BU7002 Management Research Methods Assignment Sample 2024

1. Introduction 

Digital marketing is also known as online marketing and it helps brands to promote their products and connect them to potential customers with the help of the internet and different types of digital communications such as email, phone calls, videos, messages and web chat. Digital communication is also conducted through blogs and podcasts by businesses to get customer attention.

A retail organization in UK has adopted digital marketing and it helps to connect potential customers directly to their website. Digital marketing challenges are impacting the effectiveness of digital marketing approaches adopted by businesses in retail sector.

Therefore, research needs to be conducted to understand barriers to implementing these approaches for retail organizations in UK. Retail sector businesses have shifted from traditional practices to online practices in major ways, and this change has impacted the profitability and viability of the businesses in the retail sector. Lack of proper social media strategy is also another challenge for businesses adopting digital marketing. A large number of social media users use these social media platforms to follow businesses and they need to implement strategies to evaluate the challenges of digital marketing.

1.1 Research background 

Digital marketing is adopted by retail organizations in UK mostly for increasing sales and increasing engagement in shoppers. This marketing strategy adopted by organizations has multiple benefits though there are critical challenges present for successfully adopting these strategies.

As opined by de Ruyter et al. (2018), digital marketing is different from traditional marketing, to understand this emerging trend and its practical impacts on businesses, further research in marketing need to be conducted. In UK, digital marketing approaches are commonly used by retail organizations as a promotional tool.

Businesses are embracing digitization and changes in consumer behavior in a current business environment in UK. More dynamic challenges are faced by businesses to promote their products. Organizations are adopting different strategies to handle these challenges. Digital marketing has the biggest market in Europe and 72% of marketing expenses are spent on digital marketing in UK (STATISTA, 2021).

In the past ten years investment in digital marketing has increased over years, during Covid-19 the marketing budget of businesses were reduced, though digital marketing continues to remain popular for businesses despite this pandemic. Social media is the most popular for digital marketing approaches in UK and 15.58% of the total marketing budget is used for social media marketing by businesses in UK (STATISTA, 2021).

There are a lot of opportunities for growth in digital marketing, however, challenges such as creating good quality leads and understanding the target audience are challenges for successfully implementing these strategies in retail businesses. The market size of digital advertising by revenue is £14.0 billion and digital marketing agency marketing size is expected to grow 12.9% in UK in 2022 (IBIS WORLD, 2021).

A retail organization needs to identify suitable technology and adopt an Omnichannel approach to fulfill customer demands and adapt its digital marketing strategy accordingly.

1.2 Research aim 

In this proposed research, digital marketing challenges in retail organizations in UK are considered and its critical evaluation is conducted.

1.3 Research objective 

Table 1: SMART research objectives

(Source: created by author)

1.4 Research questions 

Q.1 what is the importance of digital marketing retail organization in UK?

Q.2 what are the factors impacting digital marketing in retail organizations in UK?

Q.3 what are the critical challenges of digital marketing in retail organizations in UK?

Q.4 how do these major challenges impact digital marketing strategies for retail organizations in UK?

Q.5 what are the digital marketing strategies adopted by retail organizations in UK to overcome challenges?

1.5 Research rationale 

There are plenty of digital marketing challenges present in UK retail sector that are not addressed by businesses. This situation of not addressing these issues is impacting the effectiveness of these digital marketing strategies of businesses in the retail sector. Financial constraint is a major challenge for small and medium-size retail businesses in UK. In this proposed research, lack of financial resources affecting the growth and development of small and medium-sized businesses are discussed compared to large organizations which abundant resources.

As opined by Davcik et al. (2021), resources are vital for implementing research and development activities as technological advancements and marketing strategies can impact the performance of small and medium-sized businesses in UK. Businesses that have not successfully digitized their operations are facing challenges to adopting digital marketing strategies.

Digitally transformed are better able to adopt digital marketing strategies using data and metrics which help them to change their marketing plans. Knowledge about which digital marketing strategies work and which does not helps to plan better marketing strategies. Customers use digital platforms several times during their shopping journey as discovering different products using search engines and social media platforms are part of usual activity and it also informed customers about properties of any specific products.

Customers are interested in using advanced technology for making payments such as mobile wallets and purchasing through social media is also common as 14% of customers buy products from social media (DELOITTE, 2021). Business in retail sector which did not have integrated new technology is not able to fulfill customer demands accordingly.

Low et al. (2020) noted that using social media for digital marketing is creating a positive impact on using digital technology by businesses. Customers are using multiple touch points in their digital journey; therefore, businesses which did not adopt a multi-channel approach are not able to support customers through their digital journey. This is creating a major challenge for businesses in retail sector in UK and customers are becoming more interested to purchase products digitally which increase the importance of digitization in retail sector businesses.

Sales in the digital medium have increased 18% in 2020 compared to 2019 (DELOITTE, 2021). Retail organizations in UK are using social media platforms such as Face book, Youtube, Integral, Twitter and similar social media platforms to promote their businesses and changing customer behavior is during this pandemic has impacted digital marketing approaches. Social media platforms help to create value for businesses and this trend is expected to continue over the next 5 years in UK.

A statistical report shows that Face book can generate value for 39% of businesses and businesses which are using Youtube and Integral can generate 18% of value, whereas 2% of the value is generated by businesses that are using Interest and Snap chat to promote their companies in UK (STATISTA, 2021).

Lack of proper social media use for digital marketing is expected to impact businesses in retail sector as social media platforms allow companies to get an in-depth understanding of customer activity and identify potential customers. In this way, businesses can identify their target audiences and understand their preferences which help them to create a better marketing strategy for their target audiences.

2. Literature review 

2.1 Concept of digital marketing  

Digital marketing includes different marketing efforts and uses an electronic and digital medium to promote businesses. In the retail sector, businesses use different digital channels such as social media, email and websites to connect with present and potential customers. In this proposed research, challenges faced by businesses while adopting these strategies are evaluated.

Pantano et al. (2018) suggested that adopting digital marketing is vital for the future success of small businesses. Small business owners need to understand the importance of digital marketing and adopt a digital marketing strategy to remain profitable in the competitive UK retail market. Digital marketing helps businesses to extend their reach to larger audiences which traditional marketing methods do not allow.

These digital marketing approaches help to identify new leads and these customers who are interested to buy these products. These marketing approaches are more affordable compared to traditional marketing approaches, allowing more control for businesses to manage daily activities and change strategies according to requirements (Desai, 2019).

There are several benefits of digital marketing strategies; therefore, these are adopted by businesses in the retail sector in UK. These strategies help to target customers who are interested to buy their products. These strategies provide more control to businesses about who is watching their advertisements. This was not possible for traditional businesses practices and digital marketing is more personalized.

Digital marketing strategies have a high conversion rate and are therefore preferred by retail organizations to send their messages to customers. There are social media targeting features that allow businesses to target audiences based on their gender, age, location, preference and attitudes.

Businesses in this sector can use SEO strategies that help them to display advertisements to customers who have already searched certain products (Sheth, 2020). Digital marketing allows businesses to understand their buyer persona better and change the marketing strategy concerning that. This helps businesses to sell multiple products using digital marketing approaches.

2.2 Digital marketing in retail business  

Businesses in retail sector use different social media platforms such as Face book, Twitter, Integral and LinkedIn. There are several knowledge platforms such as Quota and Yahoo and media sharing platforms such as Youtube, Spottily and Vimeo. Grub hub is also a digital platform used by businesses that is a service-oriented platform. As opined by  Correani (2020), businesses need to adopt a digital strategy and attain digital transformation.

Business in the retail sector needs to have their budget for adopting a digital marketing strategy. The different retail organization has adopted their own digital marketing strategy businesses such as Primark has adopted digital marketing suitably. Top shop is also another business that targets millennial by adopting digital marketing strategies. In digital marketing campaigns, user-generated content is depicted on the website to increase views. Customers are allowed to can share their feedback on official websites.

On its Face book page, Primark promotes its brand identity as they use this social media platform as a main promotional channel to run different advertisements, post their promotional videos and infomercials about their newest collections. The company focuses their concentrations on channels that get the most traffic and constantly innovate and post blogs to showcase their products and show consumers the latest trend.

ASOS is also another digitally successful brand that uses various digital channels to promote its businesses. The company has collected a lot of data over the years that help them to target the right audiences. ASOS use their Twitter page actively and the company allows consumers to share their outfit and provides exclusive deals to their followers in their application.

ASOS successfully reached their target audiences and increase their public reach using digital marketing approaches. The company created better engagement via social media with their target audiences. ASOS adopted different hash tags and use exclusive content to increase their audiences.

2.3 Digital marketing challenges in retail business 

Businesses in retail sector face multiple issues and these companies are not able to resolve these issues aptly which is decreasing the positive effect of digital marketing strategy. Businesses face challenges in adopting suitable technological solutions in retail sector in UK. Businesses also struggle to adopt an Omnichannel strategy to improve the shopping experience.

Marketing needs of customers are changing continuously and businesses need to adopt a modern marketing strategy and find customer-centric solutions to different issues. Fahy and Jobber (2019) opined that several issues impact online marketing activities. Businesses need to adopt suitable technology to successfully achieve digital transformation.

Technology has a massive impact on businesses in the retail sector and the current businesses environment.  Point of sale equipment, bar codes and storing information about payment and billing databases all these technologies help businesses to manage their businesses process better. The volume of transactions has increased due to adopting electronic transactions for businesses in retail sector. Increasing competition is a major challenge in digital marketing for businesses in retail sector.

Businesses compete with one another in the current market and it is challenging for businesses to understand changing customer behaviors. Bigger organizations can use digital marketing approaches to their benefit whereas due to lack of resources smaller organizations fail to update their technology after regular intervals.

As consumers are allowed to comment and share their feedback, these open reviews provide a challenge for businesses using these strategies. According to Nunan and Di Domenico (2019), digital marketing helps to find out the degree of a digital divide, therefore, there are still challenges present in digital marketing approaches adopted by businesses.

2.4 Strategies to solve digital marketing challenges in retail businesses 

Retail organizations need to adopt Omnichannel marketing as this approach helps to bridge the gap of shopping experience among in-store activity and online shopping activity. This approach helps retailers to increase sales and allows integrating multiple touch points. In this strategy, businesses need to find out which channel is used more by customers.

Businesses need to integrate innovative technology to create new marketing techniques. Shopping applications introduced by businesses need to have GPS enable technology, Artificial technology-assisted mobile applications to improve customers’ shopping experience. George et al. (2021) argued that digital technologies are helpful for organization to fulfill their climate issues related challenges.

Social media is used vastly in UK; therefore, businesses need to adopt an adequate social media strategy to successfully implement digital marketing approaches. In digital commerce, social media traffic has increased rapidly, businesses in retail sector need to consider that. Customer check reviews and social media feed to find out reviews about products. Business in retail sector needs to provide customers options for purchasing from their official sites through their social media pages (Herhausen et al. 2020).

3. Research Methodology

In this proposed research, research onion would be adopted to research challenges of digital marketing in retail business in UK.

3.1 Research philosophy 

Research philosophy is an extensive topic and it is associated with different assumptions, ideas and nature of the research topic. As opined by Moon et al. (2019), selecting research philosophy depends on the context of the research topic selected by a researcher. Research philosophy is divided into multiple types such as positivism, interpretivism and realism.

In this proposed research, interpretivism would be selected for research purposes. Interpretivism research philosophy refers to a principle where the researcher observes social world to get an in-depth understanding of different factors affecting one another. In views of Alharahsheh and Pius (2020), interpretivism is selected for qualitative research and that has several advantages. In this proposed research, interpretivism would be selected for evaluating critical challenges impacting retail businesses in UK.

3.2 Research approach 

The research approach refers to general plans of research and procedures that need to be followed for research activity. Maarouf (2019) noted that these approaches include different steps and extended assumptions of research activity. The research approach has different types such as deductive, inductive and abductive.

In this proposed research deductive approach would be adopted to evaluate the challenges of digital marketing adopted by retail businesses in UK. As opined by Pearse (2019), in the deductive approach, theories are adopted to give explanations about information collected for research purposes. This approach helps in n evaluating existing information and theories on digital marketing challenges in UK retail sector.

3.3 Research design

Research design refers to the framework and different techniques selected by researchers.  Three major types of research design are descriptive, experimental and explanatory. Shtiaq (2019) opined that research design refers to planning advanced techniques in research activity.

This also includes gathering suitable information and adopting strategies to be used for evaluation. In this proposed research, a descriptive research design would be adopted for research purposes. Atmowardoyo (2018) noted that a descriptive research design is selected to study a phenomenon that already exists. This research design helps to get information systematically about a situation.

3.4 Data collection method 

Data collection methods refer to activities of gathering data to make the right decisions. Data collection is dived into two major type’s namely primary and secondary data collection. According to Moser and Korstjens (2018), multiple data collection method is used for research purposes based on the research subject. In this proposed research secondary, qualitative data collection method is adopted by the researcher to evaluate major challenges of digital marketing in a retail organization in UK.

3.5 Data analysis 

Data analysis refers to different techniques adopted to evaluate information through statistical or thematic data analysis. This process helps describe and evaluate information without compromising the integrity of data to reach correct research findings. Richards (2018) noted that data analysis helps to find patterns in data.

This process helps to transcribe data and helps to get insights from it.  In this proposed research thematic data analysis would be adopted to create different themes. Thematic data analysis helps to organize data and helps a researcher to understand its meaningfulness (Kiger and Varpiom, 2020)

3.6 Ethical considerations 

The researcher will ensure to refer to secondary sources to avoid academic misconduct and plagiarism in proposed research. Moreover, the researcher will also restrain from providing personal opinion to avoid misinterpretation or biasness of data.

Anticipated findings 

In this proposed research, secondary qualitative data is collected and thematic analysis is conducted to evaluate marketing challenges in retail business in UK. Digital marketing strategies are useful and businesses need to adopt strategies to implement these marketing approaches successfully by addressing different issues which hinder its implementation.

References 

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