Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Online Shopping in the UK

Name of the Student:

Student Id:

Course Name:

Abstract

The research is carried out to determine the effect of COVID-19 on the UK market for online shopping, specifically the evolution and growth of online shopping strategies in the UK’s on-line foodstuffs specialisation. The research begins with a key introduction which sets the research context. In the UK, Covid-19 has had a significant effect on the prominence of online shopping in the UK. A study of the scholarly papers, scholarly documents, PDF files and the related secondary sources analyses the literature review part of the thesis to build on the relevant literature. Thus, online shopping styles have been identified and the threats and possibilities identified for the effect of COVID-19 on online shopping in the UK have been identified.

The qualitative approach for collecting the necessary data and information has also been implemented which in turn makes the study credible and reliable. The influence assessment of the outcome of the COVID-19 epidemic on online shopping in the UK was analysed in different types of successful content. The research discussion chapter explains the conclusions and shows the connection between the literature review and the findings of the thesis. Lastly, the chapter summarises the key ingredients of the whole study and makes adequate test recommendations.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Background of the Research

It is evident that in the market of the UK, online shopping is gradually becoming an essential trend. However, some people consistently prefer the offline shopping procedure during the maintenance of their lifestyle. In this aspect, both the offline and online stores prominently operate their business in the highly competitive market of the UK. By the ending of 2019, the strain of COVID-19 has been explored and at the beginning of 2020, it has aggressively spread globally (Rutter et al., 2021). Due to this, the World Health Organisation has decided to form some guidelines and regulations that all people have to maintain.

In this aspect, the protocol of global lockdown and social distancing has been imposed that closed the entire businesses throughout the world. Through this, the economic stability of the UK has been extensively disrupted and the national rate of GDP has been decreased. However, in order to maintain the rate of national GDP in a positive way, the government has decided to initiate the business of the online stores only on the national platform (Pierce et al., 2020). In this way, most of the organisations have transferred their way of the product selling process to the online platform during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

1.2 Problem Statement

During the conduction of the entire research study, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the researcher has faced various issues regarding the collection of significant data. Generally, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic prominently affected the entire world by shuttering down all the business throughout the global market. Therefore, the organisations have been obliged to stop their business and due to facing extensive loss, they have been obliged to terminate some of their employees to reduce the expenses regarding employee payment (Jones et al., 2020). In this aspect, the researcher did not get a huge knowledge from all the organisational employees regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on online shopping. Moreover, due to the closing of some small and medium-sized businesses the researcher has been obliged to get minimal data and information regarding the research study. However, prominent data has been collected for this study to make this research more viable and credible for the learners.

1.3 Research Aims and Objectives

Aims

The fundamental aim of this research study is to analyse the impact of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic on online shopping across the market of the UK. Moreover, within the analysis of this aspect, the study will also demonstrate the condition of the UK economy and the condition of the value chain of online businesses.

Objectives

To evaluate the norm of online shopping in the UK.

To rationalise online shopping during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To analyse the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on online shopping in the UK.

To demonstrate the circumstance of the UK economy and the organisational value chain of online stores.

1.4 Research Questions

There are some questions have been given below in order to meet the research aims and objectives.

What is the impact of the Coronavirus outbreak on online shopping within the UK economy?

Which part of the organisational value chain of online stores is being influenced by the global pandemic?

How effective have been the online stores in the UK regarding dealing with COVID-19?

1.5 Significance of the Research

Generally, this study of the research prominently demonstrates and evaluates crucial knowledge and information regarding how the COVI-19 pandemic potentially affects online shopping in the market of the UK. Through this, the current market condition and the social and cultural lifestyle will be identified effectively by the community in the UK (Branley-Bell and Talbot, 2020). Moreover, the vulnerable condition of the UK economic system, due to which, the large and multinational organisations have got extensive loss within their business during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has been sufficiently analysed. In this way, this research study becomes more significant to get effective knowledge regarding the effect of this epidemic.

1.6 Rationale of the Research

The current trend of the COVID-19 pandemic prominently affected both domestic and international business operation. However, the main concern is that peoples in the UK how they live their lives and maintain their social lifestyle even within the situation of lockdown. In this aspect, the formation of appropriate aims and objectives for this research study proficiently helps it to evaluate a brief and in-depth knowledge of how people are using the online shopping system during this coronavirus pandemic (Groarke et al., 2020). Through this, various unknown facts will be identified in this study to justify the initiative of conducting this research study.

1.7 Research Structure

The research structure aims to show the pattern and the outline of the entire study of the research. This helps the learners and the further researchers to easily get knowledge about the study.

The first chapter of the dissertation is the introduction which aims to give the main outline of the subject. In the introductory portion, the context of the thesis is specified. This section is then divided into several parts which are research background, purpose, aims, logic and relevance. It also provides the topic of study with a basic interpretation.

The second chapter of the dissertation is the literature review that aims to reflect the opinions of scholars. The analyses of the research are mostly performed by peer reviews, academic documents, PDFs, numerous real websites etc.

In the third chapter is the methodology that allows the whole analysis to achieve a degree of wealth and importance. The section on the analysis methodology describes the various ways of data collection and techniques of understanding, and the chapter describes the process of data collection, including the study sample dimensions.

The fourth chapter comprises the findings that typically deal with the findings of the study. This chapter further outlines the whole perspective of the thesis and provides a final comment on the subject for review.

The fifth chapter of the dissertation mostly includes discussion, which explains the research findings and links all of the components of research work.

A conclusion summing up the thesis as a whole and making recommendations on this research topic is given in the final chapter of the dissertation.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Chapter Overview

Generally, the entire study of this literature section will provide prominent and in-depth knowledge regarding the “Impact of COVID-19 on Online Shopping in the UK”. In this aspect, in order to evaluate and meet the aims and objectives, the researcher has briefly identified some crucial aspects of the study topic. In this way, this literary study will provide knowledge regarding the concept of online shopping and offline or traditional shopping in the UK (Williams et al., 2020). Moreover, the significance of online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic also will be discussed in this study. In this way, this research study will be able to proficiently promote and meet its aims and objectives.

On the other hand, how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts the online shopping system in the UK and the market condition of the UK economy and organisational value chain of online stores during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic have been deeply analysed in this study of the research. Through this, the literature section of this study will be able to provide effective knowledge and information in order to efficiently meet the aims and objectives of the research (Williams et al., 2020). Also, in this section, the concept of the literature gap will be included to demonstrate the knowledge about what the researcher has not been able to cover in this study.

2.2 Concept of Online Shopping and Traditional or Offline Shopping in the UK

According to the statement of Sarkar and Sabyasachi (2017), in 2018, there is already space for comparison between online and offline shopping. Early on, there is plenty of news of physical shutdowns all over the world. There is no doubt that today smartphones and tablets make researching, surveying, reading consumer feedback and even buying merchandise convenient for shopkeepers. However, consumers also like to see and experience an object until they decide to purchase it. That being said, handheld devices will play a key role in the overall retail experience, while physical shops will unlikely be extinguished quickly. As per the statement of Harris et al. (2017), smart devices may carry consumers to shops in their area of residence for shopping to different locations. Online vs. offline marketing is influenced by the distribution of advertisements. About 60% of people in the UK want ads on their smartphones in real-time. The apparent drawback to smartphones and tablets is that as many items cannot be seen at a time. Mobile users have to search endlessly to find other items or checkout functionality unlike laptops or desktop users.

Based on the statement of Brand, Schwanen and Anable (2020), internet shopping’s presence and ease do not actually imply the destruction of brick and mortar shops. Although e-commerce is growing faster, most retail transactions are still offline. In 2018, retailers will find ways of integrating technologies in showrooms and shelves in response to online versus offline buying patterns. For example, tablets or other mobile devices supplied through the storage system may allow buyers to scan the Barcode to get price and product features. Some fashion retailers blend with their clothing snacks, drinks, books and lounge facilities. The virtual dressing rooms enable the shop in sizes, colours and styles of clothing to meet the distinctive needs or interests of the consumers. As stated by Akhtar et al. (2020), the supermarket physical shop has realistic advantages. In contrast to online customers, offline customers will scrutinise and review goods and even ask sales employees questions. The retail trends for 2018 will also include shopping through click and pick, as shoppers search, pick and pay online and purchase their goods in the store.

This strategy enables consumers to reduce their chance that products will not be received on schedule. LanderApp reports that UPS ground packs had an on-time fulfilment score of 97 % throughout the holiday season throughout 2014. Sayyida et al. (2021) stated that the 21^st century is an age of digitalisation, where everything from foodstuffs to devices is available digitally. Customers now know the advantages and want more customised dominance in digitalisation. While customers choose online shopping and e-commerce in big metro stations, for the most part, the trend is gradually entering non-metro towns too. According to the viewpoint of Akalamkam and Mitra (2018), with online consumers will, online shopping in the United Kingdom is thriving and will expand very rapidly in the future. According to a financial survey in 2017, there will probably be over 100 million customers who buy online. London, on the other hand, became the largest city for internet shopping in 2016. Due to the development, most retailers now attempt to sell their goods online either via the development of their own website or through registration on online platforms.

2.3 Importance of Online Shopping during COVID-19 Pandemic

As per the viewpoint of Nguyen et al. (2020), in recent years, e-commerce has become very popular. Organisations such as Amazon and Alibaba became e-commerce giants. Through the evolution of the modern world, several more brands are also using E-Commerce to support their clients. Order take-offs and even buy food online is now popular! COVID-19 has altered the current economic situation drastically with its latest epidemic. Many are struck by confusion. The prospect of industry, unfortunately, seems bleak for others. There are still suitable ways of raising profits for shops that have closed their doors. Based on the viewpoint of Roggeveen and Sethuraman (2020), the purest way for consumers to have an online shopping site. Via the website, the consumers can conveniently access all their merchandise. Moreover, the consumers will read regarding the options, compare prices and make safe home shopping. The online shop is also available 24 hours a day so that users can order if they wish. It is more problematic for individuals to purchase historically with social dissociation in place. Through ordering online, shoppers are shipping goods right at the door. Shopping was never so comfortable.

As opined by Grashuis, Skevas and Segovia (2020), while people are still very wise and would like to invest money, even with the current public security hazard. Many people even buy online to better combat forbearance. The current environment offers the perfect chance, particularly if they are considered not necessary for the company. The provision of buying options in E-Commerce ensures that shoppers can now have a super easy exposure to their brands and meet their shopping needs.  The e-commerce and the ease of individuals needing to sit at home were never so important earlier. Bin et al. (2021) opined that another good thing is that it is easily traceable, with an E-Commerce website. Both small companies will benefit from greater knowledge of their consumers. They have a wealth of information as users visit the online store’s website. This knowledge is valuable in a range of ways to help people serve the consumers with a great buying experience. The online stores will create innovative ideas and discover new market prospects through learning how customers communicate with their website. It should concentrate on several different topics.

According to the statement of Király et al. (2020), the online stores will best fit the e-commerce site by considering their consumers’ motivations. This is a vital moment in order to consider the consumers since COVID-19 dramatically changes normal consumer behaviour. The organisations will also develop new campaign techniques to better attract consumers. They will be able to give the consumers a better shopping experience and they will definitely return. According to the viewpoint of Safara (2020), modern brick & mortar shops have several varying expenditures. Staff training, infrastructure and services expenses may rapidly increase. The costs can increase. The COVID-19 threats suggest that many firms have their doors locked. Nevertheless, many still operate from their conventional sites with extensive COVID controls. For this to happen, employees and even other costs are necessary. Most companies no longer generate the same profits as before in the new economic world. Making less revenue would make it more difficult to afford the requisite running costs. That is why, right now, we have so many companies battling.

2.4 Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Online Shopping in the UK

As per the statement of He and Harris (2020), if the world reacts to the coronavirus epidemic (COVID-19), we see an appalling change from one person to another. More than ever, consumers rely on the modern environment, and companies are accustomed and transition much more urgently than ever to digitalisation.  By 2019, in collaboration with the National Retail Federation (NRF), Forrester surveyed the internet store in its annual “The State of Retailing Online” report. The analysis found that the bulk of retailers finished with more bricks and mortar shops in 2019. Admittedly, the retail declined to a standstill following the coronavirus, bricks and mortar. As per the viewpoint of Brown et al. (2021), as a result, many international supermarket multichannel organisations, as their clients move in line, have struggled to develop their digital interactions. The importance of digital distribution and consumer interactions has been emphasised by COVID-19.

Based on the statement of Buil-Gil et al. (2021), in recent years, internet revenues have been on a global upwards trajectory, with smaller share increases in winter holidays among November and January as a percentage of overall retail sales in the U.K., as in the U.S. and other Western European countries. Online sales as a share of overall retail sales fired in, as the world was locked up at the end of March, according to the data from the Office for National Statistics. In May, it increased at 32.8% and steadily started decreasing. Despite the slow and gradual reopening of the market in early June, nevertheless, Internet transactions still retain more than a quarter of the commercial economic system. Based on the viewpoint of Nicola et al. (2020), the internet revenue in July accounted for 28.1% of online revenues, nearly 7% more than that of 21.5% in November 2019. This epidemic is projected to fuel the UK e-coms industry by delivering revenue of GBP 5.3 billion (approximately $7 billion) throughout 2020, increasing the overall market value to GBP 78.9 billion (around $105 billion). The initial 2020 estimate for revenue amounted to just £73.6 billion (approximately $98 billion). The latest revenue figure for 2020 will increase by 19% from £66.3 billion in 2019.

As stated by Samaroudi, Echavarria and Perry (2020), 39% of consumers said that they were inspired to buy online items like pet food, which they had purchased earlier in-store, as an e-commerce orders fulfilment and operational services provider. This desire of younger buyers to try different types of buying was best. About 61% of customers in GenZ and 52% of millennial were online shopping throughout the epidemic for new product classes Although products like pet food could be considered vital for pet owners, the recession has left other classes unchanged. Vazquez-Vazquez et al. (2021) stated that 90% of customers predicted their shopping online to come throughout one week, 36% anticipated that they will arrive in 3 to 5 days and 29% anticipated that they would appear in two or fewer days at a time pre-COVID-19 (before 23 March). Around 71% anticipated their shipped products in a week after the epidemic took place, 29% in 3 to 5 days and to just 14% predicted shipments in two or fewer days (Williams et al., 2020). Along with customer buying on the internet, other complicated considerations like new protection and priority policies for Amazon have played a role in slowing down delivery in the United Kingdom and on another market.

As opined by Pantano et al. (2020), supermarket chains like Tesco and Sainsbury, along with the shop and food supply branch of Amazon, were the top winners. In order to benefit from the increase in demand, Chains Tesco and Sainsbury have increased their home distribution units; meanwhile, Amazon has intensified its food supply activities. CNN reveals that Amazon has been offering free food to its Prime customers in and around London, aiming for a surge in internet ordering and the acceptance of traditional retail players like Tesco and Sainsbury.

2.5 Condition of UK Economy and Organisational Value Chain of Online Stores during COVID-19 Pandemic

According to the statement of Nicola et al. (2020), in December 2020, the Gross Domestic Product Monthly (GDP) was 6.3% lower than in February 2020, up 1.2% from November 2020. From the first half of December 2020, service operation improved after the easing of market constraints that impacted November 2020 adversely. In December 2020, nevertheless, limits were further strengthened. This influenced industrial development and the findings showed that in some services sectors, this was the most important. But production slowed and manufacturing businesses saw a broad decline. As per the statement of Sharma et al. (2020), in 2020, the largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined by 9.9%. The result, expense and profit methods for the calculation of GDP are assessed in a sustainable manner. The gaps among the three methods must also be resolved at this stage in the development of national accounts for 2020. The subsequent research is solely focused on and will be open to review the production method to GDP in 2020.

Based on the statement of Sharma, Adhikary and Borah (2020), in 2020, the production GDP estimated decreased by 9.1% after a 1.4% increase in 2019. Led through slightly lower services growth in 2020, the decline in 2020 was more than double the closest 4.0% fall in 2009. The UK’s coronavirus-ravaged financial system experienced the largest productivity collapse in over 300 years in 2020 when it fell by 9.9%, however, at the end of the year, it escaped a downturn and looks for a 2021 revival. As stated by Pantano et al. (2020), official estimates have shown that the gross domestic product (GDP), which was the highest in a number of economists’ projections in a Reuters survey, rose 1,0% from October to December. It is possible that the UK, even as the consequences of a third COVID lockdown are expected to decline in early 2021, will survive two consecutive phases of contractions – the typical European definition of decline.

Phillipson et al. (2020) stated that the COVID-19 epidemic has contributed to a major reduction in physical encounters in several UK-based nations. Self-imposed social distancing to prevent infection and the stringent containment policies introduced in many UK-based nations have, at least momentarily, almost stopped a substantial part of the conventional brick-and-mortar retail market. Retail and food services in the UK fell by 7.7% from the same time in 2019 between February and April 2020. Sales rose about 16% and 14.8% respectively for grocery stores and non-store retailers (Boyacι-Gündüz et al., 2021). According to the viewpoint of Islam et al. (2021), the EU-27.2 has improved in April 2020 retail revenue through mail-order houses and the Web by 30% contrasted with April 2019, with overall sales decreasing by 17.9%. The subsequent changes are expected to be substantial in nations around the board from department stores to e-commerce. In the United States, for instance, the e-commerce portion grew steadily among the first quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2020, but between the first and second quarters of 2020, the figure expanded to 16.1% (Boyacι-Gündüz et al., 2021).

As per the viewpoint of Soto-Acosta (2020), the UK’s e-commerce share increased dramatically from 17.3% to 20.3% in the first and first quarter of 2020 from 17.3% to 20.3%, to 31.3% than from the first and second quarter of 2020. This is still the case in the UK. A similar transition also occurs in other countries, including the People’s Republic of China, where between January and August 2020, the share of online shopping in overall cumulative revenue reached 24.6% from 19.4% in August 2019 to 17.3% in August 2018 (Boyacι-Gündüz et al., 2021). Based on the viewpoint of Ivanov (2021), more than 75% of companies in the affected area of the UK account for online stores, processing and retail services. 51,000 firms worldwide have “one or more primary suppliers or category 1 suppliers.” Of these, 938 organisations have Fortune 1,000 suppliers from the affected region, and another five million have Tier 2 providers there. There are two effects on the supply chain. In order to address supply losses after plant reductions and financial downturn businesses must, first of all, carefully track short-term and long-term requests and inventories.

2.6 Literature Gap

During the conduction and the formation of the entire literature study of this research, it becomes little prominent and potential for the learner to get maximum knowledge regarding the “Impact of COVID-19 on Online Shopping in the UK”. Due to this, the research study has been able to provide potential knowledge. Within this, the study has demonstrated the concept regarding online shopping and traditional or offline shopping in the market of the UK, and also portrayed the knowledge regarding the significance of online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, the impact and the effectiveness of the COVID-19 pandemic on online shopping in the UK have been discussed in this study of the literature. Moreover, the vulnerable condition of the economic system in the UK and the organisational value chain of online stores during the COVID-19 pandemic also have been analysed in this study. However, this study has not provided the knowledge regarding how the online stores in the UK apply different strategy to overcome this critical circumstance and to develop the growth rate of the UK economic system and its GDP rate.

2.7 Summary

Throughout the evaluation of the entire literature study, it is evaluated that this study efficiently formed by the researcher by gathering the data and information from the other research papers and articles. Through this, the knowledge regarding the norm of online and offline shopping, the importance of online shopping in the UK, the impact of COVID-19 on online shopping, and the condition of the UK economic system and the organisational value chain of online stores during the COVID-19 pandemic, the researcher has been able to interpret. However, there is still some gap within this literature study, which makes a huge obstacle during the studying this research. In this aspect, a further study will be conducted in the market to proficiently accomplish the lacking of this research study.

Chapter 3: Methodology

3.1 Chapter Overview

Generally, the third chapter of this research study is a methodology, which proficiently drives the knowledge regarding what kinds of methodologies have been utilised during the conduction of the entire research. In this way, this chapter of methodology has consisted of different segments like philosophy, approach, design, sampling, strategy, data collection process, data analysis process, ethical consideration and the limitation of the research. Through this, the researcher has been able to provide potential knowledge and evidence regarding the authenticity and ethnicity of the entire study of the research (Brown et al., 2021). In this way, the learners and the future researchers will be able to get prominent regarding the utilisation of philosophy, strategy and approaches for conducting and accomplishing the entire study of the research. Moreover, the researcher during the conduction of this research regarding “The impact of COVID-19 on online shopping in the UK”, has maintained and pursued the entire ethical activities during collecting data from a valid source.

3.2 Research Philosophy

There are four fundamental philosophical methods for the research like positivism, realism, interpretivism and pragmatism. These four philosophical methods prominently help to demonstrate the actual view of the research. Generally, the positive philosophical method helps to set a large amount of numerical data or theoretical data in the case of either qualitative research or quantitative research. On the other hand, the realism philosophical method is used to analyse only the quantitative data, where the pragmatism philosophy is utilised to analyse the data that has been collected through utilising mixed (both quantitative and qualitative) method (Kennedy, 2017). Furthermore, the interpretivism philosophy fundamentally utilised to analyse and interpret the data that has been collected through a qualitative approach. In this aspect, in order to conduct the entire study of this research, the interpretivism philosophy has been adopted to efficiently interpret all the data and information regarding the “Impact of COVID-19 on online shopping in the UK.”

3.3 Research Approach

Generally, there is three fundamental research approach that helps to proficiently accomplish the entire study of this research. These research approaches are inductive approach, deductive approach and abductive approach. The inductive approach helps to create a new theory regarding the study topic by analysing the data and the information that directs the research study in a new direction for getting a vaster amount of knowledge from the study. On the other hand, the deductive approach helps to significantly analyse existing theory or content by creating hypothesis and meeting with one of them (Mohr, Riper and Schueller, 2018). Through this, the research study accepts only one hypothesis and rejects another one by observation. Moreover, there is an abductive approach that the research team depends on diverse tools and interacts theory with approaches throughout the research process. This requires flexibility in the use of scientific information, theory and interpretation and therefore coincides with these three elements (Walseth, Engebretsen and Elvebakk, 2018). This approach is also possible to conduct the study regarding the impact of COVID-19 on online shopping in the UK. The research would emphasise how certain current hypotheses are combined with observational evidence as the abductive approach to investigation remains well suited for this situation. The study would try to combine scientific information and hypothesis to find new findings.

3.4 Research Design

During the conduction of the entire research study, the researcher has analysed various research design method for prominently framing this research study. The qualitative research design is ethnography, phenomenology, grounded theory and case study. Generally, the grounded theory is one way of examining the quality of the procedure and the way it works, examining an individual’s experiences and perceptions and responses. On the other hand, ethnography is an approach to qualitative research design that looks at society within a community of individuals. Moreover, the phenomenological research design is fundamentally applied to the study, which topic related to society, health like nursing, diseases, etc. (Creswell and Poth, 2018). Furthermore, the case study research design refers to an incident, issue, procedure, action, individual person or actions of many individuals. The case analysis must be studied using a limited method, normally time or space within the cases. In this aspect, the researcher has utilised phenomenological research design for efficiently accomplishing this study of the impact of COVID-19 on online shopping in the UK.

3.5 Research Sampling

The aim of this report is to expand or analyse the results and issues of a systematic examination in order to find the correct data solution. The thesis comprises a systematic review in which some assumptions may be drawn and questions resolved. This resulted in the collection of information and facts from countless scientific articles, different records, tweets, journals, PDFs, and academic files. Nevertheless, sections of test samples were used for explanation and concentration of the proposed analysis. The method of testing used in research of traditional test surveys is extremely important since it does not derive from opinions and assessments of the general public. The view derives mainly from the analysis and update of the archive and academic dictionary. The collected data should be viewed in an excellent way so that the data fully reflects the context of the study (Shustack, 2019). Within the research sampling period, there were obstacles in collecting factual data, and obstacles to comparative analysis of COVID-19’s effect on online shopping in the UK were obstructed. The data collection was particularly regarded throughout the research study and a selection was selected to assure that the dataset collected provides the research paper with a wider scope.

3.6 Data Collection Process

The thesis relies on qualitative analysis approaches that emphasise the values and fundamental assumptions of systemic research technology. A structural interpretation of the data is utilised to collect data in the sense of the chosen study example. Subjective information utilised in data analysis is, in particular, collections of non-numerical insights from different references. Conceptual information in contrast to the evidence is especially difficult to break up. Various information technologies were utilised in the data collection process as per the agreed research protocol to research the study (Lv and Zhu, 2020). Data generated typically on the network is termed Data Exfiltration since the internet is a wide range of data. The online shopping sectors usually cover the new region, such that the need for business development needs analysis of consumer taste and new markets. The online shopping store’s overview of the data gathered is analysed as the key objective of the information crawling process.

3.7 Data Analysis Process

The analysis of the data collected during the performance of this test was based on a qualitative multi-case study strategy. This will help the researcher to gain in-depth knowledge about the way in which the global pandemic affects online shopping in the UK and to systematically address the research query. The secondary collection will include works through other scientists, novels, blogs, newspaper posts, other multimedia publications and mass media. Additionally, the study approach provides for an appropriate momentary description of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in UK shopping (Quartiroli et al., 2017). A significant number of studies is carried out on the assessment of COVID-19’s effect on online shops in the UK through means of a qualitative analysis of data from various sources. The entire data review process of the report has been tailored to fulfil the assessment requirements in the academic field and to identify the generic results of data analysis testing.

3.8 Ethical Consideration

A list of rules and principles is utilised to allow different procedures to be restored and implemented, and are identified as ethical criteria in order to achieve the study aim. Ethics are generally the non-exclusive strategies that were deemed to be the most appropriate theory for any research investigation. The ethical standard for judging the effect of COVID-19 on online shopping in Great Britain is also the highest standard. This ethical analysis is intended to ensure that the ethical dimensions of work are understood in the implementation and creation of the guidelines. In order to define ethical values, the study and preponderance of the evidence is also the most critical area of morals. In general, funding, agreement and security in research depend on three basic legal standards or guidance (Cammaerts, 2020). Anonymity and adequate anonymity for the collection and compilation of data was a fundamental requirement for ethics. In order to be aware of the likelihood of manipulation of data reviews on the underlying topics, it is essential to process data from legitimate sources. The report then used a range of guidelines in order to assess the effect of COVID-19 on online shopping in the UK.

3.9 Research Limitation

Whereas the pandemic has grabbed the market downturn very efficiently throughout the world; therefore, the researcher becomes unable to collect the quantitative data by implementing primary research in the market like interview and survey. The online shopping stores in the UK are playing a most significant role to meet the distinctive need of the consumers and numerous relevant researches have already been conducted (Covington and Duff, 2021). In this aspect, the research has decided to conduct the research to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 with considering only the secondary qualitative research style.

Chapter 4: Finding

4.1 Secondary Finding

4.1.1 Coronavirus: Retail Sales Crash and Shift to Online Stores

The National Statistics Office (NSO) has recorded an 18.1% drop in the volume of products sold last month. Clothing prices have reduced half as many shops in High Street were shut down through the government’s March lock-down action. Online shopping has hit a record high of 30.7% as a proportion of the total retail, the NSO added. Both shop forms saw record volumes spent online, apart from those selling clothes or household items. Yet the collection of online retail did not compensate for the decline of High Street expenditure.

Figure 1: Crash in Offline Retail Store’s Sales during Pandemic

(Source: BBC News, 2020)

“The move to online has benefited the businesses that have the smartest e-commerce businesses and have been able to handle the shift in demand;” said the CE of Retail Economics, Richard Lim. “One of the big winners was online grocery retailers who operated at an unprecedented pace to increase power.” As per the NSO, in April, the proportion of online food spending rose from 5.7% to 9.3%. Others have managed to boost off-license revenues, with a small increase following a 23.9% leap in March.

Figure 2: Increasing Rate of Shifts into Online Shopping Stores

(Source: BBC News, 2020)

Clothing stores have been severely affected because the lack of social contact has reduced the appetite for new products, whether it is commuting to work, meeting friends or going on holiday. The decline in April in non-food purchases has led to the lowest sales in clothes and shoes since the NSO began data collection. The number of shopkeepers visiting UK High Streets, retail parks and shopping malls dropped in April by 80% during the lock-in, according to separate estimates through the Springboard retail company (Wilson, 2020). This was almost twice as high as in March when visits to shopping places fell by 41.3%. Various apparel companies have struggled to keep shoppers at home. For instance, fashion giant Primark said last week, after the coronavirus breakdown; it had caused him to shut down shops in Europe and the UK from making £650m for selling a month to zero.

Amid the dim headlines, UK Chief Economist Samuel Tombs said, ‘Retail sales in May should regain the land lost in April.’ He said that, while lockdowns on shop close in England have not improved substantially since they were implemented. UK retail prices fell the most over the last 25 years with closed non-essential stores at lockdowns that overwhelmed Covid-19’s online spending surge. Total revenue decreased around 0.3% from 2019, which was the biggest failure in 1995 records – representing the impacts of lockdowns through government and changing customers’ buying patterns, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said. Nevertheless, the total decline in expenditure hides the growth and dramatic fall of some shops in turnover. Through the recession, sales of food purchased from supermarkets rose by 5.4% year on year as spent on bars, restaurants and hotels decreased.

Sales in all other goods decreased by 5% from the previous year. Although online purchases increased while customers remained mostly away from the highway, sales of non-food products plummeted by 24% during lock-ups (Partington, 2021). After the initial annual dip since 1995, 2019 the revenue decrease occurs because years of poor income increases harm the budgets of families, as well as the concerns of Brexit, have contributed to a retail sales reduction of 0.1% in relation to 2018 (Partington, 2021). The BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said November provided little market relief and during the highest selling season, several shops had been forced to close. “Many retailers are fighting to thrive with shops already shut down in the near future; losing stores millions of missed profits.”

4.1.2 Online Store’s Value Chain Supplies Different Product Category in Different Country including the UK

As the COVID-19 epidemic begins to develop retailers have increased initiatives in terms of delivering vital products to customers and protecting community health and well-being. The distribution networks are experiencing difficulties in order to meet these objectives, which include special precautions to ensure that vital products are supplied to shops and doors. The supply chain leaders provide clarity and swift responses to alleviate the short-term repercussions. The epidemic faced many obstacles in the supply chain sector, involving changing consumer appetite regulations and possible inventory scarcity pushed many people into quickly adapting their supply chain (Watkins et al., 2017). Because of the rising requirement for non-basic products, retailers face network scarcity. To fight this retailer, businesses throughout their suppliers work together closely. In order to ensure a sufficient supply of key elevated commodities, the most relevant products are met every day with the selected partners.

This is the first goal to ensure a quick and stable supply for those in the food, medication, and mass (FDM) classes. Online retail stores will still need to bring improvements to their procurement, preparation and inventory management operations if they are trying to restate their product orders to meet customer requirement. In this section of the supply chain, distribution begins to converge greatly with the trends in demand for non-discretionary and discretionary commodities. Maintaining versatility in logistics is more important than ever before. The current increase in demand reduces surplus capacity consumption.

Two firms that interview more than 200 supply chain practitioners from the UK based online company that specializes in fields like distribution, manufacture, rethink and wholesale delivery, conducted in cooperation with the “Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals”. The CSCMP found that 54% said that they “reaped the rewards of digital change” and that, as a result, they “managed very well COVID-related demand and provider insecurity.” Nevertheless, only 13% said that they were treating the same region with similar confidence during the ‘evaluation’ or ‘not following’ phases of the transition (Watkins et al., 2017).

Figure 3: Net Intent to Transform Expenditures over the Year Including UK

(Source: Wilson, 2020)

The study also identified the top three factors in the supply chain planning digitisation phase. Of those polled, 44% thought that one of them was able to meet the changing preferences and demands of its customers, whereas 43% said another major factor was the desire for more efficiency to centre employees on higher-level tasks. 42% of survey participants emphasised their general willingness to boost market results as the third major factor (Sharma et al., 2020). Other reasons beyond the top three include the improvement of 39 per cent customer experience to improve responses to unexpected problems (35%) and the increase in durability of the supply chain to 34%.

Canadian firms supplying goods in the UK have an unambiguous roadmap for their clients. The establishment of alliances or contracts with third-party logistics (3PL) companies would simplify the procedure and provide savings in many scenarios. The skills gained by these partnerships, quicker market time and the opportunity to concentrate on other fields like manufacturing and business growth, support online businesses and start-ups. For bigger businesses, the choice to utilise a partner will mostly be based on investment decisions and other incentives include considerations such as durability. Management of the supply chain covers all facets of consumer delivery of goods and services. These tasks come underneath the wide range of shipping, transportation and performance in chosen situations, such as returned handling.

The United Kingdom is one of the most dynamic distribution markets in the world where many options can be offered to vendors. Parcelforce and Yodel have all gained the ability to help e-commerce companies serve UK clients, besides Royal Mail. Every vendor has its own pricing structure: the online delivery systems for favourite suppliers are a decent beginning for sellers who want to find the best deals. Sellers are recommended to compare box dimensions when comparing values, as they will impact quotations. Moreover, companies can look for exclusive offers with chosen vendors for their e-commerce portal providers and website developers (Sharma et al., 2020). A further emphasis was the development of applications for incorporating their services into every website of e-commerce and for integrating with a variety of software solutions of shipping and logistics management.

4.1.3 Effective Service of the Online Stores in the UK during COVID-19 Pandemic

The crisis of COVID-19 has led to major physical contacts restricting in many countries in the UK. Self-imposed social disassociating in order to prevent pandemic and stringent containment actions in many countries in the UK have placed an important proportion, at least briefly, of the conventional brick and mortar shop practically in suspension. Retail and food services revenue in the United Kingdom decreased by 7.7% from the same time in 2019, respectively February and April 2020. Sales rose by 16% and 14.8% alike for food stores and non-store retailers (Koch, Frommeyer and Schewe, 2020). In the EU-27.2 mail order and internet, sales grew around 30% as contrasted to April 2019 in the EU-27, whereas overall online retail sales decreased around 17.9% (Sharma et al., 2020). The consequential changes from brick and mortar to e-commerce in many nations are expected to be considerable. For e.g., although e-commerce share in the United Kingdom enhanced only slightly between the first quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2020, between 2020 and 2020, it expanded to 16.1%.

Figure 4: Increasing Rate of Online Sales in the UK

(Source: OECD, 2020)

Other countries, like the People’s Republic of China with 24.6% up from 19.4% in August 2019 and 17.3% in August 2018, also have similar trends. Similar changes are found in overall cumulative retail revenue between January and April 20, 2011 (Shveda, 2020). For the UK, results are available on the basis of statistics from the Monthly Retail Trade Survey and statistical reports for e-commerce as a percentage of all retail transactions. Preliminary projections are data for the second quarter of 2020. In the UK, data supply Internet sales as a share of overall online sales. Quarterly statistics on monthly forecasts are a clear mean. Data indicated that the proportion of retail revenue adjustment in comparison with the same time of the previous year was for 27 members of the European Union. The total purchases of retail cars and bikes were excluded.

Figure 5: Share of E-Commerce in Total Retail Sales

(Source: OECD, 2020)

Throughout the COVID-19 epidemic, e-commerce was influential and merchants were working hard to create their online outlets, improve them, and promote them. Any small retailers that had not been running online stores prior to the closure created transitional strategies for selling their goods online, for example by sharing products on social media and providing merchandise collection or distribution services (Koch, Frommeyer and Schewe, 2020). Others also sold promotions on their web platforms and launched social media promotion initiatives. In the second quarter of 2020, a major German internet network added a vast range of new partners and thereby extended its services significantly.

Owing to stringent government controls on commercial growth and social life, the COVID-19 Epidemic has ravaged economies and capital markets globally more than ever. The effects are particularly apparent in servicing economies of developed nations such as those in the UK and Germany, marked through the high degree of face-to-face interaction. They analyse the e-commerce market environment in Germany by using the economic shock caused by the COVID-19 turmoil. Germany was stopped in April 2020 with extreme touch limits and the closing of almost all stationary retail stores (Shveda, 2020). This has raised the value of e-commerce, which provides customers with the only way to meet their shopping desires. Besides these increases, e-commerce has resulted in an epidemic, which affected capital markets and a rise in jobs and short-term labour. As a result, the population has risen in levels of economic instability.

There is an incredibly open e-commerce sector. With a mouse click, consumers will find out if the product that they want is available and how long it takes to deliver. Accordingly, access to stocks is the most effective aspect of e-commerce. E-commerce contributed to the immediate satisfaction requirements of our clients. If the supply chain management systems of the UK are unwilling to carry out consumer orders since they are out of stock, finding a rival is better than ever. Only one out of stock will lead to deserted buckets and missed sales of additional products and once-loyal buyers go to another place.

Chapter 5: Discussion

5.1 Analysis

The impact of Covid-19 has been thoroughly evident in the global market. Most people witnessed a negative impact because of the virus which has significantly disrupted the economic flow of the international as well as domestic market by disrupting the basic business operations. It is seen that almost every nation has been suffering from economic stress because of the pandemic and have no choice but to accept the situation as it is (Partington, 2021). The commercial movements were heavily hampered which contributed to this heavy loss and static economic phase across different nations. It is evident that the measures taken by the governments restricted the necessary movement of common people in various nations. Although social distancing is the only way to deal with such a deadly virus yet it has a strong and long-term impact on the global economy which will take a longer time to recover from. Especially the conventional businesses such as garment shops, shopping malls, food courts, restaurants etc. have been massively impacted by the lockdown situation as the free movement and social gatherings were strictly prohibited.

Even people themselves became extremely cautious regarding their social presence and kept themselves mostly isolated to prevent the spread of the virus. Though it is a necessary measure to stop the virus spread yet its deadly effects on the business owners are also recorded and shows the permanent damage it can do for most small businesses. The scenario is no different in the UK also, where the business, especially the small shops had to face a massive challenge during the lockdown phase (Partington, 2021). In the UK the online shopping hit a massive high during this period as other nations also saw a similar tendency of online shopping. Globally the mode of online shopping has increased during the lockdown as most people thought of safety first and preferred ordering from online stores. It minimised the probability of close human contact and made it convenient to get access to the product at home. Especially for the necessary items, people preferred the online mode of shopping rather than physical store visits.

This has especially affected the high-street clothing and other fashion retailing businesses as people avoided any type of social gathering. Although the initial phase and after the declaration of lockdown people tended to shop for the most essential products especially food and household necessaries because of the initial panic that substantially increased the profit margin among the grocery stores. In this entire phase of lockdown, the only gainers were the online grocery shops. People needed their food essentials which they could easily get from these online stores properly and without the risk of much physical contact. It increased their shopping amount and also changed their shopping patterns significantly. Due to the virus outbreak, the shopping of clothes and shoes from the market stores has declined which affected the growth of revenue collection of these businesses. Because of this situation, the retail prices fell significantly and made it difficult for the malls and independent shops to carry on their usual business activities.

Even fashion industry giant like Primark had to close their stores all over Europe and UK and had a massive loss during the shutdown phase. Although the overall sell of products has decreased notably yet the online business stores have boosted their revenue growth during this phase while the customer buying preferences was focused on most e-commerce sites. One of the most important factors during the covid-19 pandemic is to maintain the balance of demand and supply. The main aspect of the businesses was to assure that the inventory management is handled cautiously. The demand for essential products is an indispensable part during such distressful situations as people were mostly buying from extreme panic and wanted to store products for a long period due to the uncertainties of the situation. Inventory scarcity is one such issue that needed to be resolved to make sure that people are getting access to the necessary items properly.

Especially, food, household items, medicines etc. the maintenance of consistency and activities of suppliers have become the most crucial aspects during the pandemic situation. Because of the over demand of some of the essential everyday items, the inventory storage of surplus products has declined severely. Especially the networking process of distributors has been hampered because of the difficult situations which have severely impacted the consistency of the supply and demand system. With the pressure of meeting the everyday demands of the customers, it is necessary to keep the supply chain prominence intact (Shveda, 2020). Consumer’s preference and requirements have also evolved during this state which has also made it challenging for the supply partners to keep the system network constant. Close integration of contractors, networking operators and business has become extremely important which will allow the process to be smooth and more efficient.

It will also reduce the probabilities of the scarcity of the most essential products and keep the demand and supply ratio accurate. It has become essential for the distributors to understand the customer demands and know the trends of their changing purchase patterns to keep up with their demands prominently. Logistics channels need the most important overhaul during this situation to maintain their activity alignment and avoid any probable uncertainties which can result in massive business failure. Especially the pressure is mostly on the online shopping site from where the customers are purchasing the most. It has become a challenge for these e-commerce sites to manage their operations as the demands of the customers are constantly rising. These online shopping sites need the most prominent management system of procurement, preparation and inventory management activities to ensure that the business does not stop. Especially, constant monitoring and evaluation of the procedure need to be conducted to find out the probable issues within the supply networks and logistic operations so that necessary improvements can be done on time and reduce challenges regarding the operations.

The suppliers could get the benefit from the current scenario as having specific price structures helped each vendor to negotiate and establish proper contracts on the basis of business preferences. The rational supply chain arrangements ascertained the cost and time savings and accuracy of actions to satisfy consumer demands. Online shopping has become a resort for customers during the pandemic in the UK. Many governments including the UK have implemented strict measures to restrict any social gathering which led to the heavy growth of online shopping trend. The rise of e-commerce share of the UK shows the evidence of growing online facilities and the development of more unconventional shopping methods among the customers (Hamidi and Zandiatashbar, 2021). Although the demand for food and other essentials are higher and therefore sales have gone up distinctly yet the overall retail sales have declined considerably. In a nutshell, it can be evaluated that the constant threat of the virus has made common people more conscious about their involvement in crowded areas which has reduced the preference for conventional shopping methods and modes.

It has drastically shown influence on the market statistics which show the dominance of online shopping sites and other e-commerce platforms over the conventional brick and mortar shopping experience. But the constant supply and demand also require strategies that can develop systematic operational procedures to reduce the negative state of business practices and also maintain the customer requirements properly. Each of the online stores needs this systematic approach of supply chain management systems so that the competitive advantage can be maintained as other players are also present in the market with better cost-saving and logistics systems.

5.2 Summary

The entire discussion has been structured to bring out the situational scenario during the pandemic which led to a massive transformation of the overall market dynamic. The entire subject has been centred on a single aspect of the business evolution which has increased the e-commerce business prominence among the customers and reduced the preference for the conventional brick and mortar system of buying. People have become conscious and are avoiding social presence. It has somehow changed the business scenario for most of the stores across the world. The UK has also been a part of this situation where a strict and restrictive measure of lockdown was implemented. It increased the overall demand for foods and essential for the phase but after the lockdown, the preference for online shopping of essentials have grown much higher than previous.

The sales of usual fashion items such as clothing essentials, shoes etc. were recorded quite low. It indicated that the demand for the essentials was mostly on the higher side compared to the luxury of no-essential products. It is estimated that the demands regarding the essential products have created long-term pressure on the online shopping sites for constant delivery of items to the doorsteps of the customers. And to meet this objective the businesses will have to maintain their strategic supply chain and additional logistics operations properly. It will issue that no challenges occur during the operations and the demands can be fulfilled within time.

Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendation

6.1 Conclusion

Throughout the evaluation of the entire study, it is concluded that the entire study regarding “Impact of COVID-19 on Online Shopping in the UK” becomes more prominent and evident to study. During the conduction of the entire study of this research, the researcher has significantly demonstrated the requirements and the purpose of the establishment of this study. Generally, the emerging trend of online shopping throughout the world significantly has grabbed a potential concentration of the consumers to get involved with this digital activity. In this aspect, the online retail stores have been able to play the most essential role in increasing and developing the economic stability of each country.

In the market of the UK, online shopping becomes the most effective trend because people get their orders easily by staying at home. Moreover, during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic WHO (World Health Organisation) has released some rules and regulations and protocols that have to be maintained by all the countries throughout the world. In this aspect, the protocol of lockdown and the regulations for staying home and maintaining social distancing transforms the criteria of shopping. In this way, the offline stores also have decided to involve in the platform of e-commerce to reach near of the consumers with their products and to maintain consistency within their organisational sales.

Fundamentally, the current trends of the UK have motivated the consumer to get engaged only with online shopping. In this way, the e-commerce businesses have been able to extensively develop their organisational sales and profit margin during their business operation in the market of the UK. In this way, the research aims and objectives have been efficiently met after ending the entire research study. During the conduction of the entire study of the research, only the secondary qualitative method has been utilised. Due to this, the researcher has been able to provide evident knowledge regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the online stores throughout the market of the UK.

Within the peer-reviewed journals, existing research papers, scholarly articles, PDFs, etc. there is sufficient and appropriate knowledge regarding the impact of coronavirus throughout the world and the UK. Moreover, when the modern world evolves, many other retailers often use E-Commerce to serve their customers. Order starts and even buy online food is famous now! The recent outbreak of COVID-19 has dramatically altered the global economic condition. There is doubt in many. Unfortunately for some, the future of business looks dull. For shops that have closed their doors, there are also appropriate means of collecting money.

Furthermore, the number of retail sales is increasing quickly, most of them already offline. In 2018, distributors will find opportunities to integrate technology in showrooms and racks to address online versus offline purchasing trends. For e.g., the purchasers may have access to the price and product feasibility of Barcode scans by tablets or other mobile devices supplied with the storage system. Any apparel stores mix their snacks, beverages, books and lounges. With interactive wardrobes, the shop may satisfy customers’ specific needs or preferences in sizes, colours and types of clothes.

6.2 Recommendation

During the accomplishment of the entire study of this research, it has discussed that the online stores efficiently operate their business by engaging with e-commerce platform throughout the market of the UK. However, there are some organisations that do not properly maintain the rules and regulations regarding trade in the UK market. In this aspect, those organisations prominently need to maintain the guideline of social distancing and the protocol of lockdown in order to reduce the infective rate of coronavirus throughout the UK (Hamidi and Zandiatashbar, 2021). Moreover, during supplying the products to the consumers the suppliers or the distributors need to wear hand gloves, masks and face shields.

Moreover, the distributors or the suppliers need to properly utilise the hand sanitisers to maintain hygiene within their service provision. In this way, the online stores will be able to grab more potential attraction of the consumer community in the UK. On the other hand, the researcher needs to adopt and conduct also primary quantitative method during the execution of the entire study of this research. Through this, the researcher will be able to proficiently develop its research by implementing and gathering a vast amount of numerical data. This can provide authentic and appropriate knowledge regarding the impact of the COVID-19 on online shopping throughout the market of the UK.

6.3 Future Scope

Throughout the discussion of the entire study of this research, it becomes evident that it has covered almost all the topics and aspects regarding the “Impact of COVID-19 on Online Shopping in the UK”. However, there are still some gaps within this study, that the researcher has unable to evaluate in this research regarding how the online shopping store in the UK implement and utilise different kinds of effective strategies in order to prominently overcome this critical circumstance and in order for developing the rate of the UK economic stability and GDP. In this aspect, further research will be taken into consideration in future that will potentially fulfil the gap of this study. This will help to provide the most credible and reliable knowledge to the future learners and the researcher regarding the relevant study topic.

References

Akalamkam, K. and Mitra, J.K., 2018. Consumer pre-purchase search in online shopping: Role of offline and online information sources. Business Perspectives and Research, 6(1), pp.42-60.

Akhtar, N., Nadeem Akhtar, M., Usman, M., Ali, M. and Iqbal Siddiqi, U., 2020. COVID-19 restrictions and consumers’ psychological reactance toward offline shopping freedom restoration. The Service Industries Journal, 40(13-14), pp.891-913.

BBC News, 2020. Coronavirus: Retail sales crash in April as lockdown hits shops. BBC. [Online]. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52766856. [Accessed on: 1^st May, 2021].

Bin, E., Andruetto, C., Susilo, Y. and Pernestål, A., 2021. The trade-off behaviours between virtual and physical activities during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic period. European Transport Research Review, 13(1), pp.1-19.

Boyacι-Gündüz, C.P., Ibrahim, S.A., Wei, O.C. and Galanakis, C.M., 2021. Transformation of the Food Sector: Security and Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Foods, 10(3), p.497.

Brand, C., Schwanen, T. and Anable, J., 2020. ‘Online Omnivores’ or ‘Willing but struggling’? Identifying online grocery shopping behavior segments using attitude theory. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 57, p.102195.

Branley-Bell, D. and Talbot, C.V., 2020. Exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and UK lockdown on individuals with experience of eating disorders. Journal of eating disorders, 8(1), pp.1-12.

Brown, S., Opitz, M.C., Peebles, A.I., Sharpe, H., Duffy, F. and Newman, E., 2021. A qualitative exploration of the impact of COVID-19 on individuals with eating disorders in the UK. Appetite, 156, p.104977.

Brown, S., Opitz, M.C., Peebles, A.I., Sharpe, H., Duffy, F. and Newman, E., 2021. A qualitative exploration of the impact of COVID-19 on individuals with eating disorders in the UK. Appetite, 156, p.104977.

Buil-Gil, D., Miró-Llinares, F., Moneva, A., Kemp, S. and Díaz-Castaño, N., 2021. Cybercrime and shifts in opportunities during COVID-19: a preliminary analysis in the UK. European Societies, 23(sup1), pp.S47-S59.

Cammaerts, M.C., 2020. Invertebrates should be given ethical consideration. Animal Sentience, 5(29), p.6.

Covington, N.V. and Duff, M.C., 2021. Heterogeneity is a hallmark of traumatic brain injury, not a limitation: A new perspective on study design in rehabilitation research. American journal of speech-language pathology, pp.1-12.

Creswell, J.W. and Poth, C.N., 2018. Qualitative inquiry and research design (international student edition): Choosing among five approaches. Language, 25(459p), p.23cm.

Grashuis, J., Skevas, T. and Segovia, M.S., 2020. Grocery shopping preferences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sustainability, 12(13), p.5369.

Groarke, J.M., Berry, E., Graham-Wisener, L., McKenna-Plumley, P.E., McGlinchey, E. and Armour, C., 2020. Loneliness in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic: Cross-sectional results from the COVID-19 Psychological Wellbeing Study. PloS one, 15(9), p.e0239698.

Hamidi, S. and Zandiatashbar, A., 2021. Compact development and adherence to stay-at-home order during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal investigation in the United States. Landscape and urban planning, 205, p.103952.

Harris, P., Riley, F.D.O., Riley, D. and Hand, C., 2017. Online and store patronage: a typology of grocery shoppers. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management.

He, H. and Harris, L., 2020. The impact of Covid-19 pandemic on corporate social responsibility and marketing philosophy. Journal of Business Research, 116, pp.176-182.

Islam, T., Pitafi, A.H., Arya, V., Wang, Y., Akhtar, N., Mubarik, S. and Xiaobei, L., 2021. Panic buying in the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-country examination. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 59, p.102357.

Ivanov, D., 2021. Supply chain viability and the COVID-19 pandemic: A conceptual and formal generalisation of four major adaptation strategies. International Journal of Production Research, pp.1-18.

Jones, C.M., Radhakrishna, G., Aitken, K., Bridgewater, J., Corrie, P., Eatock, M., Goody, R., Ghaneh, P., Good, J., Grose, D. and Holyoake, D., 2020. Considerations for the treatment of pancreatic cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic: the UK consensus position. British journal of cancer, 123(5), pp.709-713.

Kennedy, A.M., 2017. Macro-social marketing research: philosophy, methodology and methods. Journal of Macromarketing, 37(4), pp.347-355.

Király, O., Potenza, M.N., Stein, D.J., King, D.L., Hodgins, D.C., Saunders, J.B., Griffiths, M.D., Gjoneska, B., Billieux, J., Brand, M. and Abbott, M.W., 2020. Preventing problematic internet use during the COVID-19 pandemic: Consensus guidance. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 100, p.152180.

Koch, J., Frommeyer, B. and Schewe, G., 2020. Online Shopping Motives during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Lessons from the Crisis. Sustainability, 12(24), p.10247. https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410247.

Lv, D. and Zhu, S., 2020. Achieving secure big data collection based on trust evaluation and true data discovery. Computers & Security, 96, p.101937.

Mohr, D.C., Riper, H. and Schueller, S.M., 2018. A solution-focused research approach to achieve an implementable revolution in digital mental health. JAMA psychiatry, 75(2), pp.113-114.

Nguyen, H.V., Tran, H.X., Van Huy, L., Nguyen, X.N., Do, M.T. and Nguyen, N., 2020. Online Book Shopping in Vietnam: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic Situation. Publishing Research Quarterly, 36, pp.437-445.

Nicola, M., Alsafi, Z., Sohrabi, C., Kerwan, A., Al-Jabir, A., Iosifidis, C., Agha, M. and Agha, R., 2020. The socio-economic implications of the coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic: a review. International journal of surgery.

Nicola, M., Alsafi, Z., Sohrabi, C., Kerwan, A., Al-Jabir, A., Iosifidis, C., Agha, M. and Agha, R., 2020. The socio-economic implications of the coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic: a review. International journal of surgery.

OECD., 2020, October. E-commerce in the time of COVID-19. The COVID-19 crisis is likely to have long-lasting effects on e-commerce – OECD. [Online]. Available at: https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/e-commerce-in-the-time-of-covid-19-3a2b78e8/. [Accessed on: 15^th May, 2021].

Pantano, E., Pizzi, G., Scarpi, D. and Dennis, C., 2020. Competing during a pandemic? Retailers’ ups and downs during the COVID-19 outbreak. Journal of Business Research, 116, pp.209-213.

Pantano, E., Pizzi, G., Scarpi, D. and Dennis, C., 2020. Competing during a pandemic? Retailers’ ups and downs during the COVID-19 outbreak. Journal of Business Research, 116, pp.209-213.

Partington, R., 2021, January. Biggest fall in UK retail sales since 1995 despite online boom. The Guardian. [Online]. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jan/12/uk-retail-sales-biggest-fall-since-1995-impact-covid-lockdowns-online-boom. [Accessed on: 1^st May, 2021].

Phillipson, J., Gorton, M., Turner, R., Shucksmith, M., Aitken-McDermott, K., Areal, F., Cowie, P., Hubbard, C., Maioli, S., McAreavey, R. and Monteiro, D.S., 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic and its implications for rural economies. Sustainability, 12(10), p.3973.

Pierce, M., Hope, H., Ford, T., Hatch, S., Hotopf, M., John, A., Kontopantelis, E., Webb, R., Wessely, S., McManus, S. and Abel, K.M., 2020. Mental health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal probability sample survey of the UK population. The Lancet Psychiatry, 7(10), pp.883-892.

Quartiroli, A., Knight, S.M., Etzel, E.F. and Monaghan, M., 2017. Using Skype to facilitate team-based qualitative research, including the process of data analysis. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 20(6), pp.659-666.

Roggeveen, A.L. and Sethuraman, R., 2020. How the COVID-19 pandemic may change the world of Retailing. Journal of Retailing, 96(2), p.169.

Rutter, M.D., Brookes, M., Lee, T.J., Rogers, P. and Sharp, L., 2021. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on UK endoscopic activity and cancer detection: a National Endoscopy Database Analysis. Gut, 70(3), pp.537-543.

Safara, F., 2020. A Computational Model to Predict Consumer Behaviour During COVID-19 Pandemic. Computational Economics, pp.1-14.

Samaroudi, M., Echavarria, K.R. and Perry, L., 2020. Heritage in lockdown: digital provision of memory institutions in the UK and US of America during the COVID-19 pandemic. Museum Management and Curatorship, 35(4), pp.337-361.

Sarkar, R. and Sabyasachi, D., 2017. Online shopping vs Offline shopping: A comparative study. International Journal of Scientific Research in Science and Technology, 3(1), pp.424-431.

Sayyida, S., Hartini, S., Gunawan, S. and Husin, S.N., 2021. The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Retail Consumer Behavior. Aptisi Transactions on Management (ATM), 5(1), pp.79-88.

Sharma, A., Adhikary, A. and Borah, S.B., 2020. Covid-19′ s impact on supply chain decisions: Strategic insights from NASDAQ 100 firms using Twitter data. Journal of Business Research, 117, pp.443-449.

Sharma, H.B., Vanapalli, K.R., Cheela, V.S., Ranjan, V.P., Jaglan, A.K., Dubey, B., Goel, S. and Bhattacharya, J., 2020. Challenges, opportunities, and innovations for effective solid waste management during and post COVID-19 pandemic. Resources, conservation and recycling, 162, p.105052.

Sharma, M., Luthra, S., Joshi, S. and Kumar, A., 2020. Developing a framework for enhancing survivability of sustainable supply chains during and post-COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, pp.1-21.

Shustack, L., 2019. The Sinking Ship: An Innovative Strategy for Teaching Research Sampling. Journal of Nursing Education, 58(9), pp.554-554.

Shveda, K., 2020. How Covid-19 is changing food shopping. BBC. [Online]. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/follow-the-food/how-covid-19-is-changing-food-shopping.html. [Accessed on: 15^th May, 2021].

Soto-Acosta, P., 2020. COVID-19 pandemic: Shifting digital transformation to a high-speed gear. Information Systems Management, 37(4), pp.260-266.

Vazquez-Vazquez, A., Dib, S., Rougeaux, E., Wells, J.C. and Fewtrell, M.S., 2021. The impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on the experiences and feeding practices of new mothers in the UK: Preliminary data from the COVID-19 New Mum Study. Appetite, 156, p.104985.

Walseth, K., Engebretsen, B. and Elvebakk, L., 2018. Meaningful experiences in PE for all students: An activist research approach. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 23(3), pp.235-249.

Watkins, J., Wulaningsih, W., Da Zhou, C., Marshall, D.C., Sylianteng, G.D., Rosa, P.G.D., Miguel, V.A., Raine, R., King, L.P. and Maruthappu, M., 2017. Effects of health and social care spending constraints on mortality in England: a time trend analysis. BMJ open, 7(11).

Williams, S.N., Armitage, C.J., Tampe, T. and Dienes, K., 2020. Public perceptions and experiences of social distancing and social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic: A UK-based focus group study. BMJ open, 10(7), p.e039334.

Wilson, G., 2020, May. COVID-19: five priorities for retail supply chain. SupplyChain. [Online]. Available at: https://supplychaindigital.com/supply-chain-2/covid-19-five-priorities-retail-supply-chain. [Accessed on: 15^th May, 2021].

Topic: Evaluating the impact of supply chain resilience upon the performance

Student Number:

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Research Background

Supply chain Resilience is “a supply channel’s capacity to resist disruptions and regain its production capacity following interruptions” (Hosseini, Ivanov, and Dolgui, 2019). The Supply Chain Resilience (SCRes), which is an important topic of research that has attracted substantial empirical support, has been a risk reduction strategy since previous decade. A multitude of variables might credit the growing interest in SCRes. Companies have been more vulnerable in recent years to disturbances, as supply chains get longer, broader (deeper) and more complicated. The term resilience (SCR) in the supply chain denotes the ability to remain, adapt, or change in the evolving faces of the supply chain. SCR is among the most prevalent ideas in today’s supply chain management (Pettit, Croxton, and Fiksel, 2019). Like businesses, a large and complicated network exists in the supply chain too. Businesses must offer their products to suppliers as well as provide material and components for their suppliers, etc. In case of a problem in one section of the network, another part will be vulnerable. Resilience for the supply chain has displayed numerous advantages and has a significant influence both on the organization’s development and on the entire company.

For instance, market data may be examined and the quality operating systems can respond to global limitations in real time (Chowdhury, Quaddus, and Agarwal, 2019). In unforeseen weather and calamities, the individual and their vendors will stay tranquil. With increasingly multinational supply chains, the rate of shifting demand increases and the product life process reduces. The responsiveness and satisfaction networks of a firm have become increasingly important drivers of the success of the organization. Their supply networks must always be viewed as a competitive instrument not just to deliver low cost but also to drive top level growth. Only with outstanding response and the greatest customer service that can be achieved. However, the management of the supply chain can be strategic and might provide a firm the possibility of outperforming competitors. For the retail industry, supply chain management is quite important as it offers its services to customers directly (Hosseini, Ivanov, and Dolgui, 2019). By optimizing the upstream and downstream processes, retail may improve service and increase supply chain efficiencies. An efficient supply network consequently offers all retailers competitive advantage. The following study throws light at the impact of Supply chain resilience on the UK retail sector, with a special reference to the giant UK retailer Tesco Plc.

1.2 Research aim and objectives

The primary aim of this research paper is to evaluate the “impact of Supply Chain Resilience on the performance of a firm with reference to the UK retail organisation, Tesco Plc”.

Objectives:

The under-mentioned points have been structured as the objective of the research paper upon which the entire research paper will focus:

To evaluate the present levels of supply chain resilience capabilities;

To determine issues related to supply chain resilience;

To explore the impact of supply chain resilience upon a firm’s performance

To highlight strategies adopted by UK retail firms for maintaining supply chain resilience

1.3 Research Problem

Due to the evolving nature of businesses, the management of the supply chain is a major issue for companies. Supply chains face a variety of problems, notably reliance on a small number of suppliers, the failure to adapt swiftly to uncertainties, the nature of buyer–supplier relationships, and the channel via which they conduct transactions, among others (Gölgeci and Kuivalainen, 2020). In addition to the foregoing problems, additional manmade and natural disasters can occur in supply networks. These difficulties pose challenges to company’s goods and processes from a larger viewpoint. Various methods must be developed by supply chain management to manage complications and minimize and prevent vulnerability.

The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic consequently impacted the worldwide supply chain, which in turn influenced businesses’ performance. In addition, in this crisis scenario companies have faced various problems in sustaining the supply chain and failed to implement the right strategy to manage their supply chain performance (Ivanov and Dolgui, 2020). The pandemic has prompted businesses to prioritize supply chain resilience, with many businesses stating that their supply chain strategy would need to change dramatically to adapt to the new normal. The return business as usual is only expected for a least number   of organizations. There is a growing awareness of the need for increased flexibility and agility in supply networks to react and adapt to possible disruptions rapidly. In this crisis scenario the research offers a solution and tackles the major difficulties encountered by companies.

1.4 Research Rationale

It is a well-known fact that supply chain resilience is an important factor in today’s competitive business environment to attain success. Firms struggle to keep pace and adopt the right strategies with the evolving business situations to manage performance and retain customers. The topic on “impact of Supply Chain Resilience on the performance of a firm” is chosen to analyse the issues that firms faces with regards to supply chain management as well as the research provides solutions to the adoption of proper strategies to mitigate the challenges owing to the supply chain resilience. A deeper understanding of how supply chains work and how well they can manage future threats would enable them to solve problems sooner and more effectively. Supply networks are becoming increasingly unstable and at danger of disruption as the environment become less stable and predictable (Yu, et al., 2019). According to the researchers, supply chain resilience is an essential strategy to reduce risks and has a diverse influence on the overall performance of the company. There is, however, no uniform notion of supply chain stability or related analytical conclusions. The topic selection is justified as supply chain resilience is indeed an integral part for the attainment of business success and the research strives to bridge the gap among all other researches and provides in-depth and authentic information concerning the research topic.

1.5 Research Questions

The research problem can be dispersed into multiple research questions that the research strives to provide solution. The research questions for the following dissertation are listed below:

What is the significance of supply chain resilience upon a firm’s performance?

What is the Impact of Supply chain resilience in the Retail sector in UK?

What are the Challenges faced by UK retail firms related to Supply chain resilience?

What are the Strategies adopted by retail companies to mitigate the challenges related to supply chain resilience?

1.6 Research Significance

The research strives to be significant because it provides in-depth knowledge concerning the issues and strategies for the management of supply chain resilience. The research helps supply chain manager identify the various strategies owing to the development of supply chain resilience that in turn helps firms manage disruptions and gain competitive advantage. The supply chain forms a key factor for the success attainment of a firm and it is significant to keep pace owing to the evolving nature of business for maintaining performance and attaining sustainability in business (Gölgeci and Kuivalainen, 2020). A better knowledge of the operation of supply chains and how well one can handle future threats will help them to overcome problems faster and in a better manner. Since the environment is less stable and less predictable, supply chains are getting more unstable and are at risk of interruption (Yu, et al., 2019). Researchers suggested that resilience to the supply chain is an important way to minimize risks and has a diversified impact upon the performance of the entire firm also. However, there is also no unified concept of stability of the supply chain and associated analytical results. Thus, the research provides in-depth knowledge regarding the topic and suggests strategies for enhancing performance owing to disruptions and uncertainties.

1.7 Research Structure

It is a well-known fact that research structure serves to be an integral part of a research for obtaining fruitful results. The structure for the research is listed below:

The first chapter, the introduction, provides background information and highlights the study’s major goals and relevance.

The literature review is the second chapter, which examines important secondary data sources such as Scholastic journals, articles, eBooks, and other sources to provide the authors’ perspectives on the issue.

The third chapter discusses the research methodology, which covers data collecting, sampling, and analysis methods as well as ethical considerations.

The fourth chapter contains the findings, which show the research’s final outcome.

The fifth chapter, the discussion, discusses the findings and ties the entire study together.

The conclusion of the last chapter summarizes the entire material and offers a solution to the research problem.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Chapter Overview

The thesis literature review is completed by examining legitimate secondary sources such as peer-reviewed journals, PDFs, publications, and relevant websites to get important information about the topic (Kalu, Unachukwu, and Ibiam, 2019). In the supply chain the term resilience refers to the ability of the evolutive facets of the supply chain to stay, modify or change. SCR is amongst the most widely used concepts in supply chain management today.

Supply chain networks are now becoming increasingly unstable and susceptible to disruption as the environment becomes less stable and predictable (Yu, et al., 2019). Furthermore, the issues caused by the pandemic’s spread have significantly disrupted the supply chains of UK retailers. The literature review provides detailed data regarding the impact of supply chain resilience in the UK retail sector, and the chapter discusses the challenges that UK retail businesses confront as a result of supply chain management in changing business environments. There is a rising awareness about the need for supply networks to be more flexible and agile in order to respond and adapt quickly to any disruptions. This chapter also analyses the different strategies used by UK retailers to improve supply chain resilience. The literature gap discusses the information deficit that the literature evaluation failed to recognize, which gives potential for further study on this topic.

2.2 Importance of supply chain resilience upon a firm’s performance

It is widely acknowledged that supply chain management for most businesses is important to the success of enterprises and the satisfaction of customers. According to Hosseini, Ivanov, and Dolgui (2019) a resistance and recovery capability defines a robust supply chain. Resilience implies far more than surviving disruption. Not just withstand difficult times, a genuinely resilient supply chain and business leverages such challenges to develop and enhance their business. This implies being capable of resisting or even prevent the consequences of an interruption of the supply chain and recover quickly from an interruption (Ivanov and Dolgui, 2020). Many segments of the supply chain may well be threatened by operational risk and disruptions. If a firm has digital tools in place for analytics and for the comprehension of big data, the resilience of the supply chain will rise substantially. As stated by Min (2019) Artificial intelligence-enabled systems may curate different data sets from across the company and around the world. News, competitive operations, sales statistics and even comments from customers may well be utilized to determine trends and opportunities collectively. Connected devices are constantly heard on the system, so that they can see in real-time where workflows may be streamlined and optimized. In addition to providing and maintaining big data, digital supply chain solutions, e.g., machine learning, artificial Intelligence (AI), and contemporary databases, are examined and learned virtually infinitely (Yu, et al., 2019). This drives intelligent network automation and enables supply chain managers to get a quick reaction to disruptions and unforeseen occurrences in real time.

A successful balance of production and consumption is a major challenge for any supply chain director in an extremely competitive world. Many businesses that have cut shortcuts in terms of diversification, suppliers as well as other resilience considerations have discovered the real cost of their actions. However, if companies invest in diversity, technological supply chain and other resistance measures, numerous potential commercial gains are possible, including:

Increased operation: Higher resilience typically leads to reduced risk and productive investments capacity in innovation and growth. Bain & Company estimated in a global business review in 2020 that businesses with a high-priority supply chain resilience investment may have up to 60% quicker product development cycles and up to 25% increase their output capabilities (Gölgeci and Kuivalainen, 2020).

Improved productivity: A resilient technology in the supply chain contributes to an overall increase in system productivity. In McKinsey’s 2020 study, supply chain leaders from all over the globe reported productivity and employment with robust supply chain systems and 93% of those interviewed plan to make the next year’s development in resilient supply chain strategies a major value (Rizou et al., 2020).

Risk reduction: In many businesses, supply chain activities frequently just provide largest place of hazard and loss. The supply networks are dispersed and complicated in functionality all through the world in their nature. This renders them particularly susceptible to danger (Rizou et al., 2020). The resilient technology of the supply chain decreases the risk by providing insight into all operations all throughout network and enabling organizations to enhance their operations and logistics in real time.

Availability is the primary benefit of a durable supply chain. Companies may access inventory data in real time and react to global constraints utilizing quality operating systems. This provides business and its supplier’s peace of mind amid the catastrophes and disasters of unforeseen weather. Even if a place is affected by a blackout the latest system information can still be accessed by clicking a button elsewhere (Belhadi et al., 2021). Storms may occur without harming the business with the proper supply chain management. One may plan for future difficulties, and be prepared for solutions that support business and the suppliers with durable cloud solutions, excellent inventory management or other beneficial supply chain services. A third-party supplier for the logistics supply chain can help companies address the challenges of an increasing venture, whether it is a SME. With their supply chain services in the hands, business may profit from their efficiency and skill, as well as several other benefits such as supply chain management software and technology that increase visibility and interaction between business and everyone in the company network (Ivanov and Dolgui, 2020). Resistance is the ability of the supply chain to reduce the amount of the disruption – like a natural disaster by either totally evading or reducing the time from start to end of the instability on the supply chain. Resistance indicates how well a supply chain is equipped to foresee and reduce the effects of interruptions. The restoration is the ability of the supply chain to return once a breakdown occurs. The resilience of the supply chain relies in the stabilization stage, which allows a return to a permanent cycle of performance (Gölgeci and Kuivalainen, 2020). After recovery has finished, businesses typically take time to draw on their experience in future risk management strategy for the planning and supply chain. Several supply chain managers have been battling over persuading top management of the requirement to engage in supply chain resilience. The Board considered resilience as a negotiation among supply chain risk and operational efficiencies and higher costs. This is due to many of the techniques involved, such as transporting additional security or buffer supply.

The unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted fundamental vulnerabilities that can no longer be disregarded within the supply chains. The consequence is that the perspective has changed where the extra spending necessary for building resilience is better met than other companies in your market, since it is increasingly competitive to recover faster than others (Belhadi et al., 2021). In numerous products and streamlining of the production process between plants and sites, many firms are increasingly seeking for risk management utilizing interchangeable and general components. Standard processes utilizing replaceable parts can be used by a firm to shift resources rapidly or where they have more capacity or demand. The capacity of the firm to react quickly helps to define strength or weakness in both the resistance and recovery stages of supply chain resilience. Individuals and teams need to be enabled as quickly and efficiently as possible to undertake actions and decisions needed.

2.3 Impact of Supply chain resilience in the Retail sector in UK

Supply chain management is extremely important for the grocery retail market since it provides its services directly to its consumers. According to Ul-Hameed et al., (2019) Retail firms may improve service and boost supply chain speed by strengthening downstream and upstream processes. Therefore, all retailers have a comparative edge through an efficient supply chain. The supply chains are able and squeezed by the so-called Amazon Effect can build or ruin a firm. The delivery objective elevates expectations of how easily products can be delivered and efficiently. In understanding the viewpoints of the UK food supply chain, SCM means streamlining operational operations to enhance both efficiency and quality to promote move to circular economy systems. Customers desire fast service; therefore, it’s essential to be quick. Increase in speed can, however, raise expenses, which is just as important for maximizing efficiency. A firm that really has sought a balance between performance and power can also help to compare its SCM operations in several retail e-commerce companies worldwide (Chenarides, Manfredo and Richards, 2021) Due to the increased distribution efficiency and the profit maximization, the creation of their own tools gives value, leading to higher service levels. They also help customers create and acquire the technologies and innovations required for their operations.

As per Pettit, Croxton, and Fiksel (2019) SCM is a crucial ingredient of the retail cycle, or supply chain management. The system will help firms to maintain and supply them with appropriate products in long-term lucrative relationships with customers. A very well supply chain ensures the seamless movement of a product from production to the point of sale. Light variations in the SCM might affect customer satisfaction and raise the probability of business losses as per Mitchell et al., (2020). It is quite vital to recognize that it is important for enterprises to benefit from existing options to control the supply chain. The relevance of SCM in the retail business was therefore highlighted. In the retail industry, the role of Supply Chain Management reduces operating costs. According to Chenarides, Manfredo and Richards (2021), a good supply chain plan may help companies save money in several ways. It shortens market time and reduces inventory maintenance costs. Improved supply chain management further enables companies to meet their procurement requirements and to provide products for production and assembly plants on time. Survive market competition in the retail industry; as competition grows, firms must raise customer loyalty levels quicker than their competitors.

Companies can manufacture items with reduced costs and time from production to consumption by using successful SCMs. They should analyze their rivals’ supply chain tactics to determine if they can improve their own so that they can reach their customers faster. It is necessary to get in touch with the experts immediately to better understand the supply chain tactics of the competitors as per Doan (2020). Customer service quality needs to be changed depending on what consumers demand. They need to be met on time, especially if there are so many options on the market (Rizou et al., 2020). This makes it very difficult for firms to maintain their customers. Organizations with large supply networks guarantee the distribution of goods what and where when they are needed by their consumers.

Several retailers already have invested in supply chain reforms in order to become more robust to disruptions and to ensure that their supply chain practices are ethical and socially responsible. Companies have also been investing in developing a stronger digital presence, especially while pandemic-related limitations have left many ‘bricks and mortar’ businesses closed (Wieland and Durach, 2021). Innovative solutions are frequently utilized by retailers that are effectively adjusting to the challenges posed by supply chain constraints. Zara, a clothing company, has a fully automated distribution center that helps the company maintain a rapid turnover of models and inventories. The facility acts as a central center for raw materials, completed garments, and their distribution to the retailers. Zara can easily adapt to fluctuations in short-term demand because to the model (Wieland and Durach, 2021). The increase to internet shopping predates the outbreak. For years, high-street retailers have been exploring how digital technology and data analytics might help them improve both their in-store and online offerings, from the design of their physical storefronts to a more personalized approach to online promotions.

Supply chain operators should be able to synthesize internal and external data and quickly respond in order to reduce the effects of a disruption. Supply chain systems ought to be adaptive and agile, according to Roy, Schoenherr, and Charan (2018), in ability to adjust and react rapidly to new demand and economic situations. In the case of a disruptive incident, transparent business processes such as a well-defined corporate structure and very well divisions with well-defined duties can assist reduce complexity and increase speed reaction time. As a consequence, supply chain managers must strike a compromise among productivity and efficacy. Rather than intense dependence in a specific business or total dependence on a single supplier, they need a diverse variety of activities, suppliers, and marketplaces (Roy, Schoenherr and Charan, 2018).

2.4 Challenges faced by UK retail firms related to Supply chain resilience

The world is in the middle of a catastrophe that has never been seen before. As per McMaster et al., (2020) the COVID-19 pandemic raged in global populations, interrupted international supply networks and brought about severe stock market restructurings. According to Sharma et al., (2020) after the pandemic is finished, the high street will take on a completely different texture. Weaker players are unfortunately gone, leaving behind a relatively smaller but steadier group of individuals moving fast. International supply networks were already in transformation prior to COVID-19. Increasing pressure over the ESG, digital impact, Brexit and increased geopolitical instability underlined the importance of the security of the supply chain (Schleper et al., 2021). Businesses are now being forced to rethink the future of their supply chains and how they would not only solve COVID-19-related problems, but also identify existing structural issues in order to remain future-proof. Global supply chains had faced major challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple countrywide lockdowns continued to stifle, if not completely halt, the physical movement of goods and completed goods, causing manufacturing to suffer (Azadegan and Dooley, 2021). The pandemic, on the other hand, hasn’t automatically posed any new challenges to supply chains. COVID-19 uncovered heretofore unrecognized weaknesses in several sectors and many companies have experienced staff shortages and losses as a result of it. However, it has worsened and hastened issues that existed previously in the supply chain. The UK economy is driven by services market and subsequent client demand. As per McMaster et al., (2020) The move towards the more mature COVID-19 risk management is taking place in the United Kingdom where the retail, leisure and supply chain industries may easily move on to a sustainable business model, with customers equally accountable for the level of risk they choose to assume. Throughout the last two decades, the advent of online communication has drastically altered the connections between customers, brands, suppliers, and goods. Consumers have more choices than ever before for communicating their service and product experiences with friends, prospective customers, and businesses.

As a consequence, demand for high-quality, eco sustainable items is rising, and for many consumers, this aspect has overtaken price. Ethical and environmental concerns are becoming more and more significant. Impacts of climate change, pollution, worker safety, and other related issues are now affecting a substantial percentage of consumer purchase decisions (Rizou et al., 2020). While many businesses are emerging to fulfill these consumers’ requirements, others are being examined by consumers, shareholders, and NGOs. The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic has revealed weaknesses in retailers’ capacity to control supply chain imbalances and to provide an omnichannel consumer experience, among many other retail issues (Azadegan and Dooley, 2021). Meanwhile, increasing consumer demand for goods customisation is pushing the transition to mass customization, which will impact supply chains.

In terms of the United Kingdom, the research forecasts that UK merchants are already onshoring produce, with much more than £4.2 billion in items being resurrected by the end of 2021(Schleper et al., 2021). This would provide a substantial breakthrough to UK manufacturing in the event of potential disruptions, as it would be equal to the country’s current apparel manufacturing production. Climate change has a variety of effects on supply networks. Transportation, employee health and safety, seasonal demand, and other strategic variables have already been impacted by increasingly irregular weather patterns and the frequency of extreme weather events. These dangers are a global concern, and the necessity of business participation in reducing and alleviating the harm due to climate change is high on the global agenda (Gölgeci and Kuivalainen, 2020). As a consequence, many investors, financial reporting standards, and environmental reporting standards now include climate-related risks and mitigation when assessing a company’s performance (Wieland and Durach, 2021). A supply chain that incorporates risk mitigation and climate resiliency into its operations reduces risk and improves reputation. For companies with vast supply chains, maintaining partnerships with customers can be a time-consuming process. Working with all of a chain’s suppliers to set performance criteria, measure performance against those criteria, and find new possibilities for accomplishment might seem overwhelming.

In the long run, however, allocating the necessary resources to effectively manage these connections will result in considerably better efficiencies and increased trust. Using external consulting services to supply experienced individuals and software applications can be a great approach to simplify this process’s complexities (Gölgeci and Kuivalainen, 2020). Large global supply networks are vulnerable to variation in international affairs by their very nature. Changes can be drastic and rapid, resulting in risk factors that are difficult to predict, from negotiation failures to new trade agreements.

2.5 Strategies adopted by retail companies to mitigate the challenges

Within the retail sector, emerging challenges are varied in nature, thereby; businesses operating in this segment readily face substantive challenges on supply chain management. To counter these preceding factors, corporate businesses gradually apply dynamic range of strategic solutions to mitigate these key challenges. For instance as mentioned in the research of Chiles and Dau(2005), the business strategy of Wal-Mart aims to offer all goods and services at the “Every Day Low Prices” or EDLP levels. This defined business plan is all supported and strengthened by their organization, company cultural and supply chain management. This business approach is defined as “…pricing philosophy under which we price items at a low price every day so that our Customers trust that our prices will not change erratically under frequent promotional activity.” Wal-Mart does not promise the cheapest pricing on the market under this criterion. They promise, however, that their prices are cheaper in general than other shops. Due to promotional activity, other resellers may at some periods offer cheaper pricing than Wal-Mart on specific goods. In this respect, the prices of other store may sometimes be less than those of Wal-Mart, but owing to promotions, the price advantage is usually transitory.

According to Schroeder Goldstein and Rungtusanatham(2013), to maintain low buying costs Wal-Mart utilizes its EDLP approach to negotiation pricing with its suppliers. Wal-Mart has also been following the plan from its beginning, which is that smaller towns develop Wal-Mart shops. Sam Walton has chosen to concentrate on the construction of shops in towns between 5,000 and 25,000 people, because major competitive like Target and Kmart have built their stores in urban regions. The benefits of this approach include reduced investment cost in infrastructure and lower salaries for the setting up of large commodity shops in these areas. In tiny towns, the drawbacks include the expense of inbound and outbound distribution and the persuading suppliers to support companies outside their distribution network. With the purchase of more volumes, Wal-Mart offsets shipping expenses to generate scale-saving economy.

As per Heller (2017), Wal-Mart thus works with its suppliers to ensure they have the knowledge they need to make choices on their supply chains. The information is provided briefly in order to make it useful, and must be modified and evaluated. However, the data may be found easily through Retail Link. Wal-Mart wants its sellers to continually enhance its supply chain’s efficiency to reduce the cost to Wal-Mart and its customers. These efforts are driven by the Everyday Low-Price Strategy. With the huge number of suppliers, it is necessary to work together with every supplier and Wal-Mart to guarantee that shelving is stored easily. Depending on the volume and value of the goods, the degree of cooperation for each seller varies. The degree also relies on the number of investments to be made by the capital providers to establish a cooperation with Wal-Mart. Larger suppliers tend to spend people and technology to use Wal-knowledge. Wal-Mart’s some bigger companies have established offices in Bentonville, AR, near the headquarters of Wal-Mart and are strengthening communication efforts. According to table 4.4 in the last chapter, a significant proportion of Wal-sales Mart are among the leading HBC suppliers according to Nguyen (2017). Gillette has disclosed that it uses up to 10 analysts to monitor and analyze the information supplied by Retail Link, the largest provider of HBC goods for Wal-Mart. The motivation for making Wal-Mart successful is shifted back to the suppliers with so much stock and money tied up with Wal-Mart. Other suppliers without the money are extremely unhappy in assigning resources to establish better linkage with Wal-Mart or use the data supplied by Retail Link. The cooperation is quite little. Instead, some providers depend on third parties to support their connection with Wal-Mart in evaluating retail connected data.

On the other as implied by Tan et al. (2018), in order to decrease the costs of fulfillment for its supply chain management, Amazon.com makes single order, batch and cluster pickup usage. This is to address the problems of increased supply costs. Orders may be selected for a single order, batch and cluster choosing. Full path and zone selection techniques are used to specify the region of selection. Single order picking is a technique of picking in which a single picker completes a single order. Amazon is collected by lot via a set of orders with an aggregate number of goods. Therefore, four orders for every application on Amazon include one SKU A unit. In a batch picking scenario, a picker is instructed to select four SKU A units for one pick instead of four picks from one SKU A unit. The selected item is then sorted to disperse the things on their own order. When collecting batches, collectors choose SKU for a total amount and do not always select full orders. The collection of cluster picks includes the collection and separation of a set of orders into their uniquely selected orders. Pickers choose all articles for a certain order in the selection cluster, but achieve selecting efficiency by reducing travel and by selecting the total quantity of goods ordered on a number of orders (Chiles and Dau, 2005). The distinction between batch picking and picking of clusters may be explained using a food store example. Batch selection is being used to choose in the cart and not to separate all goods required by all family members. Therefore, each family member has to arrange the things he or she purchased through the cart. The picking route would also be identical in a cluster however, after the items are picked, the products are separated into bags that reflect the order of each family member. This streamlines the supply chain and logistics systems, saving a business with significantly increasing expenses.

2.6 Literature Gap

The available information on the impact of supply chain resilience on the UK retail industry was one of the crucial gaps in the literature review. Much of this is due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has affected worldwide statistics and communications norms. Moreover, the literature study could not address every challenge to the establishment of supply chain resilience that would disrupt the UK retail industry. Moreover, because of the restricted data and time restrictions, no details on the subject could be supported. Furthermore, strategy adoption is different for every company and hence a general evaluation of the publication has been carried out which could not satisfy all the requirements to be met by the thesis.

2.7 Summary

In the chapter, there are essential highlights on major elements related to the issue. On the basis of the aforementioned discussion the supply chain resilience may be described as an integral part of achieving company success. Companies strive to maintain pace and implement the correct tactics to manage performance and retain clients in developing business conditions. A resilient supply chain is defined by a resistance and recovery capabilities. Resilience means much more than disturbance. Not only does a really resilient supply chain and company meet difficult times to expand and enhance their business. These difficulties are also important. That implies that the repercussions of an interruption in the supply chain can be resisted or even prevented and swiftly recover from an interruption. Operational risk and interruptions may possibly affect several sectors of the supply chain. Whenever a company has digital technologies in place to analyze and understand big data, the supply chain’s resilience typically increases. The extraordinary magnitude of the COVID-19 outburst has shown basic weaknesses inside supply chains that can no longer be overlooked. As a result, the perspective has altered, where the extra expenses needed to build resilience are better met than others in your market, as it is more competitive to recover quickly than others. For the food retail industry, supply chain management is extremely crucial as its services are offered directly to its consumers.

Major retailers may enhance service and speed up the supply chain. SCM implies simplifying operations to improve efficiency and quality in order to encourage moving to systems of circulating economy, in order to comprehend the perspectives of the UK food supply chain. Customers want rapid service; therefore, it’s important to be swift. However, speed increases may raise costs, which are just as essential for efficiency maximization. A company that has truly tried to balance performance and power may also contribute to comparing its SCM operations retail e-commerce firms throughout the world. Several retailers have invested already in supply chain reforms to make disturbances more resilient and to take moral and environmental responsibility for their supplies chain operations. In particular, pandemic constraints have closed down many ‘brick and mortar’ enterprises, firms are investing in strengthened internet presence. The rising demand for consumer products customization is in the meantime driving the shift to mass adaptation, which affects supply chains. With respect to the UK, study predictions have already been drawn out that UK traders have created goods, with far more than £4.2 billion of articles revived by the end of 2021.

In the case of possible disruption, it would bring a considerable breakthrough to the UK manufacturing industry since it is equal to the present output of clothing in the nation. The impacts of climate change on supply networks are diverse. The more unpredictable weather patterns and the regularity of extreme weather have already affected transport, the health and safety of employees, seasonal demand and other key elements. These hazards are a worldwide issue and corporate involvement is high on the global agenda to minimize and alleviate climate change impact. The maintenance of partnerships with clients may be a time-consuming process for organizations with large supply chains. It can seem daunting to work with all suppliers of a chain to define performance standards, assess performance based on these criteria and identify new achievement opportunities. The strategies adopted by various firms have also been discussed to highlight the effectiveness of supply chain resilience.

Chapter 3: Methodology

3.1 Chapter Overview

The third part of the thesis is devoted to the research methodology, which details the methods and strategies utilized to collect information and data. Additionally, the research methods section has a lot of information and significance to the whole study. Thus, this chapter contributes to the overall development of the study. The primary objective of this part is to establish a comprehensive system of processes and procedures for the whole research project (Cypress, 2018). A preliminary step and method structure were developed in order to better understand the study’s primary objectives. The analysis part of a research paper allows the reader to do a systematic evaluation of the study’s viability and efficacy. For the whole study, a qualitative analytical method was used, and secondary sources were utilized to gather contextual knowledge on the research subject.

Additionally, secondary sources including such academic papers, published papers, books, PDFs, and reputable websites were consulted to gather data on the effect of supply chain resilience on Tesco’s performance. Additionally, Tesco’s annual reports as well as external sources were used to collect efficient information. Thus, the chapter outlines the research philosophy and strategy, as well as the data collecting and interpretation techniques that contribute to the validity and dependability of the research findings. The ethics chapter of this study covers the researchers’ ethical criteria for following the ethical standards and ensuring that the research was conducted legally. Additionally, the part contains a detailed legitimacy statement that outlines its responsibility to adhere with each of the study’s major components.

3.2 Research Philosophy

The research philosophy is mainly based on the idea that data may be seen, understood, and exploited in the same way as a phenomenon. The present study used qualitative evidence, and the researcher applied positivist theory to qualitative data, which is generally understood and gathered in the western philosophical tradition either as interpretivism and positivism ((Alase, 2017). The four major trends in research philosophy are reflected in the work of a number of authors, positivists, interpreters, practitioners, and philosophers. Positivism asserts that the social world may be scientifically interpreted. The article defines three distinct types of research philosophy: interpretative theory, positivism, and placid reflection.

The main goal of positivism is to enhance professional knowledge in order to re-establish learning, certainty, and ideas via the use of resources that impose plausible frameworks and dependable segregation. The interpretivism hypothesis is utilised to understand the researcher’s perspective by incorporating social criticism into research. Traditionally interpretative researchers think that only conceptual structures such as vision, shared ideas, and perceptions are capable of exposing themselves to reality (Žukauskas, Vveinhardt and Andriukaitienė, 2018). Thus, the creation of this theory is often founded on an empirical criticism of positivism’s ideology. Qualitative study is typically preferred over statistical analysis in this kind of theory. Thus, interpretivism is connected to the metaphysical claim of positivity, which is frequently used to group together different techniques except for existentialist and functionality. As a result, the researcher has used the interpretivism philosophy to evaluate pertinent facts and concepts in the following study.

3.3 Research Approach

The research approach is a method and procedure that includes broad findings about the data collecting, processing, and interpretation procedures in detail. As a result, it is usually determined by the nature of the study issue. The following study used the secondary method, assessing the effect of supply chain resilience on Tesco’s performance. Numerous academic books recognize the accurately reflect to study as a qualitative method. Reports, papers, and other documents were carefully examined. It is critical to highlight that, while outlining the study’s attractive goals and presenting typical findings, the research technique includes a subjective research strategy consistent with industrial concepts. Qualitative methods were assessed for their systematic approach to design, and so the whole study was conducted utilizing a variety of relevant secondary sources (Alase, 2017). Qualitative research is increasingly employed in the following study sample, across a variety of media, including peer-reviewed articles, essays, correspondence, and academic journals. The study of research techniques offers students how to solve an issue. Research methodology studies teach us how to choose methods, materials, and particular methodology, as well as how to apply procedures appropriate to the chosen issue (Marshall Coleman, and Reason, 2017). Furthermore, secondary case studies of Tesco have been incorporated to extract information concerning the research topic.

3.4 Research Design

The researcher who conducted this study used a case study analysis as the qualitative research design for this study. As a result, the research design requires four distinct stages, commencing with a discovery process that identifies the source of information, supported by the collection and evaluation of relevant data, and eventually, an appropriate study that addresses the research objective (Rutberg and Bouikidis, 2018). The main objective of qualitative analysis is to ascertain the number of individuals who share a certain behaviour, opinion, thought, or viewpoint. The study’s essence refers to the data sources, data collecting and analysis methods, as well as the ethical and moral problems encountered in the pursuit of important findings.

The researchers are conducting qualitative analysis, as well as a deeper knowledge in the follow-up, in order to have a better picture of what will occur. It is critical that researchers have the chance to work on and verify ideas and facts via observation and experimentation, but this must be balanced against the goal of safeguarding academics’ ability to examine both the validity of existing evidence and additional knowledge (Rutberg and Bouikidis, 2018). It attempts to amass a broad variety of pertinent data and then expand on it with both credible and implausible discoveries that match the empirical basis to accepted, significant hypotheses via an exploratory research process that is aided by facts. Additionally, all qualitative studies include secondary data in order to gain a more complete picture of the subject, problem, scenario, or context.

3.5 Data Collection Method

The data collecting process in research relates to the way and methods by which information is gathered and recorded. Detailed information collecting techniques enable the study of critical factors for hypothesis generation and testing (Clark and Vealé, 2018). The most essential and first critical step is data gathering, which, in the overwhelming majority of cases, is irrelevant to the research area. The dissertation is founded on the principles and concepts discovered in the structured approach. A thorough examination of the report is being used to collect data by examining the report’s whole, as well as its accompanying problems. Secondary sources are often designed to collect data, and subjective information may also be employed but is seldom used because it cannot be measured. Generally, this information is derived from peer-reviewed papers and findings made by other researchers, including these.

However, splitting data into its component pieces is especially challenging with some kinds of information. Secondary data are those who have previously been gathered from secondary data sources and made available to academics for study (Maxwell, 2018). Typically, it falls within the category of previously experienced reality. Multiple sources of a thesis are accomplished via data gathering; thus, they will be investigated in order to get a more comprehensive understanding of the results. It was determined that a secondary set of references’ data, comprising only of those that produce new data, was adopted to compile the study’s findings and also to ensure their validity and correctness. However, due to the study’s methodical data gathering, the research was able to completely terminate the immoral data. The study was performed through secondary sources such as scholarly publications, PDFs, and articles, which demonstrates the legitimacy and credibility of the information provided about Tesco’s supply chain resilience.

3.6 Data Analysis Technique

Data analysis is being used to gather, organize, analyse, and improve data, as well as to improve information retrieval. The study has resulted in conclusions or hypotheses and proof that have already been verified. The facts and data were thoroughly examined during the Data Analysis phase of the process (Elliott, 2018). Qualitative statistical analysis was performed on the obtained data. An study of this evaluation showed that the data were more effectively categorised into semi-tasks and subgroups (Lester, Cho and Lochmiller, 2020). “Data and information analysis are essential in research to demonstrating the thesis’s strength,” refers to showing how similar values and knowledge corroborate one’s ideas. Both kinds of data may well be handled by the data analysis system, increasing the price of data obtained from different sources. It is obvious that narrative analysis is being used to compile quantitative data, while content analysis is used to compile qualitative data. Due to the qualitative nature of the study, the researcher compiled the data using content analysis.

3.7 Research Sampling

Sampling is essential in a research project since it provides for the collection of pertinent data. The study aims to develop or evaluate different results and problems, as well as to identify the most appropriate answer for a systemic evaluation (Sharma, 2017). The thesis includes a methodical research that identifies and resolves key findings and difficulties. Evidence and data are collected from a variety of journal articles, studies, papers, periodicals, newspapers, magazines, and academic records. Thus, the aim of this study is to analyze or assess the findings and problems in order to conduct a systematic review in order to arrive at the optimal answer. Analyses are performed in a methodical manner in order to ascertain an accurate result and address issues. The research focuses on data analysis and sample collecting to ensure that the data collected obtained reflects the study’s wider scope. As a result, yearly statistics from Tesco as well as other sources were used to gather material for the dissertation.

3.8 Ethical Considerations

In order to achieve the research goals, it is important to relate to research ethics. The infringement of research ethics is a serious offence, and researchers must rigidly adhere to a set of rules and principles in order to achieve the study’s research goals. When it comes to research ethics, the safety and security of different research methods, which have historically been known as research ethics, are strengthened by a set of rules and standards that are designed to achieve the study goal. In most cases, research ethics are the most effective method for a study review (Roth and von Unger, 2018). Research ethics and other approaches are not mutually exclusive. As a result, in international business, the highest ethical standards are the most important consideration for evaluating the impact of culture. As a result, the study and acquisition of data for the purpose of determining ethical norms for research is by far the most significant area of ethical concern. Support, consent, and protection are three formal ethical implications or criteria that are discussed in detail in the study report.

The evidence collected from verified sources of investigation must be evaluated with an awareness of the possibility that it may distort fundamental data problems in the report. In order to accomplish the particular study objective, a set of guidelines and regulations were created in order to enhance the many methods investigated in the field of ethical research. Additional emphasis has been paid to extracting data from large number of websites, as well as to deriving specific information, such as copyright permission, from these internet sites in specific (Roth and von Unger, 2018). Thus, researchers may more easily comply with the fundamental rules and a practice of research that verifies and consistently delivers the results of an experiment, which has in turn enables them to produce more reliable results. Additionally, it was carefully ensured that no personal information about the business was released without authorization, and only web pages with copyright grants were used in the data gathering process.

3.9 Research Limitations

Research limits are the development or technical features that have influenced the understanding of the research results or have had an effect on the research outcomes and findings (Theofanidis and Fountouki, 2018). It is apparent that by relying only on secondary sources to collect material, the thesis has been unable to fulfil all of the requirements of the research. The lack of quantitative technique, on the other hand, continues to hamper the collection of information. As a result, the lack of quantitative research produces a gap in the information and knowledge of the study sample, which may either prove or refute a hypothesis based on the findings. The lack of survey and interviews creates a knowledge gap on the derivation of information from people. There is also a vacuum in the study since there aren’t enough surveys and interviews conducted.

Chapter 4: Findings

The efficiency of the components of Tesco’s Supply chain

Tesco successfully made its supply chain to be operative. Tesco firstly took initiative to make it cost-effective, and secondly, Tesco produces results on time. Outlining the supply chain management process of Tesco, it can be assessed that it is indeed a fairly straightforward one. Though there are several difficulties related to the supply chain management procedures that vary in complexity according to the size of the firm, the chain’s intricacy, and the number of goods engaged at each stage. Therefore, it can be said that Tesco’s supply chain management embodies the idea of origin and concludes with the delivery and purchase of the product or service by the end-user (Rathnayaka, 2015).

There are a million of Tesco’s items that UK people use or consume daily, and it is Tesco’s supply chain management that connects them all, fostering a pleasant and efficient network. Any breach in this network can cause systemic disruption via a domino effect. Supply chain management is comprised of a few essential components. Those are as follows-

1. Planning

This is a critical stage. Before initiating the whole supply chain, it is critical to finalize and implement the strategy of Tesco. Assessing the sales of its products or services, the feasibility, costing, profit, and labour requirements, among other things, are of utmost perilous. Without a sound plan or process in place, it would be nearly difficult for Tesco to achieve long-term success. As a result, sufficient time has been allocated to this step by Tesco. Only after finalizing the ideas and weighing all of the advantages and disadvantages was it became possible to proceed by the firm. Tesco as a multinational firm needed a strategy, blueprint, or road map from which its strategies are developed. Planning enables Tesco in the identification of market demand and supply patterns, which in turn enables the development of a sustainable supply chain management system of Tesco.

2. Information

Today’s world is characterized by a never-ending flood of information. To be effective, Tesco always keeps current on all pertinent information on the many areas of its production. The supply and demand patterns of Tesco for a specific product are best recognized when information is appropriately and timely shared throughout the business’s various levels. In a knowledge-based global economy, information is critical, and ignorance about any area of business can spell disaster for Tesco’s prospects.

3. Origin

Tesco’s suppliers are critical components of its supply chain management systems. Products and services offered to the end customer are manufactured using a variety of basic materials. As a result, it is critical to obtain adequate raw materials at reasonable prices. If a supplier of Tesco turns to be unable to deliver on time and within the budget specified, Tesco is certain to incur losses and develop a poor image.

Thus, Tesco makes it assure to acquire high-quality resources to produce high-quality products and retain a positive market reputation. This would not be superfluous to say that suppliers of Tesco play a significant role in the supply chain management system of Tesco.

4. Inventories

A well-managed inventory is critical for a highly efficient supply chain management system. An inventory is a list of goods, raw materials, and other necessary components for the production of a product or service. This list is updated regularly by Tesco to denote available and necessary supplies. Inventory management is important to the supply chain management function of Tesco, since, without it, manufacturing and sale of the goods are impossible. Tesco has always been placing a higher premium on this component due to its influence on the supply chain.

5. Manufacturing

Production is a critical component of this system. This is only feasible when all other supply chain components work in unison. For the manufacturing process to begin, it is critical that proper management and supply of commodities, as well as inventory management, are in place. Following the manufacture of products, testing, packing, and final preparation for distribution of the finished product take place.

6. Geographical location

Any firm that wishes to survive and thrives need a profitable location. Tesco ass a multinational company understands that it cannot exist if it is forced to share the already scarce raw resources with the surrounding community. Thus, a good site that is well linked and located close to the edge of critical production resources is critical to the business’s growth. Manpower requirements and availability are also addressed while establishing a business unit of Tesco.

7. Mode of transport

Transportation is critical for transporting raw materials to manufacturing units and for delivering finished products to markets. At each level, timely delivery of goods is critical to maintaining Tesco’s smooth business operations. Tesco pays a knit attention to and takes care of this component which in turn profit hugely from on-time manufacturing and shipping of its goods.

Tesco acquires the urgency of its business to strive for a safe and secure shipping procedure (Evans and Mason, 2018). Whether the transportation management system is in-house or outsourced, it assures zero-damage and minimum loss during transit (Rathnayaka, 2015). Tesco’s secure shipping is built on two pillars: a well-managed logistics infrastructure and perfect billing.

8. Return of goods

Among the several components that contribute to the strength of the supply chain of Tesco are the ability to return defective/malfunctioning items and a highly responsive customer grievance resolution unit.

As part of well-developed business operations, one may anticipate the return of products in a variety of scenarios. Even the most stringent quality control procedures are susceptible to unavoidable temporary failures. In the event of such breaches, which are invariably accompanied by a customer complaint, Tesco does recall the product/s and make an act of contrition instantly. This not only fosters positive consumer relationships but also helps to sustain the long-term goodwill of Tesco.

The eight components mentioned in the preceding discussion are interconnected and contribute to the smooth operation of the supply chain management system of Tesco. It ensures Tesco’s prosperity and reputation. The firm pays close attention to each of these components to build an error-free supply chain. Businesses with a good supply chain management system always place a high premium on each of the components outlined and also guarantee that management and teams at all levels follow the guidelines. Tesco is no exception. Revenue is the bottom line, and for the firm to attain it thus the supply chain must be leak-proof. Any complications that arise are addressed quickly, and any weak links too are fixed or eliminated in Tesco.

Demand and supply are two critical components of Tesco’s business. For the organization to be more successful, demand and supply patterns are carefully examined while adopting an efficient execution strategy. Tesco’s supply chain management system is necessary not just for the timely manufacturing of goods; it is also important for efficiently meeting customer requirements so that it can swell much more profit.

Risk management strategies of Tesco’s supply chain

Tesco, plc has been managing its complicated supply chains using a variety of operational techniques focused on the consumer. It improves its delivery system, inventory levels, and operating expenses through vertical integration, lean principles, and complexity management technologies (Fernie, and Sparks, 2018). Vertical integration with suppliers has aided in the production of high-quality products and reduced supply chain risk. Tesco has been able to enhance the shopping experience and gain competitive advantages by deploying a variety of technologies, notably supply chain analytics, 3D graphics, and online shops. Strong supply chain management might well be credited with helping Tesco establish itself as a dominant player in the UK retailing sector. Tesco effectively implemented lean management techniques throughout its supply chain. It pioneered cutting-edge procedures and systems such as point of sale data, primary distribution, continuous replenishment, and RFID (radio frequency identification) technology to improve the efficiency of its supply chain. Tesco has run across a variety of SC issues while interacting with its suppliers. Tesco’s meat division had major credibility difficulties in 2013 after it was found that several of its tinned beef products included residues of horsemeat. This SC risk was linked to the supplier’s deceptive activities and Tesco’s lax quality controls.

Tesco responded by instituting a variety of mitigating methods and procedures. The shop established frequent quality control checks to verify that meat items purchased from suppliers met required levels of quality. The second method involves buying beef products from British Retail Consortium-accredited suppliers. Tesco also paid a visit to the Silvercrest facility and learned that the processor obtained beef from an unidentified Polish supplier. The provider was then banned. Another SC issue is the financial risk associated with foreign operations. The decline in sales was ascribed to the financial crisis, which lowered customers’ purchasing power. Tesco responded by implementing a value-oriented retail strategy that included a low-cost product line branded ‘Everyday Value’ to compete with discount retailers such as Aldi. Another effort is called ‘The Big Price Drop,’ which attempts to lower the cost of more than 3,000 popular food products to help businesses flourish in a low-growth environment.

Tesco also faces a supply chain risk related to intermediary crowding (Rathnayaka, 2015). The convoluted food supply chain impairs value addition and significantly lengthens the purchase process, resulting in SC delays. Tesco launched an assessment of the whole supply chain as a mitigation technique to eliminate inefficient suppliers and middlemen. Additionally, the company is considering building a centralised processing chain like Waitrose’s. The objective is to simplify SCs to reduce risks related to delays, insufficient inventory, and substandard quality requirements.

Significance of Supply chain of Tesco and its relationship with resilience

An innovative supply chain management (SCM) strategy is required to consolidate global supply chains. Supply chain (SC) relationships are expanded to cope with diverse political, economic, and physical environments to achieve global consolidation. Tesco, a leading UK retailer with a presence in over 14 countries, adopts a more collaborative approach to SCM that is characterised by relationship initiatives that support its grocery logistics (Evans and Mason, 2018). Not only is the supply chain vital to retail, but it is also quite complex. As the robustness of daily operations and contingency planning has been tested, strengthening the future resilience of supply chains seems to have become a focus for every retail boardroom.

Even in the best of circumstances, the supply chain is a significant source of outsourced, difficult-to-control expenses and risks, which may be influenced by everything from weather to traffic congestion. Retailers who optimize their supply chain activities benefit their supplier and partner relationships – as well as their bottom line. It is critical to have an organised and transparent supplier management process. This requires formalising supplier orientation, evaluation, and relationship models for each one of the supplier sections. Diversifying and selecting suppliers is critical for Tesco.

Tesco with the aid of its supply chain resilience has become able to better equipped to cope with any issues harming supply chain and operational change (Fernie, and Sparks, 2018). Tesco learnt the crucial factors from COVID-19 and strengthen their preparation for future challenges. This resilience made them reconsider the fundamental structure of their supply chain in light of an increasingly digital customer world. The majority of retailers already have excellent connections with their suppliers, as well as their freight, transportation, and emergency response partners. However, to boost supply chain resilience, need to strengthen these relationships, increasing transparency and fostering greater understanding and collaboration.

E2open to Modernize Tesco’s Global Logistics and Transportation Management

a leading network-based supplier of fully cloud-based, mission-critical, end-to-end supply chain management software, announced today that they are collaborating with Tesco PLC, a global grocery and general merchandise store headquartered in the United Kingdom. Tesco will retire its existing transportation management system and replace it with the E2open platform to improve visibility, transportation execution, invoice processing, and supplier cooperation (Opera News, 2021). From a single cloud platform, E2open’s network and apps handle all levels of production, inventory, logistics, global commerce, and channel activities. Tesco will use this networked platform to coordinate, cooperate with, and manage their huge global community of suppliers and logistical partners to service almost 4,000 shops worldwide.

Michael Farlekas, president and CEO of E2open thinks that with the complexity of today’s supply chain, there simply is no tolerance for error. From procurement to shipping to payment, E2open’s vast, integrated platform will give Tesco unprecedented access into their global supply chain, lowering costs and increasing efficiency while giving increased supervision to help minimise customer shortages.E2open will assist Tesco in increasing efficiency by unifying diverse procedures among forwarders, modes of transport, and geographies, resulting in increased utilisation, reduced detention and demurrage costs, and improved overall stock management. Additionally, E2open’s platform will streamline ordering and help Tesco increase the fill rate of its container ships and other assets.

Tesco achieved resilience associated with its supply chain provides a critical competitive advantage for the firm to conduct worldwide business. The Supply chain resilience aid in the improvement of product quality, the streamlining of delivery processes, and the reduction of operating expenses. Utilizing lean thinking, vertical integration, and complexities management, Tesco can effectively manage its worldwide supply chains. In addition, the company’s tight working ties with cattle and citrus fruit farmers help to assure quality and reduce supply chain risks. Tesco has implemented technology within the company to assist with shelf management, improve its delivery mechanism, control inventory, and improve the shopping experience for customers (Opera News, 2021). Tesco has been able to achieve significant comparative advantages in the retail industry as a result of these methods.

Supply Chain Strategies implemented by other retailers of UK that Tesco might consider to improve its own

Walmart’s supply chain is frequently lauded as one of the most successful in the world and a significant contribution to the organization’s operational success. Walmart is a strong second-place rival and has been known to outmaneuver. Walmart’s entails pursuing more effective supply chain techniques to pass along savings to the client (Jawad, 2017). Walmart was the first retailer to deploy a company-wide Universal Product Code for barcodes, which enabled the collection and analysis of store-level data to assist improve operations. Walmart was therefore able to develop the Retail Link database in Bentonville, which shows real-time sales data directly from cash registers to distribution centers. Walmart reshaped the retail sector with its cooperative approach to information sharing across shops, distribution centers, and suppliers. Improving cooperation resulted in fewer supply chain connections and enabled Walmart to anticipate and manage inventory more precisely, to save time and money and prove it supply chain as a resilient one.

Aldi is a well-known retailer of UK, known famously for its super effective supply chain management which is resilient (Chatterjee, 2017). Aldi collaborates with local producers to create own-label products that mirror those sold by rival grocery chains. Aldi’s strategy development has been more intentional than emergent. Aldi’s intentional approach is inextricably linked to the founders’ initial goal.

At Sainsbury’s, the nature of activities has been so varied that each division has its operations. This has necessitated autonomy in areas like procurement and design. The technique of supply has been capable of ensuring the security of supplies and a sufficient number of inventories without sacrificing cost. The Kraljic procurement matrix enables Sainsbury’s to conduct strategic procurement and thus it makes it resilient enough to combat any issues. The first stage is to ensure that purchases are classified, which entails indexing purchases according to the supply risk and profit effect of an item. The procurement approach necessitates a fourth stage, which is often devoted to action plans. This stage necessitates the application of methods that include both purchasing power and strategic positioning when selecting the optimal mix of products to acquire for Sainsbury’s activities.

To handle Sainsbury’s supply chain effectively, logistics was planned carefully (Ali, N.D.). Contracts with logistics companies in the supply chain have been extremely efficient, one of which being with iForce. This organization’s contract covers all online orders as well as returns of any non-food goods. This has been extremely popular, particularly over the Christmas season, with one of the contract’s most successful features being a click and collect service. Sainsbury’s success in logistics management throughout the supply chain is due to a proper rail connection between its warehouse and airline terminals. Sainsbury’s logistics have been improved by the establishment of handy depots. Another key component of Sainsbury’s supply chain is warehousing. Sainsbury’s big warehouses and depots for its products to operate efficiently and with stamp authority across the supply chain.

Stock management has always been a significant component of supply chain management strategies. While information regarding Sainsbury’s inventory management systems is not entirely available, it is clear that Sainsbury’s employs a sophisticated Enterprise Resource Planning system. ERP systems enable the integration of transaction-based data and business activities across a company. As a strategy in the supply chain management of the firm, this is demonstrated by the company’s aggressive adoption of best-in-class point-of-sale systems, e-commerce, and logistics operations. Numerous new methods are used in sectors such as commerce, human resources, finance, and procurement.

Chapter 5: Discussion

5.1 Analysis

Throughout the conduction and analysis of the results in the findings chapter, it becomes evident that the supply chain management system of Tesco significantly helps the organization in order to develop its resilience within the market. Generally, the resilient level of the organizational supply chain management system of Tesco has been able to provide the most high-quality products and services with considering the low cost. Suppliers of Tesco are crucial components of their systems for managing the supply chain. End-customer products and services are produced utilizing a range of fundamental ingredients. It is thus essential that sufficient raw materials be obtained at affordable costs. If a Tesco supplier is unable to produce on time and on the budget, Tesco will surely lose and acquire a bad reputation. Tesco ensures that high-quality resources are acquired to create goods of high quality that maintain a good reputation on the market. That would not be unnecessary to state that Tesco suppliers play an important part in Tesco’s SCM.

In addition, the study’s researchers have been able to determine the methods used in the company’s Supply Chain Management System by gathering the most obvious and notable information by accessing external secondary sources. With the Tesco Supply Chain Management Strategy in mind, it is simple to state that suppliers’ strategies have been many to reduce procurement risks such as rising product costs, inferior quality goods, etc. In order to effectively moderate these hazards. Tesco employs in its complicated logistics a series of operational techniques focusing on the consumer. It improves its distribution network, inventory and operational expenditure by means of “vertical integration”, “lean principles” and management of technology. “Vertical Integration” with suppliers contributed to the production of high quality products and reduced the supply chain risk.

Tesco has improved its shopping experiences and gained comparative benefits through utilising a variety of innovations, notably distribution network analyses, 3D animation and online stores. Strong control of the supply chains may also assist Tesco to become a dominant force in UK retail. Tesco succeeded in implementing lean management techniques throughout its whole supply chain. It has created state of the art procedures, organisational structures like sales figures, main delivery, ongoing refilling and RFID technologies to improve the effectiveness of its distribution chain. Tesco has had numerous SC issues in its interaction with its suppliers. In 2013 the meat division of Tesco faced major issues when several of their canned beef products contained residues of horsemeat. This SC risk was linked with Tesco’s deceptive supplier business and poor quality control.

Tesco got their supply network operational effectively. Tesco took the effort to ensure that it would be cost-effective for the first time, and Tesco outcomes in good time. It may be judged that it really is a pretty simple procedure to outline Tesco’s supply chain management method. While the supply chain management processes are subject to many problems, the size of the company, chain complexity, and the number of commodities involved at each phase varies depending on their complexity. The supply chain management of Tesco, therefore, incorporates the concept of origin and ends with the delivery and purchase by the end-user of the product or service. The Tesco Strategy must be finalized and implemented before the whole supply chain is launched. The assessment of sales, feasibility, cost, profitability, and workforce needs of their goods or services, amongst others, is very threatening. Tesco would be almost impossible to attain long-term success without a solid strategy or procedure.

As a consequence, Tesco has dedicated adequate time to this stage. The Company was only able to continue once the ideas had been finalized and all the benefits and drawbacks weighed. As a global company, Tesco required a strategy, draught, or road plan that evolved its approaches. The world of today is defined by a never-ending deluge of data and information. Tesco must constantly be up to date on all relevant information about the various sectors of its manufacturing in order to be successful. Tesco’s supply and demand patterns for a particular product are most easily identified when information is communicated properly and promptly across the organization’s different levels. In a knowledge-based global market, information is essential, and Tesco’s prospects may be jeopardized if the company’s executives are unfamiliar with any aspect of the company’s operations.

When Tesco learned about the situation, it immediately implemented a number of mitigation measures and processes. In order to ensure that the meat products bought from suppliers fulfilled the necessary standards of quality, the store implemented regular quality control inspections. The second approach is purchasing beef products from suppliers who have been certified by the British Retail Consortium. During their visit to the Silver-crest plant, Tesco discovered that the processor had sourced the beef from an unnamed Polish supplier. The service provider was then barred from providing services. Another problem that concerns the SC is the financial risk connected with international activities. The financial crisis, which reduced consumers’ buying power, was blamed for the decrease in sales, according to the company. Tapping on this trend, Tesco implemented a value-oriented retail strategy that included the introduction of a low-cost product range called Everyday Values in order to compete with discount stores such as Aldi.

There is also an initiative known as The Big Price Drop, which aims to reduce the cost of more than 3,000 popular food items, with the goal of helping companies thrive in a low-growth environment. In this way, it becomes evaluated that during the organizational business operation of Tesco, the organization needs to fetch extensive development within the organizational supply chain management system. Through this, the researcher also has been able to demonstrate knowledge about Tesco’s supply chain management system. Generally, the organization utilizes the most advanced technological features and digitalized systems within its supply chain management system. Due to this, nowadays, the resilience level of the supply chain management system of Tesco becomes most vigorous and successful for their business. Moreover, throughout the analysis of the secondary data and in the findings chapter, the researcher has seen that during the organizational business operation, Tesco provides huge profits to the suppliers. Due to this, it has been able to sufficiently enhance its products in the market.

Moreover, in the case of the risks management strategies of the supply chain management system of Tesco, it is evident to say that Tesco has implemented numerous risk mitigating approaches within the organizational supply chain management system in order to render the supply chain management more resilient. The ability to return faulty or malfunctioning goods, as well as a very responsive customer grievance resolution unit, are two of the many components that contribute to the robustness of Tesco’s supply chain. When a business’s processes are well-developed, it is possible to predict the return of goods in a number of different situations. Even the most rigorous quality control systems are vulnerable to inevitable transitory failures, which may occur at any time. Such violations, which are almost always followed by consumer complaints, prompt Tesco to recall the offending product(s) and to issue an immediate act of remorse.

This not only builds great customer connections, but it also contributes to the long-term success of Tesco’s goodwill as well. Tesco’s supply chain management system is comprised of eight components, each of which is linked and contributes to the seamless functioning of the system as a whole. Tesco’s success and reputation are ensured as a result of this. In way to construct an error-free distribution network, the business devotes particular consideration to each of these elements. Organisations with a good logistics network consistently value each of the aforementioned elements, and guarantee that leadership and employees at all ranks comply with the requirements. Tesco is no exception to this rule. Revenue is the bottom line, and in order for a company to achieve it, the supply chain must be completely leak-proof.

Tesco responds promptly to any problems that may emerge, and any weak connections are repaired or removed as soon as they are identified. The business of Tesco depends on consumption and the provision of products and services. To make the business more profitable, a comprehensive review has been done of customer and supplier characteristics while implementing a cost-effective implementation strategy. In addition to the timely production of goods, Tesco also requires a supply chain management system for efficient customer fulfilment to create much better profit for the business. The emergence of the COVID-19 epidemic has, nevertheless, also been shown to be highly influenced through the Tesco Logistics Managing Network. Due to this, a vast number of losses have occurred within the economic stability of the organization.

In addition to this, in order to more significantly demonstrate the level of resilience of the supply chain management system of Tesco, the researcher has identified the significant role of the supply chain management system of its rivals. Although the supply chain is an important source of outsourcing, difficult to manage costs and risks in the best possible conditions, which may be affected by anything from weather to congestion. Their provider and partner connections – along with their bottom-line – benefit retailers that optimize their supply chain operations. It is essential that the supplier management process be organized and open. For each of the supplier sections, this involves formalizing provider orientation, evaluation, and relation models. For Tesco, it is crucial to diversify and choose suppliers. Tesco has been better prepared to deal with any problems affecting the supply chain and operational change with the help of its supply chain resilience. From COVID-19, Tesco learned key aspects and reinforced its preparedness for future difficulties.

In view of the growing digital world of customers, this resilience forced them to rethink the basic structure of their supply chain. Most merchants already have good relationships with their suppliers, freight, transport, and emergency response partners. However, these connections must be consolidated, transparency increased and understanding and cooperation promoted to improve the resilience of the supply chain. The management of stocks has long been a major component of supply chain management methods. While there is fully accessible data on Sainsbury’s inventory administration technologies, it is evident that Sainsbury uses an advanced business resource planning platform. ERP systems allow transaction-based knowledge and commercial operations to be integrated throughout an enterprise. The corporation’s proactive implementation of best-in-class point-of-sale technologies, e-commerce and logistics businesses demonstrate this as an approach in the supply chain management of the organization. Many innovative techniques are employed in areas such as trade, staffing, finance, and purchasing. In this aspect, during the organisational business operation of Tesco, the organisation needs to significantly pursue and also needs to implement these technological and digital features within the organisational supply chain management system of Tesco.

5.2 Summary

Tesco suppliers are key components of its supply chain management systems. Products and services of the end consumer using a number of key components are created. If a supplier from Tesco cannot deliver on time and on a budget, Tesco will certainly lose its reputation and acquire it. Tesco guarantees the acquisition of high-quality resources to produce high-quality products which retain a strong reputation on the market. In its complicated supply networks, Tesco employs a variety of operational techniques focused on the consumer. It optimizes its delivery system, stock levels, and operating expenditure through vertical integration and lean concepts. Vertical integration with suppliers has contributed to the production of high-quality products and reduced the supply chain risk. In order to enhance the shopping and gain competitive advantages, Tesco employs a variety of technologies. The Tesco meat division faced considerable difficulties in 2013 when it was found that several of their products included tinned beef had horsemeat residues.

It has created advanced procedures and systems, such as sales points and RFID technologies, in order to improve the efficiency of its supply chain. Tesco’s supply chain management includes the original idea and concludes with delivery and acquisition by the end-user. Before the whole supply chain is initiated, the Tesco strategy must be finalized and executed. Evaluation of, among other things, their products or services’ sales, feasibility, cost, profitability, and labour requirements is extremely threatening. Without a sound plan or process, it would be virtually difficult to achieve long-term success. The supply and demand patterns of Tesco for a specific product are most readily recognized when information is correctly and quickly shared at the various levels of the company. Information is important in a knowledge-based global market, and the prospects of Tesco may be jeopardized if its leaders are unaware of any element of their operations. Tesco has thus devoted sufficient attention to this step.

Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendation

6.1 Conclusion

Throughout the evaluation of the entire study, it is concluded that during the organisational business operation, the resiliency of supply chain management system significantly plays the most crucial and vigorous role within the development of the organisational business. In this aspect, the leadership and the management team of Tesco, has significantly decided to implement various strategies within the organisational supply chain management system. Through this, Tesco will be able to sufficiently get high-quality of products and services at a reasonable cost from its suppliers. However, during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tesco has got numerous hindrances within its organisational business operation process, due to which, the organisation has suffered very prominently.

In this case, the literature review section has provided and the demonstrated a huge amount of knowledge regarding the utilisation of different strategies in order to prominently mitigate the supply chain management risks. Moreover, the vast range of supply chain management significantly impact and help the retail organisations like Sainsbury, Morrison, Aldi, etc. to efficiently operate their organisational business in the market of the UK. Like Tesco, the other retail firms in the market of the UK also faced numerous hindrances within its supply chain management system due to the prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, all the firms have decided to implement and utilise most prominent and potential strategic approaches within the organisational supply chain management system during their business operation.

Throughout the conduction of the business, Tesco also has taken few initiatives for proficiently implementing and utilising different strategic approaches and technological and digitalised features during their management of the supply chain system. In addition to this, within the findings chapter, the interpretation of the data and information regarding the importance of supply chain management resilience, the challenges during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the strategies those are need to be implemented by the executive team of Tesco have been evaluated. Additionally, the reference of other organisational management of the supply chain system crucially helps Tesco in order to efficiently develop its supply chain resilience during the organisational business.

Throughout the year 2013, during the organisational business operation of Tesco, the organisation’s meat division had faced significant challenges regarding that several of their products included tinned beef had horsemeat residues. In this aspect, the executive team of Tesco has decided to take prominent action towards their suppliers in order to efficiently reduce the threats in the upcoming days that had been occurred during their business operation. In this way, by prominently enhancing the resiliency and potentiality of the supply chain management system by implementing and utilising most advance technological features, it has been able to proficiently and successfully operate their organisational business in the market.

6.2 Recommendation

Throughout the discussion and analysis of the above study, it becomes evident that the supply chain management of Tesco is generally becoming poorer than the other retail firms in the market of the UK. Initially, the organisation was fluently operating its business with having a leading the role in the industry due to consisting a vast range of supply chain management system with their organisational culture. However, due to the initiation of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the organisation becomes failure to maintain the prominent impact of their business in the market (Pettit, Croxton and Fiksel, 2019). Therefore, the organisation needs to utilise and incorporate different technological features like geo-location, tracking devices, barcodes, etc. within their organisational logistics and supply chain management system. Through this, the organisation will be able to proficiently enhance their business proficiency and credibility and profitability in the market by providing high-quality products to the consumers at a reasonable cost.

On the other hand, by comparing the supply chain management system of the other retail firms like Sainsbury, Aldi, Walmart, etc. the executive team of Tesco has decided to utilise similar strategic approaches and advance technological and digitalized features like geo-location, tracking devices, barcodes, etc. within their organisational culture. Through this, the organisational will be able most extensively develop their business. Moreover, the organisation needs to recruit more efficient and proficient staffs and employees within the organisational culture of Tesco, in order to resiliently develop the supply chain management system of the organisation (Gölgeci and Kuivalainen, 2020). Furthermore, the implementation and utilisation of effective and successive supply chain management strategy significantly help Tesco, in order to develop the resilience of the organisational supply chain management system.

6.3 Future Scope

Throughout the consideration of the entire study, it is concluded that the researcher has covered almost all the significant aspect regarding the study topic. Within this, the researcher has prominently defined the significant of the supply chain resilience for the organisational business development of Tesco. On the other hand, the impact of supply chain resilience in the retail sectors in the UK and the challenges being faced by the UK based retail firms related to supply chain resilience during their business operation have been potentially discussed in this research study. Moreover, the references of the strategies adopted by different retail firms in the market of the UK during their development of supply chain management system has been prominently analysed and evaluated.

However, there are still some gaps that make lacking the study. Generally, due to the restriction in data collection and time management, the researcher has been unable to access more specific and authentic knowledge for the study. In addition to this, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the researcher has not been able to conduct primary research. Henceforth, in order to significantly fulfil all the gaps of this research study, the researcher will conduct a further research regarding this relevant topic. This will help the future learners and the researchers to get viable and credible knowledge regarding this particular topic.

References

Alase, A., 2017. The interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA): A guide to a good qualitative research approach. International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies, 5(2), pp.9-19.

Ali, H., What Factors Contribute to Efficient Management of The Supply Chain of Supermarket Within UK Retailers? Case Study―Sainsbury Supermarket PLC Supply Chain.

Azadegan, A. and Dooley, K., 2021. A typology of supply network resilience strategies: Complex collaborations in a complex world. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 57(1), pp.17-26.

Belhadi, A., Kamble, S., Jabbour, C.J.C., Gunasekaran, A., Ndubisi, N.O. and Venkatesh, M., 2021. Manufacturing and service supply chain resilience to the COVID-19 outbreak: Lessons learned from the automobile and airline industries. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 163, p.120447.

Chatterjee, S., 2017. Two efficiency-driven networks on a collision course: ALDI’s innovative grocery business model vs Walmart. Strategy & Leadership.

Chenarides, L., Manfredo, M. and Richards, T.J., 2021. COVID‐19 and Food Supply Chains. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 43(1), pp.270-279.

Chiles, C.R. and Dau, M.T., 2005. An analysis of current supply chain best practices in the retail industry with case studies of Wal-Mart and Amazon. com (Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

Chowdhury, M. M. H., Quaddus, M., and Agarwal, R. 2019. Supply chain resilience for performance: role of relational practices and network complexities. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal.

Clark, K.R. and Vealé, B.L., 2018. Strategies to enhance data collection and analysis in qualitative research. Radiologic technology, 89(5), pp.482CT-485CT.

Cypress, B., 2018. Qualitative research methods: A phenomenological focus. Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, 37(6), pp.302-309.

Doan, T., 2020. Supply chain management drivers and competitive advantage in the manufacturing industry. Uncertain Supply Chain Management, 8(3), pp.473-480.

Elliott, V., 2018. Thinking about the coding process in qualitative data analysis. The Qualitative Report, 23(11), pp.2850-2861.

Evans, B. and Mason, R., 2018. The lean supply chain: managing the challenge at Tesco. Kogan Page Publishers.

Fernie, J. and Sparks, L. eds., 2018. Logistics and retail management: emerging issues and new challenges in the retail supply chain. Kogan page publishers.

Gölgeci, I. and Kuivalainen, O., 2020. Does social capital matter for supply chain resilience? The role of absorptive capacity and marketing-supply chain management alignment. Industrial Marketing Management, 84, pp.63-74.

Gölgeci, I. and Kuivalainen, O., 2020. Does social capital matter for supply chain resilience? The role of absorptive capacity and marketing-supply chain management alignment. Industrial Marketing Management, 84, pp.63-74.

Heller, F.K., 2017. Technological innovation applied to walmart and tesco’s supply chain (Doctoral dissertation).

Hosseini, S., Ivanov, D. and Dolgui, A., 2019. Review of quantitative methods for supply chain resilience analysis. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 125, pp.285-307.

Ivanov, D. and Dolgui, A., 2020. Viability of intertwined supply networks: extending the supply chain resilience angles towards survivability. A position paper motivated by COVID-19 outbreak. International Journal of Production Research, 58(10), pp.2904-2915.

Jawad, S., 2017. A literature analysis of Walmart’s supply chain excellence in term of integration, distribution and operations.

Kalu, A.O.U., Unachukwu, L.C. and Ibiam, O., 2019. Accessing Secondary Data: A Literature Review.

Lester, J.N., Cho, Y. and Lochmiller, C.R., 2020. Learning to do qualitative data analysis: A starting point. Human Resource Development Review, 19(1), pp.94-106.

Marshall, J., Coleman, G. and Reason, P., 2017. Leadership for sustainability: An action research approach. Routledge.

Maxwell, J.A., 2018. Collecting qualitative data: A realist approach. The SAGE handbook of qualitative data collection, pp.19-32.

McMaster, M., Nettleton, C., Tom, C., Xu, B., Cao, C. and Qiao, P., 2020. Risk management: rethinking fashion supply chain management for multinational corporations in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 13(8), p.173.

Min, H., 2019. Blockchain technology for enhancing supply chain resilience. Business Horizons, 62(1), pp.35-45.

Mitchell, R., Maull, R., Pearson, S., Brewer, S. and Collison, M., 2020. The impact of COVID-19 on the UK fresh food supply chain. arXiv preprint arXiv:2006.00279.

Nguyen, T.T.H., 2017. Wal-Mart’s successfully integrated supply chain and the necessity of establishing the Triple-A supply chain in the 21st century. Journal of Economics & Management, 29, pp.102-117.

Opera News (2021). E2open to Modernize Tesco’s Global Logistics and Transportation Management – Opera News. [online] www.dailyadvent.com. Available at: https://www.dailyadvent.com/news/261ae73dcabd04cde06ac84e4890c44d-E2open-to-Modernize-Tescos-Global-Logistics-and-Transportation-Management [Accessed 28 Aug. 2021].

Pettit, T. J., Croxton, K. L., and Fiksel, J. 2019. The evolution of resilience in supply chain management: a retrospective on ensuring supply chain resilience. Journal of Business Logistics, 40(1), 56-65.

Pettit, T.J., Croxton, K.L. and Fiksel, J., 2019. The evolution of resilience in supply chain management: a retrospective on ensuring supply chain resilience. Journal of Business Logistics, 40(1), pp.56-65.

Rathnayaka, T. (2015). Supply chain management TL2103 Supply chain of TESCO. www.academia.edu. [online] Available at: https://www.academia.edu/40019505/Supply_chain_management_TL2103_Supply_chain_of_TESCO [Accessed 28 Aug. 2021].

Rizou, M., Galanakis, I.M., Aldawoud, T.M. and Galanakis, C.M., 2020. Safety of foods, food supply chain and environment within the COVID-19 pandemic. Trends in food science & technology, 102, pp.293-299.

Roth, W.M. and von Unger, H., 2018, September. Current perspectives on research ethics in qualitative research. In Forum qualitative sozialforschung/forum: Qualitative social research (Vol. 19, No. 3).

Roy, V., Schoenherr, T. and Charan, P., 2018. The thematic landscape of literature in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM): A review of the principal facets in SSCM development. International Journal of Operations & Production Management.

Rutberg, S. and Bouikidis, C.D., 2018. Focusing on the fundamentals: A simplistic differentiation between qualitative and quantitative research. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 45(2), pp.209-213.

Schleper, M.C., Gold, S., Trautrims, A. and Baldock, D., 2021. Pandemic-induced knowledge gaps in operations and supply chain management: COVID-19’s impacts on retailing. International Journal of Operations & Production Management.

Schroeder, R.G., Goldstein, S.M. and Rungtusanatham, M.J., 2013. Operations management in the supply chain: Decisions and cases. McGraw-Hill Education.

Sharma, G., 2017. Pros and cons of different sampling techniques. International journal of applied research, 3(7), pp.749-752.

Sharma, M., Luthra, S., Joshi, S. and Kumar, A., 2020. Developing a framework for enhancing survivability of sustainable supply chains during and post-COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, pp.1-21.

Tan, B., Yan, J., Chen, S. and Liu, X., 2018, December. The impact of blockchain on food supply chain: The case of walmart. In International Conference on Smart Blockchain (pp. 167-177). Springer, Cham.

Theofanidis, D. and Fountouki, A., 2018. Limitations and delimitations in the research process. Perioperative nursing, 7(3), pp.155-163.

Ul-Hameed, W., Mohammad, H., Shahar, H., Aljumah, A. and Azizan, S., 2019. The effect of integration between audit and leadership on supply chain performance: Evidence from UK based supply chain companies. Uncertain Supply Chain Management, 7(2), pp.311-328.

Wieland, A. and Durach, C.F., 2021. Two perspectives on supply chain resilience. Journal of Business Logistics.

Yu, W., Jacobs, M. A., Chavez, R., and Yang, J. 2019. Dynamism, disruption orientation, and resilience in the supply chain and the impacts on financial performance: a dynamic capabilities perspective. International Journal of Production Economics, 218, 352-362.

Žukauskas, P., Vveinhardt, J. and Andriukaitienė, R., 2018. Philosophy and paradigm of scientific research. Management Culture and Corporate Social Responsibility, 121.

Tags: alwaysopen, assignmenthelpaustralia, assignmenthelpmelbourne, assignmenthelpsydney, assignmenthelpwebsites, london, londonstudent, melbourne, myassignmenthelp, plagiarismfreework, studentassignmenthelp