A REPORT

ON

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT FOR UK MARKET AND EMERGING TRENDS IN UK RETAIL MARKET

BY

DEVANG GANATRA

14BSP0411

SPAN INFOTECH (INDIA) PVT LTD

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A REPORT

ON

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT FOR UK MARKET AND EMERGING TRENDS IN UK RETAIL MARKET

BY

DEVANG GANATRA

14BSP0411

A report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of PGPM program of IBS Bangalore

Date of submission: 10-04-2015

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ABSTRACT

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT FOR UK MARKET

Here we generate business leads through secondary search such as LinkedIn, xing, insideview and Google search. We speak to CEOs, COO, IT head, e-commerce head etc., of the companies and discuss about the software engineering services provided by SPAN Infotech. We try to schedule a meeting, and try to convince them to take our services. And this is done through cold calling and email campaign.

EMERGING TREND IN UK RETAIL MARKET

Here we study about the trends present in UK retail market.

Strategies adopted by various retail giants to increase the footfall for their company in UK retail market

Different digital technologies used by the retailers currently. The future trend , strategies or the technologies to be used in the UK retail

market

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INTRODUCTION

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT FOR UK MARKET

SPAN (www.spansystems.com) is an established software services company offering comprehensive IT and product development services since 1994. Our clients include Fortune 1000 companies, ISVs, and start-ups. SPAN’s Offshore Development Centre in India is certified for CMMI Level 5, PCMM Level 3, ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 27001:2005. SPAN has a global footprint with offices in the US and India, and group offices in Europe. There are multiple software development and testing centers located in both Bangalore and Chandigarh, India. SPAN is part of EVRY (www.evry.com). EVRY is a Norway-based company with over 10,000 employees and over $2.3B in revenues.

SPAN has expertise in custom applications development, reengineering, maintenance, testing and support services. We have significant expertise in database, data warehousing and ITO. We have strong expertise in the emerging and distributed technologies.

Now, to reach to the target clients, one of the way is , we are supposed to call them, and need to schedule a meeting with the target client, it can either be a phone meeting or a meeting in UK. The details of the clients are taken from secondary search such as LinkedIn, zing and Google search. Insideview is a website which gives a nice picture of the company’s employee details and the revenue generated by the company.

And another way to reach companies is through email, we mail the company or specific person about the services offered by SPAN Infotech.

As SPAN provides software engineering services, so it’s better that we speak to CEO, COO or IT head, e-commerce Head or Marketing Manager and so on.

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Hence our main task or job is to try and schedule a meeting, to know the pin points faced by the company and finally try to sell our software services to the company.

And these all depends on the way we speak, the way we put our sales pitch and the concerned person we are talking to.

LEARNINGS

Understanding the software engineering services offered by SPAN Talking to different CEOs, COOs, IT heads, Ecommerce heads of various

companies Researching about different companies Generating business leads and targeting the appropriate clients.

EMERGING TRENDS IN UK RETAIL MARKET

There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that if retailers can harness multi-channel activity – the time consumers spend researching or buying products online – and use technology to enhance the in-store experience, they will increase their understanding of their customers and improve conversion rates and profitability.

While Retail sales are expected to grow by 1.5% in 2011, only 0.5% of this will be in stores. Broadly speaking, footfall has fallen slightly in recent years, while the growth of online retail is startling: it is expected to run at 10% this year. But these figures mask the fact that about 90% of sales are still store-based and that the real significance in the growth of online retail channels is the way consumers now use them.

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Retailers benefitting from multi-channel

It’s interesting to note the way that those high street retailers that have embraced multi-channel retail have benefitted from doing so. In 2008, 51% of online purchases were from pure-play online retailers. Now that figure has fallen to 41%, while the proportion of online sales to multi-channel retailers has risen from 49% to 59%.

Research on online buying behavior reveals the extent to which purchases are influenced online. Those influences may be absorbed from retailers’ or manufacturers’ websites, marketing messages or recommendations from friends or other online users via social networking and other online sources – and whether or not the goods in question are actually purchased in store.

One thing we have established is that it is easier for retailers to sell to consumers who are already in the store. So it’s clear that retailers need to do all they can to get customers into the store and then use technology to enhance the experience once they arrive and to contact them with relevant offers. Online, there’s a need to make sure websites are user-friendly, well- managed and given adequate resources to provide a good online service and fulfilment experience. But it is also vital that retailers try to actively monitor and influence the reputation of their brand within social networking communities.

This underlines the need for retailers to do all they can to gain a deeper understanding of the customer through planning and marketing activities and interrogation of in-house and third party data sources. You need to know who your customers are, who they live with and what motivates them, as well as where, how and how often they shop. Then you need to engage with those customers the way they would like you to engage with them, whether in the store, online, or via email, social media or their mobile devices.

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Finally I would like to say that,

If retailers can harness multi-channel activity they will increase their understanding of their customers and will improve conversion rates and profitability.

LEARNINGS

Learning about the current trends in UK retail market Adoption of current technologies in retail market Current strategies implemented by the retailers Future trends, strategies and technologies to be adopted by the retailers in

UK retail market

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