Business Communication and Retail Industry Career Research Report

This career research report delves into the retail industry, using the Zara brand as a case study to analyze market trends, globalization, and the impact of technology on business communication. The report examines the skills and knowledge essential for success in the retail sector, including business awareness, decision-making, management, communication, and customer relations. It differentiates between primary and secondary research methods used to gather information and evaluates the role of a fashion designer within the industry, highlighting the competitive landscape and the importance of unique design in attracting customers. The report concludes with a summary of key findings and recommendations for individuals pursuing a career in the dynamic retail environment.

CAREER RESEARCH
REPORT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
General trend which impact the retail industry......................................................................3
Skills and knowledge required...............................................................................................4
EVALUATION................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
APPENDIX......................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Business communication is the process of communicate the goal and objective of
business to get the benefits and establish an effective business in the market. In this reflection
report I choose the retail industry in which I take the Zara brand to start my business. The aim of
choosing the Zara brand is the latest trend in the market. It reflects my personal skills and
knowledge in the retail industry and business. It helps me to analyse the latest trend and fashion
in the market and the buying behaviour of the customer. It also helps me to get the impact of
change in technology and other factor in retail industry.
MAIN BODY
General trend which impact the retail industry
The trend in the market such as change in technology, globalization, the latest fashion
and designs make a huge impact on the clothing sector. Zara is a huge brand in clothing sector
which provide the designer cloth for both man and women (Kamarulzaman and et.al., 2015).
Zara is for upper middle class and upper class group because the price of the cloths are quite
high. The various changes in the market and business environment affect the business of retail
sector. The different changes such as :
Technology : The change in technology make impact on clothing sector. Due to the
technology changes clothing sector are able to sustain in the market. The big data model help the
company to gather and analyse the information about the customer and provide the clothes
according to their size, trend and buying behaviour (Nguyen and Simkin, 2017). It also helps
them to maintain the information in the organization and provides the security of the data to the
customer. The popularity of e-commerce also help to provide the cloths in worldwide. It forces
the clothing sector to provide their cloths online and on different stores so the customer can reach
to the branded cloths.
Technology helps to capture new knowledge about the trend and fashion and also help to
improve the communication. It helps to attain the customer in the store and provide them the
cloths according to their choice and demand (von Briel, 2018). It helps to improve the numerical
and analytical skills to analyse the big data and information related to the customer.
Globalization : It refers to combination of one nation economy to the other nation
economy. It changes the customer perception and attitude towards the clothing sector. Now the
customer are more desire to buy the latest trend and designer cloths from the various brand such

as Zara, Beba etc. It provides a global platform to establish the business and attract the customer
of different countries. Globalization also provide a large market and new target group (Aalbers,
2016).
Globalisation provides the ample knowledge about the different brands in clothing sector
which help to improve the knowledge in change in trends. The knowledge about the product
helps to communicate with the customer and aware them about the new products so the customer
can get the full knowledge about the trend in market (Pantano and et.al., 2017). Globalization
provides the commercial awareness about the various brands in global market. It helps to
improve the interpersonal skills.
Primary research : It is used to gather the new information about the research area
which was not collected before. In primary research mainly questionnaire and interview method
are used to collect the information.
The interview method is used to gather the information about the pattern and trend in
clothing sector from the different brand manager (Kombo, 2015). Brand manager are the persons
who analyse the market trend and upgrade their product according to the market. It helps to
analyse the different skills requires entering in the clothing sector or brands like Zara, beba etc.
The personal and professional skills such as communication skills, interpersonal skills, attitude,
knowledge in different sector and negotiation skills help a person to make the career in retail
sector or in clothing industry.
Secondary research : Secondary research are based on the data which are already
collected by the different researchers. Secondary research use the primary research for the source
of data and analyse the primary research data to reach on the conclusion.
Secondary research help the users to analyse the market trend such as upcoming of new
collection, stock, the latest designs of the different designer etc. It helps to find the different
knowledge about the brands in the market and the strategies of the competitor to attract the
customer toward the organization. Secondary research increase the analytical skills of the
personnel and help them to attain the customer in better way to fulfil their demand.
Skills and knowledge required
Secondary research
For entering into a shopping industry it is very necessary for a person to possess and
inherit many skills to be successful in the cut-throat competitive world. In accordance with

Patten and Newhart, (2017), retail skills can be defined as the skills which are required for
selling the products to the consumers. In his views the major skill is the attention skill. It is so
because the fashion industry is such an industry within which the taste and preferences of
consumers keeps on changing very fast and accelerating pace. So to cope up with these changes
and to meet the requirements of the consumers it is very necessary for a worker of fashion
industry to be very much attentive. But Debono, (2017), criticized that with changes in the taste
and preferences there are also changes in the economic and technological factors and other
elements of macro environment which may impact the working of the whole industry either in a
positive or in a negative way. So the person entering into this industry needs to be very attentive
while working in this industry.
On the other hand, Henninger, Alevizou and Oates, (2016), for entering into a fashion
industry it is necessary that the person needs to have the capability of doing effective and
efficient communication. It is very important that the person can do communication in such a
way that it is clear and understandable for the person with whom communication is to be done.
Choi, Cheng and Zhao, (2016), suggests that also the person needs to be well versed with
different mediums through which the person can communicate with others. It has to majorly
communicate with the consumers like greeting and welcoming them, answering to their queries,
explaining and displaying clothes and accessories to the consumers and many other reasons.
In the views of Park, Ciampaglia and Ferrara, (2016), knowledge and experience is also
very necessary and crucial for the successfulness of the business. This author articulates that
having proper knowledge relating to all the dimensions of fashion industry is very necessary for
the company to be successful in this cut- throat competitive world. But Allen and Truman,
(2016), argued that only knowledge is not necessary it is also important for a person to have
experience of the work earlier. If the person will be experienced then it can deal with any
situation calmly and intelligently. On the other hand, there might be possibility that a fresher
may not have proper knowledge and also not have much experience which can enhance its
knowledge.
Primary research
With the help of this primary research done by giving questionnaire to the existing
employees and worker in fashion industry it was found that all the skills are equally important

for running a business in fashion industry (Valaei and Nikhashemi, 2017). Also, along with this
minimum of 1 year of experience is necessary for the new business to be started.
With the help of the questionnaire some people said that having business awareness is the
most crucial skill because if the person will not be aware then how it will carry on the business.
But some argued that having good decision-making is important because if decision will be
wrong then the business will fail. Some said that no experience is needed because every day
some or the other changes are being witnessed in the industry. On the other hand some said that
minimum of 1 – 2 years of experience is necessary.
With the combined results of both the primary and secondary research it was found that
there are five skills which are essentially to be present in the person. These skills are as follows-
Business awareness- it is the most important skill because if the person will not be
awared about the changes going on in the market and environment.
Decision making- this is yet another skill which is to be possessed by person entering
into this industry. This is important because the business is done in a dynamic and ever-changing
world so the person must be very prompt in taking decisions (Henninger, Alevizou and Oates,
2016).
Management- this is another skill necessary for person to enter into a fashion industry.
Management is necessary because with help of proper management the person can get its work
done by others in an efficient and effective way.
Communication- it is the most important skill need to be used by person because without
communication not a single work can be done. So it is very necessary to have proper, clear and
efficient communication.
Customer relation- this is also important because if good relations are not maintained
with the customers then they not come again to shop at the place again. So to retain the
customers it is very essential to maintain good relation with them.
In case of knowledge the person needs to have basic knowledge relating to the whole
industry and the trends prevalent in the industry (Caulfield, Curtis and Simpson, 2018). Also, it
needs to have the knowledge of relating to sales and managing sales. With the knowledge it is
also necessary to have experience also because if the person has experience then it can deal with
the problematic situation very easily.

EVALUATION
For the chosen fashion industry the vacancy is of the fashion designer. This vacancy I
found because my friend was doing job in the same fashion store. So he suggested me to give
interview for the job of fashion designer in its company. This role for job is being chosen
because it is of my interest area and I love designing unique and different styles of clothing in the
fashion industry. This role is best for the chosen industry because of the reason that there is a
huge and tough competition in the fashion industry so it will help me in growing because I will
design some unique fashion clothes which will be different from the regular ones so it will be
beneficial for my company. This is a new job within the fashion industry because sin regular
parlance only the work of selling is done in fashion stores. But this work of designing is different
from the ordinary work of selling. So it will be very beneficial and profitable for the business as
it is different from others.
CONCLUSION
In the end it can be concluded that there are many factors which impacts the trends of
retail industry like technology, globalization and many other factors. Further it was outlined that
many types of skills, knowledge and experience is required by a person while entering into a
fashion retail industry like communication, business awareness, and many other different skills.
At last an evaluation was done for the job role of a fashion designer as a vacancy in fashion retail
industry.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Aalbers, M.B., 2016. The financialization of home and the mortgage market crisis. In The
Financialization of Housing(pp. 40-63). Routledge.
Allen, S. and Truman, C., 2016. Women in business: Perspectives on women entrepreneurs.
Routledge.
Caulfield, L.S., Curtis, K. and Simpson, E., 2018. Making for change-an independent evaluation
of Making for Change: skills in a Fashion Training & Manufacturing Workshop.
Choi, T.M., Cheng, T.C.E. and Zhao, X., 2016. Multi‐methodological research in operations
management. Production and Operations Management, 25(3), pp.379-389.
Debono, M., 2017. Career Education and Guidance in Malta: Development and Outlook.
In Career Guidance and Livelihood Planning across the Mediterranean (pp. 337-350).
Brill Sense.
Henninger, C.E., Alevizou, P.J. and Oates, C.J., 2016. What is sustainable fashion?. Journal of
Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, 20(4), pp.400-416.
Kamarulzaman, N. and et.al., 2015. Exploring the factors of high turnover in retail industry in
Negeri Sembilan. Procedia Economics and Finance, 31. pp.896-902.
Kombo, F., 2015. Customer satisfaction in the Kenyan banking industry. Journal of International
Studies.
Nguyen, B. and Simkin, L., 2017. The Internet of Things (IoT) and marketing: the state of play,
future trends and the implications for marketing.
Pantano, E. and et.al., 2017. Does innovation-orientation lead to retail industry growth?
Empirical evidence from patent analysis. Journal of Retailing and Consumer
Services, 34. pp.88-94.
Park, J., Ciampaglia, G.L. and Ferrara, E., 2016, February. Style in the age of instagram:
Predicting success within the fashion industry using social media. In Proceedings of the
19th ACM conference on computer-supported cooperative work & social
computing (pp. 64-73). ACM.
Patten, M.L. and Newhart, M., 2017. Understanding research methods: An overview of the
essentials. Routledge.
Valaei, N. and Nikhashemi, S.R., 2017. Generation Y consumers’ buying behaviour in fashion
apparel industry: a moderation analysis. Journal of Fashion Marketing and
Management: An International Journal, 21(4), pp.523-543.
von Briel, F., 2018. The future of omnichannel retail: A four-stage Delphi study. Technological
Forecasting and Social Change, 132. pp.217-229.

APPENDIX
Questionnaire
For developing my own business I took help of primary research and asked my friend and
a Quadrant Recruitment Manager. So following are the questions which I asked them in order to
know my strengths and weakness.
Question to friend
 Am I capable of running my own business?
By this question I came to know that I have some skills which are required for starting my own
business but I lack some knowledge for which I have to learn more.
 Do I have complete knowledge relating to business?
Through this question I came to know that I lack some knowledge for which I have to learn
more.
Quadrant Recruitment Manager
 Are there any opportunities to run business?
With the help of this question I founded that there are many opportunities present in the market
like product innovation, expanding in new market, going for globalization and many others.
Question to peer
 Do I have enough skills to run my own business or start a franchise?
With the help of answer to this question asked my peer I came to know that I have some skills
like critical thinking and logical reasoning but for improving I need to develop some skills like
management, decision-making, problem solving and some other.
Question to family
 Do I have confidence and capability of starting my own business?
Answer to this question clarified that I have enough confidence but I need to work on some
capabilities like need to learn time management and also need to acquire customer relationship
management skills because in retail I constantly have to deal with consumers.