can be used by organisation in order to conduct a market research by using the content marketing
techniques and spreading the business over internet. With the help of this the consumers can
easily access the detail about products or services and can also provide review after using the
product for suggesting others. This in turn help Tesco in getting an idea about how their product
or services are performing in market and changes that they can bring in order to enhance their
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performance and developing positive image in front of customers which in turn further support in
enhancing the volume of sale when the products are being aligned and deliver as per the
requirement of customers (Key, 2017).
Selling the customer need: Selling the product or services to the customer is not just
enough for the growth and success of a business. But for achieving sustainability in marketplace
it is crucial for the company to maintain better relationship with its customers and try to keep
them happy by regularly resolving these issues. The digital marketing is considered to be an
effective medium in this regard as with the help of adopting digital platform the customers can
have a direct interaction with company like Tesco can ask about the issues they are facing. By
resolving those issues Tesco become able to deliver services as per the customer demand which
further support in creating word of mouth publicity and hence the volume of sale get increased.
Use of sale tools: The digital marketing consists of certain tools and techniques such as
search engine optimisation which an organisation can use for selling its product or services by
making it more popular. By using this tool the Tesco can be able to adjust its website at top
position at search engine. This further support Tesco in attracting more visitors as well as
customer engagement this further support in increasing the chance of sales (Deiss and
Henneberry, 2020). This is so because by attracting organic traffic Tesco can be able to make
random people notify about the range of product or services it is offering along with the review
of its existing customer which in turn support them in forming up a decision about there choice
of purchasing a product or services. Hence, sales tool used in digital marketing support in
enhancing the sales of a particular product or services through online sources.
Global Reach- The another crucial role lead by digital marketing comprises of enhanced
expansion opportunity and global reach as a more interactive and easiest way of communication
is facilitated by digital marketing. An evaluation can be made that digital-marketing lead to use
of online channels like social media and other channels which ensures a better connection with
customers at global and international level thus, lead to enhanced productivity for Techs plc
which leads a more significant role in enhancing its sales revenue. Social media advertising that
forms a vital part of digital marketing is the most viable tool that is used by Tesco plc to ensures
a more interaction and communication with larger number of customers which leads an
optimistic impact on the sales of Tesco plc to improve its productivity and sales margin (Mogos,
2015).
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To evaluate about the main challenges and privacy threats associated with the use of digital
marketing strategy by an organisation
As per the view point of Steve Brown, (2020), In today's competitive business world,
marketers are continuously inundated with new and fresh ideas and platforms to promote their
business along with the advanced technologies to take benefit of. However, in using digital
technology, there are some challenges that owners of business face with their marketing. Some
of the challenges are discussed below:
Developing consistent branding: For an organization, branding is one of the significant
aspect associated with marketing. With many messages tossed in faces of customers’ day after
day, it is important to develop a relevant and recognizable brand. A business may become just a
faceless name in pool of advertisements without a consistent branding. Developing a consistent
branding is one of the challenges that businesses face today in this competitive business world
(10 Challenges All Marketers Face, 2020).
Managing website: it is another challenge that modern marketers face in this digital
world. Managing the website appropriately will help the company in drawing the attention of
people and convert them into consumers which enable company to make sales. If the website of
the organization is not managed appropriately, then it becomes difficult for the company to
attract and convert leads. Most of the organizations understand the significance of website, yet
still struggle with its proper execution. The issues associated with managing website can range
from developing finest content in order to design an appealing website which is easy to navigate.
So, it creates a big challenge in front of the marketers of company.
Understanding technology and tools: Selecting right technology, software and tool is
very difficult for the business organization as there are many options available in the market that
can be used by companies to promote their business digitally. It creates a challenge for the
marketer of company to select right tool in order to promote business effectively. It is very
necessary for the marketing manager to have proper understanding about appropriate digital
marketing tools show that the most appropriate tool can be selected in order to effectively
promote the products and services of company in the market (Rathore, and et. al., 2017).
Determining marketing return on investment: The another challenge in front of
marketing manager is to measure the return on investment of marketing projects in order to
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efficiently determine effectiveness of campaign that company wants to launch. To acquire a large
marketing budget is a sure fire way and one of the difficult thing to do. This presents a challenge
to marketer for marketing and promoting their brand effectively and generating high sales leads.
Generating traffic and leads: it seems to be difficult to generate leads and traffic on
website and creates challenge to the marketer. Many organizations spend their time emphasizing
on social media, sharing posts without getting any type of return. In order to attract the people
towards a brand, organization need to emphasize on developing the content that customers truly
want. Prior to that, determination of target audience is also necessary while developing effective
marketing strategies that leads to maximize leads and traffic (Lutz, and et. al., 2018).
According to the view point of Shane Pollard, (2019), Digital marketing is extension and
flow of online business. Without effective marketing, the offerings of business cannot make leap
to conversions and sales. Successful marketing helps in in developing a strong consumer base
and attaining more profits. However, there are several security and privacy concerns associated
with the use of digital marketing to promote business online. Security is one of the main concern
for marketers whose personal information goes by digital platforms and pathways of business.
Other side to this, cyber security threats tend to emphasize on data rich and lucrative targets
frequented through digital marketers. Organisations which use digital platform to promote their
business are attacked through online criminals (Privacy and security Concerns in Digital
Marketing, 2019).
Email marketing risk: outbound digital marketing through email is one of the powerful than
traditional technique. The threat associated with email account hijacking involves spamming and
phishing. Hackers send link to malicious websites which download ransomware and encrypt the
data files of victim completely.
Threat to data privacy of consumer: for digital marketers, the data of customers is treasure
trove and for hackers, this state has a gold mine who steal, sell credit card information, password
and personal data of customers. Data breach have consequence in compromise of customer
accounts in millions, bad publicity for targeted organizations and legal sanctions and fines
(Sánchez, and Viejo, 2017).
Social media disruption: it is one of the valuable monitoring tool in order to track real time
references to brand. Hackers can hijack the count of business on social media and developed
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