Final Year Dissertation: Online Shopping Impact on UK Business

This dissertation, prepared for Southampton Solent University, examines the significant impact of online shopping on high street businesses in the UK. The report begins with an introduction to the topic, followed by the aims and objectives of the research, which include analyzing the growth of online shopping and its implications for traditional retail. A comprehensive literature survey explores existing research on the subject, including the advantages and disadvantages of online shopping, its impact on consumer behavior, and the decline of high street businesses. The methodology section outlines the research methods employed, such as observation, questionnaires, and interviews, along with their limitations. The scope and constraints of the research are also discussed, addressing challenges like time limitations and costs. The dissertation then details the resources utilized and provides a timetable for the research process. The study concludes by highlighting the convenience of online shopping and its impact on the failure of retailers in the high streets. It also includes a reference list and appendices with tables and figures to support the findings. The research aims to provide insights into the evolving retail landscape and the challenges faced by traditional businesses in the digital age.

Southampton Solent University
FACULTY OF
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Academic year of submission
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“The proposed title of your
dissertation”

Supervisor : Name of your supervisor
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Contents
Description page number
Contents
List of Tables and Figures
1. Introduction 1
2. Aims and objectives 2
3. Literature survey 3
4. Methodology 6
5. Scope and Constraints 7
6. Resources 8
7. Timetable 10
8. Reference list / Bibliography 11
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1. Introduction
The world is growing and almost everything is being run by computer.
Computerization and innovation is the next big thing that the world will experience. Due
to technology, online shopping came about and online entrepreneurs have made millions
of money from online shops. To give a simple definition, online shopping can simply be
discussed as the way people are able to go and buy something online and pay the
commodity through a bank or credit transaction and wait for the product to be delivered.
It is a very simple method since the online entrepreneurs have designed a user interface
which is easy to use and one can order anything around the world at the comfort of the
house. In the UK there are very many high streets which are proclaimed to be the best
business streets which provide services and all kinds of goods to the clients. With the
growth of online shopping, there will be a great impact on this street business. The paper
context will major on the convenience of online shopping and its impact of the high street
business in the UK.
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2. Aims and Objectives
There are objectives and goals that have to be achieved at the end of this paper.
Objective one is on the analysis of online shopping in the UK. After the paper is
complete, it will clearly show the real results of the growth of online shopping. Some of
the questions that will be answered include is online shopping a threat to high street
business? How is the rate of online shopping growth? Are people relying on online
shopping more or less compared to high street business? If online shopping dominates,
what will be the dangers and advantages? After the completion of this paper, the reader
will be able to analyze and come up with a conclusion if it is favorable to adopt and
appreciate online shopping or should it be stopped. The main goal of this paper is to solve
all those questions and come up with a strategy that will save humanity and also help the
business grow.
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2. Literature Survey
There are other researches that have been done on the topic and they will be
discussed under this section. The high streets in the UK major business commodities are
homewares and fashion. They have recorded a low level of income in the business lately
due to the rising trends of online marketing. To be specific, there is over 5410 street
business as per the date gave the numbers were from 2009 (Internet access- households
and individuals, 2016). All these street businesses want to sell their fashions and other
related products to the customers. The online entrepreneurs came up with a way that can
surely minimize the street business and minimize competition. To see how they did that,
the merits and demerits of online shopping can help show how important and the level of
threat that the high street business is facing.
There are very many advantages of online shopping. In the business in the high
street, one can only decide to go and get the goods physically which is a weakness well
addressed in online shopping. In online shopping, one just needs a payment method and
an internet connection which allows customers from not only the UK to order
commodities anytime they feel like doing it. That’s the main point that is making the
competition stiff. Secondly, a very large population of the world live online day in day
out. Therefore the chances of a person viewing a commodity online are very high
compared to the same chances of a person viewing the commodity in the store. The
streets highlighted above are also found in major towns and urban centers, there are also
rural areas in this religion and they also need these services given out in the high street,
therefore they will opt to go to online shops which will deliver the commodity at the
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doorstep compared to going to the high street retailers. According to previous research,
82% of UK adults use the internet (Internet access- households and individuals, 2016).
89% of the total population in the UK too have continuous access to the internet
connection according to a survey is 2016/2017 (Internet access- households and
individuals, 2016). The average internet speed is 16-17 Megabits per second. Those
researches clearly show that the UK is a region that is well connected in terms of internet
connection and therefore online shopping can be a real threat to the high street retailers in
the area. Further research shows that 54% of the adults in 2016 purchased goods and
services online (Internet access- households and individuals, 2016), that details the threat
that the retailers have. The world is being advanced by technology which is a major threat
to the business.
However, this high street business also has their own strength and if utilized that
can have a fair competition with the online shopping business. In online shopping, people
fear to buy some commodities like fashions. The reason is that one can hardly buy a cloth
that he/she has not taken the measurements. Therefore, the high street business has a
chance in this factor compared to the online shops. The other main disadvantage is that
the rate of online scams is too high, people are being cheated online every single day and
a lot of money is lost. Because of that reason, some people don’t trust online transactions
unless it is a very trusted organization. Therefore, the high street business can take this to
their advantage.
From previous studies, it is evident that the high street shopping centers are
closing day by day. The director of the European restructuring company told the business
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insiders that “I think it’s a long-term, straight line decline and it’s happening all around
Europe” (Oscar, 2017). The first quarter of 2017, there was a 2.4% fell in the number of
people working in the high street retailers in Britain (Oscar, 2017). The director explains
that just want to buy everything online; it looks awesome to many people hence most
preferable to use. He also suggests that the rate at which it happened was quick and
unexpected.
According to Wehrle, he argues that the high street will become more of a leisure
place than a shopping place (Oscar, 2017). However, retailers are advancing and they are
changing the look and the tactics, these retailers will not die soon, but some things will
have to change. There will be many stores in the streets for the online traders compared to
the retailers.
Online shopping is a big giant. One could think that it is only possible for it to
produce simple products to consumers like portable equipment’s and electronics and
smaller things. However it is has gone wide. The online traders can also provide furniture
and other heavy machinery. That makes the competition even worse than ever. According
to the psychology of human beings, all people are lazy in nature. Therefore, a person will
opt to go online and get everything under one platform and order and be sure it will be
delivered at the doorsteps. Psychology as states that people love new things and forget the
old even if the old helped at one given time. From that, human beings will love to try the
new modern method compared to a method that was started in the 60’s. as proved earlier,
the UK internet speeds and connectivity’s are also very high, that gives it a very high
chance of taking the opportunity and some investing on it while others will take the
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chance to test the new thing which is online shopping. Taking an example, a company
known as Brits in the UK made more online sales than any other nation in the world. That
research clearly shows that online shopping in the UK is fully supported and appreciated
and the retailers in the high street will have to close or change the technique.
The convenience experienced in online shopping is the reason for the fail of the
retailers in the high streets. The online traders make sure the delivery is done on time or
before the time specified while making the order. They are also able to charge a very
insignificant fee to an individual making the order, they are able to provide everything
under one platform and the interface and the photos used to show how a product looks is
attractive and users need and love being attracted. Those are the reasons why online
shopping is convenient and will be a threat to high street retailers.
9. Methodology
There have to be methods which will be used to conduct more detailed
research about online shopping and its effect on the high street businesses. The
process I used was determined by the age of people who uses online shopping,
regions and internet connectivity. I would choose to use observation methods,
questionnaires and interviews. Starting with observation, it is a good method
of getting first-hand information which I will be the one to interpret my myself
and get the required conclusions. It can be indirect or direct. The indirect one
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will save time and money since I will use facts from other people observation
but the only problem with it is that it may not be 100% accurate.
Questionnaires will be online and directed to the people who live in the UK.
The feedback will give deeper facts since questionnaires are private hence the
answers are more real compared to interviews. Lastly, I can interview few
people like retailer’s owners and normal citizens to get the answers on how the
online shopping is affecting the business and why the citizens opt for online
shopping compared to physical retail shopping.
All these methodologies have their limitations. The observations
limitations are listed above. Questionnaires are not fully correct at some
points. People sometimes choose to favor a side or write anything just to fill it.
People also view it as a waste of time and they rarely have the time to go a fill
a questionnaire. Interviews are expensive to conduct.
The figure below shows the rate of internet users in the UK.
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(Singleton, Dolega, Riddlesden, Longley, 2016, p. 10)
10. Scope and Constraints
In research, nothing happens swiftly; there are expected challenges that
will be faced during the process of correcting the results from the above
methodologies. These are the constraints. One of the constraint is time. Some
methodologies listed above are time-consuming and sometimes time is not
always available. It’s always limited. Interviews and observation will take
time to get the correct figures. These methodologies are also costly. There will
be fare costs while going for the interviews and observations. There are other
additional costs too. These additional costs may include accommodation costs
and other additional costs that can come up in the process. In terms of
interviews, it’s hard to get someone to interview at some time. It takes time to
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convince a person to be interviewed hence a major constraint. The materials
needed for questionnaires can also be hard to find sometimes.
11. Resources
There are the needed resources needed for the study to be completed. I
need the databases where I can scrap data of the answers of the questionnaire
that have been answered by the people online. There will also be the need for
YouTube where I can also get interviews videos that were taken earlier about
this issue.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the dissertation paper has focused on online shopping
and its impact on high street business in the UK for ten years. Considering that
up to date the retailer's shop are dropping, there is a very high probability that
in the next ten years the business will scramble at a very high rate. The UK has
a company that records the highest sales in the whole world. The internet
connection is high and almost available in every single homestead. The speed
is also very high. All these factors are factors that help improve online
shopping in this country. The methodologies have some limitations, but they
are the most suitable. With all these resources, the study will be successful
although some constraints will be experienced.
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7. Timetable
Activity
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References
Internet access- households and individauls, Great Britain 2016, Office for National
Statistics, accessed 20 Octomber 2018, <
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/householdcharacteristics/
homeinternetandsocialmediausage/bulletins/internetaccesshouseholdsandindividuals/
2016>
Oscar Williams-Grut 2017, Pulselive, accessed 20 Octomber 2018,
https://www.pulselive.co.ke/bi/finance/finance-what-were-seeing-is-a-revolution-how-
the-internet-is-remaking-the-british-high-street-id7258048.html
Singleton, A.D., Dolega, L., Riddlesden, D. and Longley, P.A., 2016. Measuring the
spatial vulnerability of retail centres to online consumption through a framework of e-
resilience. Geoforum, 69, pp.5-18.
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