Retail industries of UK Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Retail industries of UK - Dissertation Example Despite of the fact that the UK economy was going through recession, but the overall sales of the industry had increased in 2009 as it reached a figure of over ?285billion. It has been estimated that this figure would further increase in the years to come. Also with the world economy and UK economy recovers itself from recession, retail industry would be one of the most beneficial industries as this would further increase the total revenue of the firms in the industry (The Scottish Government, 2010). By the end of 2010, the total retail units in the kingdom were approximately 286,000 (Arch, 2010). The food retail industry is an important industry for the UK economy as over the years it has been able to contribute a lot to GDP of the country. In addition to this, food retail industry is a significant one for United Kingdom economy as it has been able to consume considerable portion of the employment. According to a report, there are more than half a million people working in the indus try representing almost 13% of the total workforce of United Kingdom. Food retail industry consumed more than 12,750 permanent jobs throughout 2010 which represents an annual growth of 2.1% in the jobs of food retail industry from the year 2009 (The Scottish Government, 2010). ... The total sales of online retail industry equalled ?2.8 billion from Christmas 2009 to Christmas 2010 and they also found that there has been a growth of 44% in terms of time spent by respondents shopping online (Internet Retailer, 2011). Tesco is the market leader in the UK food retail industry for years and it has been dominating the market with market share of almost 31%. Tesco is also considered as the third largest retailer of the world in terms of revenue, after Wal-Mart and Carrefour. Tesco recorded total revenues in the year 2010 – 2011 were more than ?60 billion with a net profit of ?2.67 billion (Tesco, 2011) PROBLEM FORMULATION There are several firms in the food retail industry competing against each other on the basis of Price, Products, Promotions and Placement. However, among these four factors, price is the most dominant one. Consumers in the food retail industry are very much attracted and targeted by firms in the industry on the basis of cost and this is the reason why, most firms in the industry including Tesco and Asda have used Cost leadership strategy. This strategy has allowed firms to keep their overall costs low and thus offer the products at a lower price than the competing firms to the customers. With improvements in technology, the industry has been able to improve its sales because of e-retailing and the e-retailing has provided several opportunities for the firms in the industry to grow and expand their business as well as improve their market share. Also the response of consumers have been very positive towards e-retailing as shopping online is far more convenient, saves time and energy. Because online