Inquiry Project: Retail Sector Trends and ASDA Business Analysis

This inquiry project delves into the dynamic landscape of the retail sector, focusing on ASDA, a prominent UK-based supermarket chain. The project begins by examining current retail trends, including online shopping, customer experience enhancements, the increasing use of artificial intelligence, and the growing importance of corporate social responsibility. It then provides a detailed analysis of ASDA using SWOT and PESTLE frameworks, evaluating the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, as well as the impact of political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors. Furthermore, the project incorporates primary research through a survey to gather customer perspectives and provides actionable recommendations for ASDA, such as revising pricing strategies, improving store aesthetics, enhancing exchange policies, and investing in staff training to improve customer service. The project concludes by emphasizing the continuous evolution of retail trends and the importance of adapting to meet changing consumer needs.

INQUIRY PROJECT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Latest trends in retail sector....................................................................................................1
Online Shopping.....................................................................................................................1
Customer experience..............................................................................................................1
Usage of Artificial intelligence .............................................................................................2
Corporate social responsibility...............................................................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................2
Analysis of the selected business by using business models..................................................2
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................4
Recommendations for organisation........................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
APPENDIX......................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Inquiry project is referred as a way of active learning which initiated by posing questions,
scenarios and queries. These projects are in contrast with the traditional learning in which
teachers shares facts and knowledge as per their perceptions. Retail industry is a big sector which
aims to deliver effective services and products to customers (Singh and Murphy-Scanlon, 2018).
This sector have big contribution towards national income in UK. This assignment is prepared on
the basis of ASDA which is a UK based supermarket chain, situated in Leeds, West Yorkshire.
This firm was established in 1949 and successfully operates at more than 630 geographic
locations. Assignment is going to cover about trends in retail sector and analysis of a specific
company operating in this sector. At last, important recommendations are also mentioned in this
report.
TASK 1
Latest trends in retail sector
Retail trends are referred to the pattern of continuous change in a process, output,
product, conditions or service which are offered by retail organisations to their customers.
Trends in retail sector changes on regular basis due to advancement and changing needs of
customers (Pousttchi and Hufenbach, 2014). Retail industry is associated with activities of
selling and buying goods via online or physical stores. It is the largest employer in private sector
with annual sales of around 381 billion pounds per annum. There are some trends which are
associated with retail sector in UK that are stated below:
Online Shopping
Shopping with the help of online media is new & popular trend in retail sector. People in
UK are independent and job oriented due to which they do not prefer to spend their time on
activities like shopping. They prefer to shop from retail outlets via online means. In this context,
online applications like Amazon, Flipkart and websites like Facebook are used by customers to
buy their desired products.
Customer experience
To increase the experience of customers, businesses in retail sector are using cognitive
computing technology. This technology is able to interpret and analyse data exactly like humans
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due to which customers can interact with them to gain faster services especially, during in-store
shopping. ASDA can also set up robots and computers in their retail stores to identify and
resolve the query of customers in timely manner (Pantano, 2014).
Usage of Artificial intelligence
In today's time, either big, medium or small sized retailer's have started relying on
artificial intelligence. Usage of aspects like machine learning, AI-powered assistants and Big
Data have increased. In this context, Dott which is an Artificial intelligence based retail assistant
is used by retailers to give personalised advices to themselves and customers. This results in
saving of time while making decision for a specific product. Due to this, retailing experience of
business owners increases considerably.
Corporate social responsibility
This can be considered as a part of emotional connection with customers which is an
already existing trend in retail sector. By passing time, this trend is increasing more and more.
Fulfilling CSR activities by integrating environmental, social and economic issues into belief,
opinion and culture of company, a retail firm can ensure that society is going to support them in
a positive manner (Oraman and et. al., 2018). This benefits customers and organisations in better
understanding each other due to which companies like ASDA is able to fulfil desires of
customers properly.
TASK 2
Analysis of the selected business by using business models
To perform analysis of business organisation, ASDA company is selected. ASDA is a
Britain based firm which offers grocery, financial services and merchandise to their customers.
This company operates in global context and its analysis will help the manager of firm to
acknowledge all their weaknesses and strengths in a proper manner. To analyse ASDA, business
models such as SWOT and PESTLE is used below:
SWOT Framework: This business model benefits a company in analysing their
strengths and weaknesses along with potential opportunities and threats so that required
improvements can be carried out in a proper manner. In this context, SWOT is performed below:
Strengths Weaknesses
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 ASDA is socially responsible as it
follows its CSR responsibilities in a
proper manner.
 Company has strengthened its brand
and position by various acquisitions.
 Organisation supports continual
innovation due to which its customer
base is high (Jonsson and Tolstoy,
2014).
 This firm do not have any mini stores
like Sainsbury's local or TESCO
express.
 Company has limited presence in
global context in comparison with rival
firms like TESCO.
 This firm prefers less investment in
updating technology on regular basis.
Opportunities Threats
 Company can enhance its presence in
regions like Asia and Africa which
promises wide customer base.
 ASDA can expand in new areas like
pharmaceuticals, jewellery and optical
so that high revenues can be earned.
 Pressure to maintain low price of
services and products can be a big
threat to the profits of company.
 Changing policies of different nations
can impacts ASDA in negative manner.
In case of internal analysis of company, SWOT analysis is performed. For external
analysis, manager in ASDA can adopt PESTLE framework. PESTLE analysis is a tool used by
marketers to analyse and monitor the effects of macro-environmental factors on an organisation.
It is a strategic planning method to identify the impact of external forces on the performance and
overall sustainability of a business. With the help of this tool, external business environment of
company can be analysed in a proper manner. This will help the manager in taking strategically
right decisions. In relation with this, PESTLE analysis is performed below:
 Political factor: UK is a politically stable and government ruling there favours retail
sector by charging less tax and corporate rates. But after Brexit, retail industry is
impacted in a negatively manner due to which revenues of ASDA can suffer
considerably. Overall, political factors in UK are in favour of ASDA (Cao, 2014).
 Economic factor: The economic conditions of UK is highly developed and market-
oriented. The purchasing power of the consumers of UK is high, unemployment rates are
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low and even small markets are profitable due to large consumer-base. The positive
impact of UK economy for ASDA is the large consumer market with rising demands of
the consumer products. Brexit may bring negative impact on ASDA as the prices might
increase due to tariffs and regulatory checks on goods imported from EU.
 Social factor: The social factors of a country are its demographic features, culture,
religion, level of education, living standards etc. UK has high social standards and people
are highly educated. The positive impact of social factors on ASDA is the growing
population and ever increasing demand for consumer goods.
 Technological factor: UK is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the
world. Businesses are frequently developing new technologies to offer best solutions for
their customers. As the people are more equipped to technology, online Asda shopping
has connected it to more customers hence increasing it's sales. But the technology
changes so rapidly which makes installing new technologies expensive which also
increases the cost of products.
 Environment factor: Environmental factors of a country are the conditions of climate,
weather, availability of resources, pollution etc. These conditions determines the kind of
machinery installations, policies formed by the managers, operations and technical
services it provides to its customers so as to protect the environment and progress
sustainably on being a supermarket retailer in UK (Wang, Sanchez Rodrigues and
Evans, 2015).
 Legal factor: To work within the legal framework of UK certain laws need to be
followed by all the organisations like The Employment Act, 1996; The Equality Act,
2010 etc. so that the government intervention can be reduced and safety and health of all
the stakeholders of the businesses can be ensured. The positive impact of legal factors on
ASDA is that it helps in building trust of customers and increasing sales. Though the
implementation of various legislations becomes a tiring process and needs a lot of
documentation. They also need to be changed if the laws changes or gets modified.
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TASK 3
Recommendations for organisation
To acknowledge the perception of customers in a proper manner, it is important for the
manager in ASDA to perform some primary research. In this research, those information and
facts are gathered which are fresh. To collect relevant data, some survey questions are prepared
which are filled by family and friends of employees which are working in ASDA. Total
respondents for this activity was 50 in number. In accordance with there responses, there are
some recommendations which can be given to the manager in ASDA. These recommendations
will benefits ASDA in getting their desired outcomes.
Response of respondents
1) Do you think outlets of ASDA have every product you required
in stock?
Frequency
 Yes 40
 No 10
2) Are you satisfied with the prices of product and services?
 Yes 22
 No 28
3) Did outlets of ASDA have wide range of selection?
 Yes 38
 No 12
4) Do you find the stores visually appealing?
 Yes 25
 No 25
5) Are you happy with the services offered by associates in ASDA
outlet?
 Yes 28
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 No 22
6) Did the stores have an appropriate exchange and return policy?
 Yes 30
 No 20
7) Will you recommend products and services of ASDA to your
friends and family?
 Yes 42
 No 8
Some of recommendations in this respect are stated below:
 Manager in ASDA is recommended to revise their price structure as more than half of the
people feels that company charges them high for their services or products. Same services
and products are offered to these customers by other companies in less price.
 Another recommendations that can be given to ASDA is concerned with visual
appearance of outlets. Half of the respondents feels that stores of ASDA is not appealing
due to which they do not prefer to go there.
 Company is also recommended to robust their exchange and return policies as people are
not happy with the existing facilities. In this context, manager is recommended to provide
exchange and warranty cards to customers so that they do not feel difficulty in case they
wish to return or replace purchased products (Aithal, 2017).
 ASDA is given the recommendation of training their staff on regular basis so that
customers can be provided with best services. This will benefits the company in retaining
them for maximum time due to which high revenues and profits can be earned.
CONCLUSION
As per above discussed report, it can be concluded that trends in retail sector changes on
continuous basis. At present, CSR and artificial intelligence is the latest trend in retail. With the
help of framework like PESTLE and SWOT, business analysis can be performed properly.
Survey questions help a firm in gathering the perception of customers so that valuable
recommendations can be acknowledge and incorporated to gain better outcomes.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aithal, P. S., 2017. Industry Analysis–The First Step in Business Management Scholarly
Research. International Journal of Case Studies in Business, IT and Education
(IJCSBE). 1(1). pp.1-13.
Cao, L., 2014. Business model transformation in moving to a cross-channel retail strategy: a case
study. International Journal of Electronic Commerce. 18(4). pp.69-96.
Jonsson, A. and Tolstoy, D., 2014. A thematic analysis of research on global sourcing and
international purchasing in retail firms. International Journal of Retail & Distribution
Management.
Oraman, Y. and et. al., 2018. what external and internal factors affect organic retail sector?. New
knowledge Journal of science. 7(2). pp.33-44.
Pantano, E., 2014. Innovation drivers in retail industry. International Journal of Information
Management. 34(3). pp.344-350.
Pousttchi, K. and Hufenbach, Y., 2014. Engineering the value network of the customer interface
and marketing in the data-rich retail environment. International Journal of Electronic
Commerce. 18(4). pp.17-42.
Singh, K. and Murphy-Scanlon, J., 2018. Is online training effective in retail business?.
Wang, Y., Sanchez Rodrigues, V. and Evans, L., 2015. The use of ICT in road freight transport
for CO2 reduction–an exploratory study of UK’s grocery retail industry. The
International Journal of Logistics Management. 26(1). pp.2-29.
Online
Current trends in retail sector. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://cpcstrategy.com/blog/2019/01/retail-trends-2019/>
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APPENDIX
Survey Questions
1) Do you think outlets of ASDA have every product you required in stock?
 Yes
 No
2) Are you satisfied with the prices of product and services?
 Yes
 No
3) Did outlets of ASDA have wide range of selection?
 Yes
 No
4) Do you find the stores visually appealing?
 Yes
 No
5) Are you happy with the services offered by associates in ASDA outlet?
 Yes
 No
6) Did the stores have an appropriate exchange and return policy?
 Yes
 No
7) Will you recommend products and services of ASDA to your friends and family?
 Yes
 No
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