Accy936 Assessment: Woolworths' Financial Performance in Pandemic

This report assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Woolworths Group, an Australian retail company. It outlines the company's operations during the pandemic, analyzes its financial performance using a dashboard approach, and evaluates key metrics such as profitability, liquidity, and operational efficiency. The report highlights fluctuations in net profit ratio and liquidity ratios, examines account receivables and payables, and identifies strategies for post-pandemic recovery, including establishing new business models, creating lifestyle-oriented stores, adopting digital technologies, and improving search engine rankings. The analysis provides insights into Woolworths' resilience and adaptability during challenging times, with recommendations for future improvements.

Accy936 Assessment

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Outlining the company’s operating during COVID 19...............................................................3
Dashboard...................................................................................................................................4
Impact of COVID 19 over financial performance......................................................................5
Recommendation........................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
The current pandemic has affected the working efficiency of the business to a great
extent. This is particularly because of the reason that the company operates in the external
environment and all the changes within the company. This is important for the reason that in case
these changes will not be adapted by the business then this will be affecting the working
efficiency of the business. The current study is based on the company Woolworths group which
is an Australian retail company headquartered in Australia. The company is found in the year
1924 by Stanley Edward Chatterton, Cecil Scott Waine and MORE. The current report will
outline the discussion relating to the operation of the company during the pandemic. Along with
this the analysis of the financial performance of the company and the operational efficiency of
the business. In the end the discussion will outline the findings from the dashboard and some
recommendation will be provided for the improvement of the performance post pandemic.
MAIN BODY
Outlining the company’s operating during COVID 19
Pandemic is one of the adverse situation that has highly affected the processing of the
organization. It is important for the company to pay attention on developing the significant
knowledge regarding the operating practice in the times of covid 19 so that reliable and effective
approach to understand competitiveness can become possible. Woolworths Group organization
operate sin the retail sector that offer distinct type of products in the market. Pandemic has
resulted into the situation of risk offering factors to the business that includes lock down that has
adversely affected organization. The areas which has been influenced are customer safety,
consumer sentiments, mental health of employees, supply chain, etc which were difficult to
handle.
For handling the operational practices of the specified business, the company has given
emphasis on formulating the risk management strategy to achieve the objective of having higher
effectiveness (Giunipero, Denslow and Rynarzewska, 2021). The organization has paid attention
on setting framework and standards so that lacking areas can be avoided. For safety of the
suppliers, Woolworths Group has concentrated on formulating the clear framework for sourcing,
quality hand compliant products. It has been ensured that higher level of secure and safe working
culture can be provided to the suppliers in turn meeting the market forces can become possible

without any disruption, Independent assurance and quality checks has been conduced for
evaluating the products &food safety so that greater confidence to targeted audience can be
provided. Clear procedure for designing, manufacturing, transportation, storage, etc process with
having effective adherence to customer requirements can become possible.
There is higher level of h focus on having active working to reduce these risks by h
continuing to enhance firm's cyber control environment so that aim of managing operational
practices with having effective compliance with given government policies and regulations can
be exerted (Khan and et.al., 2021). There has been attention given by the specified organization
through having application of technology, system availability and information security can
become possible. In addition to this, it can be interpreted that there has been higher level of focus
has been executed on the courses of actions like having adherence to legal regulatory
governance, customer & brand connection, strategy development & implementation for having
effective workforce planning digital commerce, supply chain, etc factor.
On the basis of this, it can be articulated that there are various form of the actions which
are executed by Woolworths Group in order to manage and monitoring prevailing condition so
that greater amount of sustainability can be derived. Effective marketing techniques
implementation can provide assistance in overcoming the prevailing situation so that higher level
of profitability situation can be obtained. Offering training & development to coordinate with
changing circumstance thorough offering innovate actions has assisted firm to receive major
benefits in turn higher profitable situation. These actions are helpful in gaining the profitability
to operate in the competitive environment via eliminating the negative impact so that better
functioning can become possible.
Dashboard
The dashboard is being referred to as the tool which assists the company in displaying the
data with the help of the different visualisation tools. This is important for the reason that when
the data is being presented in graphical formats then this results in better view of the data. Hence,
this affects the working and analysis of the performance of company in better manner
(Sathyanarayana, Shukla and Taghikhah, 2020). Thus, in the present case the financial and
operational data of Woolworths will be analysed and the impact of pandemic will be evaluated
over the performance of company.
Dashboard attached in appendix

Impact of COVID 19 over financial performance
With the help of the dashboard it is clear that the profitability ratio of company is very
constant and not fluctuating. With the help of the gross profit ratio it can be seen that from the
time frame of 2015 to 20 21 the ratio is between the ranges of 27 to 29%. This simply implies
that the property of the companies very stable. Along with this it can be seen that in the year
2018 it was very 9.34% but after the pandemic the ratio of gross profits likely declined and it
came to 28.88% in the year 2020. Also after the pandemic that is in the year 2021 company
started reviving the business and the cross profit ratio increased to 29.32%. This simply implies
that even the pandemic situation has affected the profitability but after that it has regain the
original position (Hastings and et.al., 2021). In addition to this with the help of the net profit
ratio it is clear that the net profit of the company is very fluctuating. This is particularly because
of the reason that in the year 2015 net profit ratio was 3.5% but in case of 2016 it went to the loss
of 4.38%. Further after that the company started reviving the business and the net profit ratio
increase to 2.8 %. But due to the pandemic again the net profit ratio decline to 2.28 in the year
2020. But after the negative impacts of the pandemic the performance of the company increased
and the net profit ratio also increased to 3.84%. Although the net profit ratio of the company was
very fluctuating but after the revival of the external event the company started earning profits
again. Along with this it can also be analyse that there is huge difference between the gross profit
ratio and the net profit margin. This simply implies that the indirect expenses of the company are
large as compared to the direct expenses. Hence this is the only reason due to which the net
profit ratio is less as compared to the gross profit ratio.
From the evaluation of the above provided dash board it can be identified that there are
different kinds of factors which are helpful in analyzing overall performance business. Liquidity
is one of the significant indicator of assessing how effectively the firm is using its resources to
overcome the prevailing current liabilities. There are distinct types of stakeholders who pay
attention on the liquidity performance of organization in turn accomplishing their objective of
taking strategic decision can become possible. This involves creditors, suppliers, financial
institution, banks, etc as they are interested in evaluating how effectively firm can manage
overall performance of enterprise.
In the times of COVID 19, the liquidity ratio of the year 2019 to 2022 it can be seen that
there is fluctuating trend prevailing. The man reason behind this includes that in the year 2019 eh

current ratio of the firm is 0.731 times which has reduced in 2020 and reached to 0.268 that is
negative sign of growth & development. This is reflecting that firm 's performance is ineffective
as per the standard benchmark as there should be ideal current ratio that lies between 1.2 to 1.5
times. In addition to this, performance has improved in the year 2021 as compared to 2020 that is
presenting good efforts to meet the changing situation. Quick ratio of the enterprise for the
COVID period from the year 2019 to 2021 includes 0.234, 0.122 and 0.540 that is as well
showing fluctuating trend as current ratio. On the basis of this it can articulate that particular
organization is performing ineffectively in the times of COVID but in the recent period firm has
given on making modifications.
Operational efficiency of the enterprise can be evaluated by referring account receivables
and payable in turn achieving reliable information to make significant judgment (Tan, and
Ardilo, 2021). On the basis of provided information in the above formulated dash board it can be
interpreted that that account receivable performance of firm from the period 2019 j to 2021 are
4.15, 5.089 and 4.253 days which is fluctuating pattern. The efficiency of operational practices to
collect payments from customer in the 2019 was considered to be good but in 2020 it has
declined due to increase in number of days. In the year 2021 its performance has improved
which showing uplifting of financial performance. Account payable are related with assessing
company's efficiency in respect to pay off debts to supplies. From the evaluation it can be stated
that account payable for the duration such as 2019 to 2021 comprises 57.28, 72.594 and 59.962
days respectively. On the basis of this, it is interpreted that fir's efficiency is lower in pandemic
to pay off liability to creditors which can majorly affected the enterprise credibility &
trustworthiness in market that has major negative impact on firm's growth & development that
has improved in year 2021.With respect to this, it can be articulated that operational efficiency is
ineffective in COVID 19 duration that has been improved in recent time and helping to growth in
retail sector.
Further the dashboard also outlined the different strategies and tool can be used and
implemented in order to improve the performance after the pandemic. The different strategies
included many different options and all these are focused over improving the working efficiency
of company. The first strategy outlined within the dashboard is to establish new business model
in support of new normal consumers and trends among them (Risse and Jackson, 2021). Within
this model focus is on understanding the need and the changes within the purchasing pattern of

the consumer. This is particularly necessary because after the pandemic the customer trends have
changed a lot and this need to be included within the operation of the company.
Along with this another strategy outlined is creating the new stores with support the new
lifestyle and patterns prevailing with the current trends. This strategy of maintaining the store in
accordance to the latest consumer trends and new lifestyle patterns will attract large number of
customers and as a result of this performance will improve. Along with this, another key strategy
in order to revive the business post pandemic is to undertake the use of digital technology in
order to improve the working efficiency. This involves undertaking the use of technology such as
artificial intelligence, iot, blockchain, use of robots and much other different technology
pertaining to retail sector (Grimmer, 2021). Implementation of all these Technologies will assist
Woolworths in order to improve the working and profitability. In addition to this another strategy
involved in order to improve the business as outlined within the dashboard is to improve the
search engine ranking relating to the websites of the company. The reason behind this fact is that
currently the social media marketing is trending and use of Search Engine Optimisation is
important and crucial for success of the business. Thus the use of these strategies will help
Woolsworth in order to increase their market presence and the profitability of the company as
well.
Along with this another strategy for improving the business outline the within the
dashboard is the use of injecting innovation and only channel within the business. This is
particularly necessary because when the use of innovation and Omni channel will be undertaken
then this will improve the working efficiency and new ideas can be generated in order to attract
the customers affectively (Whelan and et.al., 2021). Moreover another strategy for reviving the
business post pandemic is to embrace the working over the Agile operating model. This is
particularly because of the reason that after the pandemic the focus is on Agile working and in
case Woolsworth will implement this then it will result in better working and improvement and
profitability of business.
Recommendation
 It is suggested Woolworths Group to pay attention on conducting the market research so
that higher information about the prevailing trends in retail sector can be obtained
(Preventing and mitigating COVID-19 at work, 2022). The main reason behind applying
the significant strategy is to obtain the information that can allow to execute the most

effective method of overcoming COVID 19 impact. Market researches as well provides
assistance in understanding the requirements of customers so that higher liquidity &
operational efficiency can be derived.
 This is recommended to Woolworths Group to focus on developing relevant strategy and
implementing regarding quality measures. Having implementation of total quality
management permits firm to get emphasis on eliminating errors that aids in having
greater quality performance. Risk management strategy is helpful in gaining ability to
eliminate all the threat offering aspects related to safety & security, legal compliance, etc.
On the basis of this, it can be interpreted that having quality and risk management can
highly contribute in overcoming the crucial issues that hampers operational efficiency.
This can help the firm to get effective outcomes with maintaining optimum utilization
resources.
 It is advisable to the firm to build significant communication channel with allowing
employee to express their views regarding prevailing challenges in the time of COVID by
increasing staff engagement action so that suitable action can be implemented. Having
training & development can boost morale of employees to meet deadlines greater
positive manner.
CONCLUSION
In the end it is concluded that the present pandemic has affected the working efficiency
of the business to a great extent. This is particularly because of the reason that when the
pandemic occurred then at that time the working was shutdown. Hence, this affected the working
of the company within the external environment and changes need to be implemented within the
company. The above report evaluated the fact that the financial performance of the company
after pandemic has affected to a great extent. Also, it was analysed that the performance of the
company has reduced to a great extent and there is requirement of improving the business. For
the improvement as well there were different types of recommendation provided like focus on
good communication channel and others.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Giunipero, L.C., Denslow, D. and Rynarzewska, A.I., 2021. Small business survival and
COVID-19-an exploratory analysis of carriers. Research in Transportation Economics,
p.101087.
Grimmer, L., 2021. Drivers and barriers for city shopping: Perspectives from retailers and
consumers in regional Australia. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. 61.
p.102526.
Hastings, C., and et.al., 2021. Precarity Before and During the Pandemic: International Student
Employment and Personal Finances in Australia. Journal of Studies in International
Education, p.10283153211065136.
Khan, S.A.R. and et.al., 2021. Technological innovation and circular economy practices:
Business strategies to mitigate the effects of COVID-19. Sustainability, 13(15), p.8479.
Risse, L. and Jackson, A., 2021. A gender lens on the workforce impacts of the COVID-19
pandemic in Australia. Australian Journal of Labour Economics. 24(2). pp.111-143.
Sathyanarayana, A., Shukla, N. and Taghikhah, F., 2020, December. Modelling the Impact of
COVID-19 Pandemic on a Hardware Retail Supply Chain. In 2020 IEEE International
Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (IEEM) (pp. 807-
811). IEEE.
Tan, J. and Ardilo, A., 2021, November. Risk Management of Mice Tourism in XYZ Firm
During the Covid-19 Pandemic. In RSF Conference Series: Business, Management and
Social Sciences (Vol. 1, No. 5, pp. 74-83).
Whelan, J., and et.al., 2021. The Impact of COVID-19 on Rural Food Supply and Demand in
Australia: Utilising Group Model Building to Identify Retailer and Customer
Perspectives. Nutrients. 13(2). p.417.
Online
Preventing and mitigating COVID-19 at work. 2022. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.who.int/teams/risk-communication/employers-and-workers?
gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4KXBqqfr9gIVV38rCh3yaQFSEAAYASAAEgIs0vD_BwE>