Tesco's Survival Strategies in England and Ireland During COVID-19

This report examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Tesco PLC's business performance and productivity in England and Ireland, analyzing the survival strategies adopted by the company. The literature review explores the effects of the pandemic, including decreased growth, fewer customers, and negative working culture. Tesco's survival strategies, such as the hybrid strategy, online delivery, complementary services, and hygiene and safety measures, are discussed in detail. The report assesses the success of home delivery systems in the post-pandemic era and explores ways to maximize operational effectiveness and customer relationships. The analysis highlights the challenges faced and the adaptations made by Tesco to navigate the crisis, offering insights into the company's resilience and strategic responses to the changing market conditions.

Business Dissertation
(Competing with Covid-19: Survival
Strategies for Grocery section of Tesco
PLC in England and Ireland Markets)

Contents
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................3
What is the impact of Covid 19 on the business performance and productivity of Tesco plc in
England and Ireland?...................................................................................................................3
What are the survival strategy adopted by Tesco plc to survive in the market of England and
Ireland after the global pandemic?..............................................................................................4
Whether or not home delivery systems are successful in the post-pandemic era?......................6
CHAPTER 3: METHOD OF ANALYSIS......................................................................................8
CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS...............................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................17

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
What is the impact of Covid 19 on the business performance and productivity of Tesco plc in
England and Ireland?
As per the view of Lee (2022), COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the performance and
productivity of most of the companies in a negative manner and this results in decreasing their
overall profitability. With the affect of lockdown in the business, most of the business need to
close their shops for that period of time and this results in reducing the working efficiency and
effectiveness of employees to work in the business. People fear to work in the business as they
face difficulty in dealing with the uncertainty of the market in a negative manner and this results
in decreasing the morale and motivation among employees to work in an organisation. The
Tesco plc need to close their physical outlet as they customers have a fear in the minds of people
and this resulted in delivering low opportunities for the business in the market of England and
Ireland. As there is high competition in the market, various new business are opening and are
offering new and unique products at different and reasonable prices. To beat that competition,
Tesco uses cost leadership strategy so that it could maintain its old customer base and could gain
more new customers (Gamage, 2020). It is important for the Tesco plc to tackle the situation in a
creative manner such as by building a sense of trust in the mind of customers so that they achieve
growth in the time of pandemic in an effective manner. This could be beneficial for the business
as it allows their customers in having comparatively lower prices than their competitors so they
could increase their customer base through these strategy. Customers, today are always looking
for unique products at reasonable prices. This strategy enables the business in having more
customers as per their competitors which will result in the increment of company's image in
England and Ireland market. The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the business productivity is
defined as under:
 Decreased growth and success – With the advent of COVID-19 pandemic across the
world results in closure of most of the businesses and this decreases their overall growth
in the competitive market (Tortorella, Giglio and Limon-Romero, 2018). It is important
for the Tesco plc to sale their products through online portals as customers are less
interested in buying things from the physical stores. This helps in increasing their
variability and reliability in the market of England and Ireland for better productivity and

growth in the market and for encouraging customers for buying the following products
and services.
 Less number of customers – With the effect of COVID-19 pandemic has results in
decreasing the number of customers within the organisation for the sale of particular
products and services (Power, Heavin and O’Connor, 2021). Less customers means less
profits for Tesco plc and this impacts the services of the business in a negative manner in
the long run. It is important for Tesco plc to attract customers by selling their products
through online portals and sites so that they feel safe in ordering things through online
delivery of particular goods and services.
 Negative working culture – As COVID-19 has resulted in decreasing the morale and
motivation of employees working within the organisation mainly results in creating a
negative working culture of employees (Sefiani and et. al., 2018). This impacts the
working performance and efficiency of employees to achieve high sales and revenue in
the competitive business market within England and Ireland. It is necessary for the
business to use creative ways for attracting employees of the company to get high
motivation to work in the company for achieving the predetermined goals and objectives
of the business. This also helps in increasing the customers base and share in the market
in the time of pandemic in the world.
What are the survival strategy adopted by Tesco plc to survive in the market of England and
Ireland after the global pandemic?
As per the view of Chernov and Sornette (2020), the impact of Covid 19 was so worst for
the company that surviving in the market become difficult for them. To survive in the market
Tesco adopted various survival strategy so that they can regain their market share after the global
crisis. Each and every company is looking for the approach which helps them to survive in the
market for longer time period. So most of the brands are developing to frame or implement best
survival strategy for them. The foremost strategy that Tesco used is hybrid strategy. In this
method they combine two strategies with one another that are cost leadership strategy and cost
differentiation strategy. As per the view of cost leadership strategy company reduce the cost of
production for their product as compared to the competitors. On the other side in context of cost
differentiation they produce variety of unique product and sale in the market so that they can
gain competitive advantage and can survive in the market (Taskov, 2020). The major reason for

combining both the strategy is that customers, today are always looking for unique products at
reasonable prices. This strategy enables the business in having more customers as per their
competitors which will result in building strong brand image. Some of the most attractive
survival strategy that they use in the England and Ireland market are as:
Online delivering: This is one of the effective survival strategy that is used by the company. In
this Tesco start selling their product using network and technology (Kondratiuk, 2021). This is
also adopted by the company as it builds more trust among the customer towards the brand at the
time of Covid 19 crisis. Using this strategy company is also able to increase their market share as
the online sale of the company in England and Ireland rises . It has also identified that this is the
most vital survival strategy that Tesco adopted when running business becomes difficult for most
of the retail firm.
Complementary service: Another crucial approach that Tesco use at the time of Covid 19 is
providing complementary service to their buyers. In this company offers different product or
service to their customer in free of cost. They are giving complementary service for the purchase
made by the buyers through online app (Murphy and Murphy, 2018). This helps them to regain
their market share as most of the consumer are attracted toward the brand. Using the strategy of
complementary service also assist them to gain competitive edge from the rivalry and get more
market share.
Hygiene and safety strategy: The period of Covid 19 as so worst for the company that most of
the people are concerned about their health and safety. So to reduce the risk among the customer
and to survive in the market at the time of pandemic, Tesco adopted the strategy of Safety and
Hygiene approach. In this minimum contact is being made the employee with the customer.
Product are also being delivered using robots or technology so that fear of being caught by the
virus reduced (Lamba, 2022). This helps them to gain more customer as buyers are developing
trust among the brand and is ready to purchase food from Tesco.
Some of the other strategy that is designed by the Tesco plc to survive in the market of
England and Ireland at the time of Covid 19 Pandemic is one stop shopping place. Where buyers
can buy product using drive through. Another one is developing employee to the best so that they
can satisfy the customer in large manner.
The company is also adopting the retailing kind of business model in which goods are
purchased from manufacturer and are sold to the customers at such prices which are enough to

earn profit. This will allow Tesco to be customer supportive and will help the company in having
a strong customer base.
Whether or not home delivery systems are successful in the post-pandemic era?
According to the view of Kathy Gramling, 2021, there is a negative impact which is seen on the
strategy adopted by the Tesco at the time of Covid 19. The home delivery system was so
unsuccessful that after the post pandemic era. This is because as TESCO is one of the British
multinational groceries and general merchandiser which is one of the third largest retailer. It
provides the customers with different types of the products and services through store as well as
through online platforms. During the time of the Covid -19 pandemic all most all business got
affected and home delivery facility to the customers were also not allowed for the certain time
period. As per the Kathy Gramling there were many reasons which led the business to shut down
the home delivery facility for certain period of time. In context to TESCO being a supermarket
company they provide customer with the perishable as well as non-perishable item. The one
which are perishable got destroyed which affected the profitability of the business as home
delivery was stopped for few period of time. So, For TESCO home delivery was unsuccessful as
it affect the overall performance of the company as well as profitability too (Sparks, 2018).
Through home delivery company used to add around 25% of its profit. As per the Ashish
Nainwal, 2020 all the business operation were affected some how during the COVID 19
pandemic times. As infection was spraeding so rapidly that the company was bound to follow the
government rules and regulation so it had to stop the home delivery services. Through this
services customers used to feel very convenient and easy to purchase the products. During the
pandemic time the most important aspects for the respective company was to give more focus on
employees health as well. Due to the rule of social distancing also the company need to stop the
service of home delivery for the customers. So, during the COVID 19 pandemic home delivery
for Tesco was unsuccessful as they faced lot of loss.
As per Denise Lee Yohn, 2020 after the certain time period, everything was getting normalised
and government authorities also become lien-ant with the home delivery services. the company
started the home delivery when the situation got little normalised. Proper precaution were
adopted by the respective company to deliver the products to the customers in their home such as
proper mask, sanitization, social distancing etc. With the changing time the company started
increase the profit as it provided home delivery facility as per the government rules and

guidelines. The customers also started to order online products keeping in mind the Covid 19
guidelines. Tesco also started earning profit form the home delivery as many customers where
deponent upon the home delivery facility that were provided by the company to its customers.
How should the online unit operate in order to maximise operational effectiveness and customer
relationships?
As stated by (Nica and Stehel, 2021) , there are various ways which are used with the aim of
enhancing the operational effectiveness and customer relationships. As per the market situation,
in today’s world the business is required to do work and function at good speed as everyone
wants to do more in less time. The companies are required to take care of the customers so that
better services can also be provided to them. Without customers the company will not be able to
survive in the market (Suppatvech, Godsell and Day,2019). That is why their time must be
managed properly so that they feel important. They are required to build a customer experience
strategy in order to attain the higher customer satisfaction. It can also be said that businesses
cannot exist without the support of the customers. If they have bad experience they will not
continue with the same company and that is why it is necessary to understand the taste of the
customers so that better modifications can be provided to the customers. Another way is to build
a better connection with the customers and also take feedbacks from time to time from them. It is
also must to act upon the customer feedback so that customers will be kept engaged in the
company. Furthermore, the idea of the customers must be considered so that the company will
be updated in relation to the current trends of the market.
According to (Kang, J., Diao, Z. and Zanini, M.T., 2020), after Covid-19 the choice of
people have changed as they prefer to shop online that is why the online grocery provides
various benefits to the customers. That is why the online grocery market is getting famous and it
is expanding at a rapid speed as compared to old and traditional ways of the market. As the main
goals of the online grocers is to make sure to keep the customers happy and satisfied by
providing the best quality grocery items directly to the customers at their doorstep in competitive
prices. Along with it, it provides the customer to order products from the company's websites as
per their time for the delivery. Another benefit is that it saves the time of the customers and they
can also easily compare prices also with the reviews from other brand before making any
purchase decision. It can also be seen that online grocery shops are more profitable for retailers
in relation to the sales of the products and services in the online platform. Additionally, at the

time of Covid-19 pandemic, online grocery business builds more growth and success in the
market.

CHAPTER 3: METHOD OF ANALYSIS
Research methodology is an significant part of the dissertation that helps the researcher in
identifying, choosing, processing and evaluating information related to the topic in an effective
manner. This particular section of methodology allows researcher to critically analyse the overall
reliability and validity of the research (Urcia, 2021). The methodology chapter of the research
helps in clearly defining about the research methods so that they gather and interpret information
related to the topic in a proper manner. It also helps in providing clear justification about the
used research methodologies in order to collect data about the topic in a systematic way. In this
following research, the researcher has used qualitative research method for assembling subjective
information for the topic in a more reliable manner. The following research methods used in the
research are explained as under:
Research philosophy
Research philosophy is a significant element of the research methodology that results in
gathering and interpreting data related to the topic in a proper manner. It is defined as the set of
principles and values which are related to the particular study and helps in managing the
objectives of the study (Thambinathan and Kinsella, 2021). Research philosophy can be
determined into two parts which are defined as positivism and interpretivism philosophies. In
carrying out the present investigation, the investigator has chosen interpretivism philosophy. The
main idea of using interpretivism philosophy is that it helps the investigator in gathering
subjective information related to the topic in a more reliable manner. This method is quite
effective for the researcher because this results in accumulating appropriate and authentic
information related to the research topic.
Research approach
Research approach is determined as an important part of the research which helps in
collecting data more effectively. It is defined as a process or procedure that helps in assembling
data about the topic in a more appropriate manner. This particular approach is classified into two
components which are deductive and inductive approaches (Holmlund, Witell and Gustafsson,
2020). For conducting the present research in an effective manner, the main focus of the
researcher is to use inductive approach. The main reason for using inductive approach in the
present research is that it helps in testing new relatable topic theories properly. This approach is
most suitable in analysing and gathering qualitative information and also helps in achieving the

research aim and objectives. The researcher develops a theory instead of accepting the old
formed theory about the topic.
Research strategy
Research strategy is also considered as one of the important factor of the research
methodology that helps in acquiring relevant and appropriate information related to the topic. It
helps in providing direction about the research which includes the process of conducting the
research. Research strategy can be divided into several different parts which are known as
systematic literature review, survey, grounded theory, experimental research, case study and
many more (Camic, 2021). In the present investigation, the investigator has used systematic
literature review for carrying out the research. The reason for using systematic literature review
is that it helps in assembling correct and authentic information from different published sources
or websites about the project topic. This is considered to be the most suitable method for the
researcher in reflecting summarised information about the research objectives set by the
researcher properly.
Research choice
Research choice is an effective approach of research methodology that results in
acknowledging better and reliable information about the topic. It is the framework of information
that results in defining about the research objectives and in dealing with the changes in the topic
properly. There are mainly three methods related to research choice and are defined as mono
method, multi method and mixed method. In carrying out the present investigation in a proper
manner, the researcher has used mono method (Kibiswa, 2019). The reason for selecting mono
method is that it helps in gathering information related to either qualitative or quantitative data.
In the present research the researcher has used qualitative method as the research is based on
secondary data which is considered as a second hand data. Secondary data is more easy to derive
from different sources and results in gathering right and fair information about the selected
research topic.
Data collection
Data collection is an important method of the research methodology that results in
deriving better and authentic information for the selected topic. This particular tool is used for
collecting information from various sources so that the research objectives can be acquired
appropriately (Emiliussen and et. al., 2021). There are two elements that result in gathering

information are known as primary and secondary approaches. In the present research, the
researcher has used secondary method for deriving information related to the topic. The reason
for using secondary method in the present research is that it helps in collecting and analysing
second hand information from authentic or published sources, online websites articles, journals
and many more. This is also considered as an appropriate method that helps in completing the
research in a timely manner.
Data analysis
Data analysis is also an effective approach that results in delivering appropriate results
related to the collection information about the topic. There are different methods related to data
analysis which are primarily known as thematic analysis, frequency distribution analysis and
many more. For conducting the current research in a significant manner, the researcher has
focused on using thematic analysis for assembling information about the topic (Ferrazzi and et.
al., 2019). The advantage of choosing thematic analysis in the current research is that it helps in
conducting the study related to the topic in a reliable manner. This method is useful in gathering
relevant information and in attaining the research objectives and goals.
Time horizon
Time horizon is also considered to be the most effective element of research
methodology that results in completing the whole research with relevant and appropriate
information. Time horizon can divided mainly in two parts which are defined as cross-sectional
and longitudinal methods. In the present carried on research, the researcher has focused on
selecting cross-sectional method for collecting information (Stewart and et. al., 2021). The
reason for selecting cross-sectional method is that it helps in deciding about the time frame for
carrying out each activity present in the research in an effective manner so that they deal with the
research problems effectively. This data is cost effective and helps in gathering and analysing
probable and appropriate data about the topic in a proper manner.
Ethical consideration
While conducting the research in an effective and appropriate manner, it is important for
the researcher to take care about all the rules and regulations that are required to be followed. It
is defined as the set of principles which helps in guiding the research practices and designs
(Corces-Zimmerman and Guida, 2019). There are certain norms and principles that researcher

needs to consider for completing the research in a reliable manner. These principles are defined
as under:
 Informed consent – Informed consent means that it is the responsibility of the researcher
to inform each and every information related to the research topic properly and taking
their consent for showing their active participation.
 Voluntary participation – Voluntary participation means that it is the right of the
participant to take part in the research process and they can willingly take away their
name if they want to discontinue at any point of time (Poucher and et. al., 2020).
 Confidentiality – Confidentiality means that the researcher has kept the personal
information related to the participants save in order to protect them from any malpractice.
It is important for the researcher to take care about the participants personal data so that
they feel safe and nobody gets hurt.
 Do no harm – It is important for the researcher to take care about the participants
intention and feelings while conducting the study as this results in completing the
research in a more effective manner (de Villiers, Farooq and Molinari, 2021). This results
in knowing about the information gathered about the topic so that they deal with the
practices of the research regulations in an effective and precise manner.
Reliability and validity
Reliability is an important factor in the research methodology that results in checking
about the results and proficiency about the collected data in an effective manner. If the reliability
of the collected content is high than the researcher will feel satisfied that the collected data is
relevant and authentic (Goldsmith, 2021). Validity is another significant factor which results in
checking about the method how accurate it is. If validity of the research is high, than this means
that the derived results are corresponding with the real characteristics, properties and variations
in the social and physical world.
Limitations of the research
The limitations identified in the present research is that it is conducted through only
qualitative research method but quantitative method is also reliable in gathering right and
authentic information related to the research topic in an effective manner. Lack of time, high
cost, underutilisation of resources are also some of the limitations that the researcher face while