An Exploration of Digital Technology Impact on Harrods' Business

This business research project examines the impact of digital technology on business activities and performance within the UK retail industry, using Harrods Plc as a case study. The report includes an introduction to the topic, background of the company, aims, objectives, research questions, and the significance of the research. A literature review explores the trend of digital technology in the UK retail sector, the influence of digital technology and social media marketing on operational activities and performance, and the challenges of digital technology adoption. The research methodology section details the research philosophy, approach, strategy, type of investigation, data collection methods, data analysis, and sample size. Data analysis and discussion are presented, along with reflections and recommendations for alternative research methodologies. The conclusion summarizes the findings and provides recommendations, along with research limitations. The report concludes with references and an appendix containing the research questionnaire.

Business Research Project
An Exploration of the Impact of Digital Technology on
Business Activities and Performance in the UK Retail
Industry: A Case Study of Harrods Plc.
Modul Code:MS6LB570
Rashel Alam
UWL ID: 21394121
Word Count:6850
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TABLE OF CONTENT
TABLE OF CONTENT 2
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 3
Introduction 3
Background of research and company 4
Aims and Objectives 4
Research question 5
Significance of research 5
Structure of the report 6
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 7
Trend of digital technology in UK retail sector 7
Influence of digital technology especially social media marketing on operational activities
as well as performance of retail companies in UK 8
The challenges of digital technology adoption within the Harrold’s business operation 10
Digital technology can best enhance the business performance of Harold’s. 10
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 12
Research Philosophy 12
Research Approach 12
Research Strategy 13
Type of investigation 13
Data collection methods 13
Data analysis and findings 14
Sample Size 14
CHAPTER 4- DATA ANALYSIS AND DISUCSSION 16
Introduction 16
Data presentation and Interpretation 16
Reflection and Recommendation for alternative research methodology 27
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 27
Conclusion 27
Recommendations 28
Research Limitation 29
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REFERENCES 31
APPENDIX 32
Research Questionnaire 32
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Digital technology has provided effective platform to business associations through which
they can effectively improvise their business activities and performance within the retail
industry. Adoption right technology helps business association in gaining competitive edge
within the respective industry that is also beneficial in the enhancement of profitability
(Ramanathan, Subramanian and Parrott, 2017). With reference to retail sector, it can be said
that business enterprises belonging to this sector often make use of social media marketing
strategy so that they can effectively influence interest of customers towards them and enhance
their sales performance in rightful manner. Usage of social media also helps retail industry in
effective marketing of their current offering along with the qualities of services. This directly
supports them in spreading awareness about their products and services among customers
which ultimately influences interest of customers towards making the purchase from the same
company. Digital technology is developing emerging opportunities for the business enterprises
as they are able to execute their work in more effective way which works as the positive factor
for them. The present investigation is based on Harrods, a UK based departmental store that is
located in Knightsbridge, London, England. The company was incorporated in the year 1849
and mainly offers high quality and luxury products to customers. The respective company is
identified as the largest departmental store in Europe which has huge clientele that also offers
them higher returns. The company is now focusing on enhancing their business performance
as well profitability with the incorporation of digital technology especially social media
marketing. In this regard, investigator have developed best suitable aims, objectives and
research questions towards the same which are described in the below section.
Background of research and company
Harrods Plc is UK based Retail Company that is owned by Qatar Investment Authority. The
company mainly operates department store situated in London which basically offers high
quality products and luxury goods. It comes under one of the largest department stores of
Europe that has more than 12000 workforce which manages work and other activities of
department in appropriate manner. For managing business activities of the respective
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company its manager has decided to adopt digital technology in terms of social media
marketing attract maximum number of customers towards them in effective manner (Tajvidi
and Karami, 2017). Along with this, it can be said that usage of digital technology makes it
easier for them to execute their operational activities in best feasible manner that ultimately
helps them out in gaining competitive edge at marketplace. In this regard top most authority
of this company has emphasised on conducting investigation on the topic “To assess the
impact of digital technologies on business activities and performance in the context of firms
operating in retail sector” so that they can easily explore its benefits and possible drawbacks
for Harrods Plc. This investigation will aware management team of the respective company to
develop their understanding on the range of opportunities that could be attained by the
respective company in quicker manner. Along with this, it will also support business manager
of the Harrods Plc. about all associated consequences of social media marketing that could
influence image of company among its customers. Development of negative image at
marketplace could influence its business performance in unsupportive manner that directly
affects sales performance as well as sustainability at marketplace. Overall, this investigation
will provide an overview to the Harrods Plc. As well as whole retail industry about digital
technology and how its uses helps business enterprises in its growth as well as success.
Aims and Objectives
Research aim
The research aim for the current study is “To assess the impact of digital technologies
on business activities and performance in the context of firms operating in retail sector: A
study on Harrods plc.”
Research objectives
 To identify the trend of digital technology with regards to retail sector.
 To evaluate the influence of digital technology on Harrods business activities and
performance.
 To investigate challenges associated with the adoption of digital technologies in
relation to Harrods.
 To recommend effective digital technologies to Harrods that contribute in performance
enhancement.
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Research question
 What are the trends of digital technology in the retail sector?
 What influence does digital technology have on Harrods business activities and its
performance?
 What challenges are associated with the adoption of digital technologies within
Harrods?
 How best can Harrods effectively utilize digital technology in enhancing its
performance?
Significance of research
The proposed research project provides an overview to the Harrods as well as other retail
companies about the digital technology and its relative benefits for them within the same
industry. The study will also aware company about both the positive as well as negative aspect
of digital technology especially social media marketing and its impact over the operational
activities and performance of company (Ainin and et. al., 2015). Along with this, the study
will provide opportunity to researcher to explore scope of the topic in retail industry and its
expected influences on the them in the near future. In addition to this, this investigation will
also develop knowledge of investigator benefits of digital technology that can be attained by
business associations belonging to retail sector along with the certain specification limitations
that can be faced by them while using social media marketing. It can be said that limitation of
social media is seen in the form of creation of negative image of company at marketplace.
Structure of the report
This section is seen as the important part of research as it helps investigator in providing
overview to readers about actual structure of the study that will going to be carried out by
them while conducting the research in systematic manner. By developing effective and
sequential structure it is easier for researcher to carry out each and every task of investigation
according to their preset priorities. Structure of current study is described below in effective
manner:
Chapter 1: Introduction
The first chapter of current research project is introductory section in which researcher
emphasises on providing overall overview of research. This section consist of aims, objective,
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questions of the research, background of company as well as research. After this, it provides
basic significance and rationale of research that simply depicts that why this research have
been conducted along with this main purpose (Lacka and Chong, 2016). The specific section
gives an idea to reader actual reason behind conducting this research that helps them out in
linking every section with one another at the time of their reading.
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Literature review is second chapter of the investigation in which researcher focuses on
gathering information on the chosen topic from various secondary sources. These sources will
be selected by researcher on the basis of their developed research questions and objectives.
The main of this section is to develop knowledge of reader as well as investigator on chosen
topic by gathering information from authenticate sources like books, journals and online
articles. The specific section critically evaluates information presented by different authors so
that effective understanding can be developed over the same.
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
It is the third most section of research in which investigator provides detailed
information on several research methods, methodology like research philosophy, research
approach, time horizon, data collection methods etc. which will be adopted by investigator for
gathering information on the developed research objectives and analyse it in the same manner
for attaining true and valid outcome on research problem in effective manner.
Chapter 4: Findings and Data interpretation
The fourth section of the current study is based on finding section. In this, investigator
emphasises on analysing gathered data or information so that they can draw valid result over it
(Braojos-Gomez, Benitez-Amado and Llorens-Montes, 2015). The particular section contains
graphs, tables and figures which are used for describing overall findings smoother manner so
that everyone can easily understand outcome of research problem. In this section, findings are
drawn from the discussion developed on both the primary as well as secondary information.
Chapter 5: Conclusion and recommendation
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It is the last section, in which investigator draws conclusion and provide
recommendation to the company through which they can improvise their performance
effectively and taken measurable actions towards the same. In the conclusion zone, overall
summary of the investigation is provided in the concluded manner so that reader can easily
determine actual finding of research (Wang and Kim, 2017). It also provides them knowledge
that whether they have attained outcome on the basis of their research outcome or not.
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review is considered as the scholar paper that is mainly adopted by investigators for
developing in depth knowledge on the particular topic in deeper manner. It mainly includes
perception of different authors and writers over the single topic in order develop higher
knowledge on the same topic in effective manner (Parveen, Jaafar and Ainin, 2015). With
reference to the present study conducted on the topic “impact of digital technology on
business performance and activities of Retail Company, investigator has made use of range of
books, journals and articles in order to develop higher knowledge on the same topic in
effective manner. Detailed literature review of this section is presented below:
Trend of digital technology in UK retail sector
On the basis of perception presented Rahman, J., (2019), digitization has completely
modified face of overall retail industry and provided it an effective shape that is beneficial for
them. Increasing digital savvy among customers have also influenced retail industry to acquire
digitization in their business activities for leading the industry in rightful manner. Some of the
main trends identified in the retail industry of UK are mobile applications, payment
applications based on mobile phones, location based marketing and personalization that are
helpful for businesses in attracting maximum number of customers towards themselves, social
media marketing, content based marketing, introduction of IoT in the retail industry and
virtual reality (Odoom, Anning-Dorson and Acheampong, 2017). All of these trends are
identified as main one in retail industry which have provided new platform to the whole
industry as well as business associations working within it. It can be said that among all the
stated trends, social media marketing is identified as the main one which have supported
maximum number of retailers in executing all of their promotional activities with higher level
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of return. For instance: Harrods Plc uses social media marketing for promoting its products
and services among customers. The digital trend has allowed this company in interacting with
maximum number of customers within UK and across the nation as well. With the passing
time, the company become highly popular within UK and sales performance of this company
has been increased in the rapid manner (Kumar and et. al., 2016). This have ultimately
impacted positive even on the profitability of the respective company within less period of
time.
Influence of digital technology especially social media marketing on
operational activities as well as performance of retail companies in UK
According to the perception presented by Kim and et. al., (2015), digital technology is seen as
the effective concept that holds huge power to place impact over the whole business activities.
This influence can be seen in both the positive as well as negative form. Business associations
often takes several steps to use the available digital technology in rightful manner that
ultimately provides them support in attracting maximum number of customers towards them
(Chen and et. al., 2016). The main relationship between digital technology and increase in
number of loyal customers is that business organizations are able to execute their work-related
activities in efficient manner that ultimately influences interest of customers towards them in
positive way. On the contrary, views expressed by Jones, Borgman and Ulusoy, (2015) states
that digital technology especially social media marketing also has its own limitations which
ultimately places negative impact over the performance of the company belonging o retail
industry. The main problem identified for retail sector companies developed from social
media marketing is chances of leakage of confidential information of the company. It can be
said that there are probable chances that business associations like Harrods Plc which make
use of social media marketing in terms of promotional activities could become victim of
cyberattack. This could lead to drastic issue for the company as the hackers could use the
information in negative manner (Adegbuyi, Akinyele and Akinyele, 2015). Also, there are
probable chances that these hackers might also approach confidential information of
customers which directly might bring them in trouble in the near future.
In opinion of Keinänen and Kuivalainen, (2015) it can be said that social media
marketing is also helpful for business associations in development of effective global presence
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at marketplace. This ultimately supports business associations in increasing their sales
performance in rightful manner. Along with this, it also provides opportunities to business
association in taking feedback from their customers at regular basis which ultimately develops
their knowledge on the issues which are faced by customers at regular basis (Felix,
Rauschnabel and Hinsch, 2017). These feedback also aware company about their lack areas
which are required to be modified by them. This improvement will directly provide
opportunity to the company by which they can easily attain success in the near future.
Apart from this another author named as Mamic, (2017), has expressed that many of
the people still believes in buying products and services of any company trying them at least
one time. It can be said that if these explores social media before making the purchase then
there are probable chances that they might even not try the same product in the near future.
The main reason behind not trying these products is negative expression and comments of
customers over particular products (Nudurupati, Tebboune and Hardman, 2016). It can be said
that rumors spread on social media could develop negative image of company as well as its
offering among customers which ultimately places negative impact over its sales performance
as they are not making purchase from the same company. This directly becomes disadvantage
for the company as they are not able to increase its number of loyal customers due to social
media marketing.
While on the other hand, Agnihotri and et. al., (2016), has argued that social media
marketing is highly time-consuming activity which waste time of its operator. It can also be
said that if these operators place the same time in other areas then it would have been more
beneficiary for the same company as they are able to work according to the actual
requirements of customers. This will directly provide higher level of profits to the same
company as they are able to generate more revenue through direct marketing.
The challenges of digital technology adoption within the Harrold’s business
operation
According to the perspective of Howard Tiersky, 2017, there are different types of
challenges faced by an organization when they implement digital technology at their
workplace. Due to these challenges their business operations as well as functions get impacted
which also lead to decrease in profitability and market shares (5 top challenges to digital transformation in
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the enterprise, 2020). Challenges which can be faced by Harrold’s business is their resistance to
change, according to this issue in an organization there are only 10 percent people who love
chance and left are resist to change and they not prefer to change. So, this situation will take
place in respective company when they adopt digital technology at their workplace. Next
challenge which can be faced by Harrold’s business is lack of clear vision of management
related to digital implementation journey, due to this challenge company not able to
understand vision or objective which impact on their decision-making process. Due to this
challenge respective company not able to apply digital technology at their workplace this
impacted on their performance and productivity (Galera‐Zarcoand et. al., 2020). Another
challenge of related to implementation of digital technology is inflexible technology stack and
development processes, according to this challenge Harrold’s business not able to adopt
technology because their process is not flexible. This will also impact on their working
procedure as well as it also decreases the effectiveness of company operations. So, it is
essential for Harrold’s business management to understand these challenges and develop
strategies to overcome it in effective as well as appropriate manner.
Digital technology can best enhance the business performance of Harold’s.
According to the article given on business Wales, 2020, it can be determined that there
are several ways a company can use digital technology for enhancing their employees as well
as business performance. In respect of Harold’s business, they can also adopt digital
technology platform in order to enhance their business and employee’s performance in
effective manner. First strategy which they can adopt is connecting on the cloud because it
will be easy for respective company employees to store their all data, information and
documents in easy as well as safe form. It will also provide a common platform at which data
are store and can be access by any authorized person this will make work of staffs easy as well
as it also saves time (How to use Technology to Improve Employee Productivity, 2020). Moreover, this
digital technology will help in developing better connection, work collaboration and so on.
Along with this respective company can also conduct video conferencing meeting with all
employees who are located at different location by using digital technology. By adopting this
technology or strategy respective company able to develop an effective connection with staffs
which motivate them as well as it also cut the time wastage. So, by adopting both strategies
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for implementing different digital technology respective company can enhance their as well as
employee’s performance which help them in attaining their desire goal.
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