Presentation & Explanation of Business Data
Marks and Spencer plc (M&S) is a British multinational chain of retail stores with its headquarters in Westminster, London. With above 1500 stores worldwide, it is one of the largest chain stores. It specializes in the selling of home products, luxury food items and clothing. This report is based on the store located in Croydon (Marksandspencer.com 2017). The financial data with respect to the revenues have been calculated and analyzed for the year- 2016 using the Microsoft Office tool-Microsoft Excel. The latter half of the report elaborates on application benefits of using Microsoft Office tools in the store. The positive changes with respect to technology in the store will also be discussed.
From the above images of the profit calculation of the Croydon store, it can be seen that the store has not been making profits all round the year. During the month of January and the period from July to October, the store is incurring losses. The store is making profits during the spring season ranging from February to May and also during the Christmas period which is November and December. During the year 2016, the store earned revenue of £ 2,392,307.69. Half the year it is gaining profits and the other half they are incurring losses.
However, the store needs to analyze the demand of the customers and stock accordingly so that they do not indulge in incurring losses. A bar graph displaying the revenue after VAT per month has been attached as Figure 1. in the Appendix 1.
Microsoft was released in 1990 and has evolved since from simple software to a critical productivity tool. There are above a billion worldwide users of the suite as of 2016, many of them being business users. A retail store like Marks and Spencer’s can also make use of this suite to enhance its activities .Some benefits for using this suite are stated below:
Cloud: Recent versions of the office suite allow the cloud-based computing, which allows data to be, stored online (Carey et al. 2016). This way the employees in charge of the data management can be just as productive at home as they are in the office.
Application based- The tools on office can also be accessed on mobile phones, thus decision making regarding stocks or revenues can be made immediately without having an access to the computer.
The Benefits of Microsoft Office to Business Productivity
Safety, Security and Privacy- One of the biggest benefits of using the Microsoft Office business suite is that it protects the data which is stored and thereby maintains the integrity of the data. It also protects it from virus and malware. This shall protect all the details of the store and it will not be subject to an outsider intervention (Essentialretail.com 2017).
Tools- The latest versions of the suite has come out with tools that can help the manager to customize data and setting. it according to the requirements of the manager of the store (Bucki et al. 2013).
At one place- Office tools like excel help to keep all the data in a single worksheet. The store does not need to maintain separate paper files for that purpose. Saves money and time (Eccles , Krzus and Ribot 2015).
Word can be useful to design business cards, brochures and new letters. Marks and Spencer`s can use this, to customize letters for their customers.The biggest advantage is that it can be formatted according to the choice of the management. Data from excel can also be migrated easily to Word, which can help in making reports that shall be useful for the decision making management and help as an aid (Essentialretail.com 2017). Word is also easily available. PowerPoint can also be integrated with Microsoft Word for specific purposes.
Excel comes with the facility of building useful charts, which can give a bird eye view of the whole organization at one glance. Just like the analysis done earlier for calculating post VAT revenues for the Croydon store, similar analysis can be done for other aspects too Using conditional formatting the important data can be highlighted (Microsoft UK Small and Medium Business Blog 2017). Trends can also be identified for the profits by using tools in excel. It can also be used online (Kolluri, Panik and Singamsetti 2016).
Training to the new staff who joins the store has to be given. Thus; this tool can be used to make professional presentations to the staff members. Using a PowerPoint presentation details about the product to the employees can be explained quickly (Shockley-Zalabak 2014), hence saving time. It can be collaborated with word also.
These small but critical tools go long way in improving the business.
Technology is becoming a key component of the business environment. If a business has to survive in the complex environment, it needs to upgrade the technology so that it can be at par with its competitors. Using advanced technology has various advantages like it helps in maintaining healthy relationship with the customers; a business can make use of business intelligence to make smarter decisions (Kolay 2015). Advanced accounting software can be used to manage the finances in the business. Online shops can reduce the cost of administration and rent thereby increasing the profits. The following technological advancements are being made by Marks and Spencer`s to maintain efficiency in its operations.
Technological Advancements for Business
The company has stated that the growth of its online business has slowed down over the past few months, however, it has still reported a 23.4% increase. The company aims at developing and improving their digital channels so that they can remain at par with their competitors. The firm aims to make its online store respond positively o mobile applications and mobile browsers also. The mobile is becoming the fastest growing sales network snd thus they aim to continuously update the path daily. M & S has added more Simply Food store space to gain customer interest. The Spark membership club consists of offers for customers also acts as an incentive for the customers to purchase more and sign ups have considerably increased (Essentialretail.com 2017). Customers make considerable amount of purchases online because of the ease of access. Making their website more customer friendly shall help the organization in increasing their sales and gaining competitive advantage.
On the back-end, Marks and Spencer`s is continuously investing in technology and supply chain. It has completed rolling out their strategic distribution network with the opening of their new Bradford warehouse. This warehouse is fully automated for home business and clothing. The remaining work will be over by the end of next year.. This warehouse shall make their task more efficient and reduce mishaps and errors. They also plan to train their staff in order to access this warehouse. The supply chain network components are being digitally recoreded using a common data base. This makes the system optimized and error free (Islam 2016).
The retail giant is also concentrating on undertaking significant work in developing in-store technology, which will be helping the customers learn more about the customer’s needs and requirements and continue the trend of a digitally powered store. The company has embraced iPads in their outlets to such an extent that sales made using these have now accounted up to 20% of overall online sales ( Wilson and Beard 2014). This method allows the customers to order goods from their online website, which further helps in funding their innovation investment. The staff is also being encouraged to perceive M&S.com as the company`s flagship store to fulfill customer needs in cases here store stock is not sufficient.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the discussion it can be concluded that Marks and Spencer`s is taking considerable steps towards digitalizing their stores. It is making good use of the new technological advancements that are available to exceed as the second largest retail store around the globe. The first part of the report analysed the financial position of the store in Croydon in terms of revenue post VAT. It was observed that the store was incurring losses during six months and was making profits during the other half. This analysis was made using the Microsoft Office tool MS Excel. Microsoft Office provides business users with various tools, which can be used in handling in store activities. These tools namely, word, excel and PowerPoint can help the store employees to formulate newsletters and brochures, analyse financial data and represent them using graphs. The PowerPoint can help managers make Professional presentations to train the staff. Hence, Microsoft office suite should be utilised effectively.
The last part throws light on the recent technological advancements adopted by the company, which includes activities automated in stores, automated warehouse in Bradford and advanced online website up gradations. The management believes that these steps can help the organization to maintain their position in the market.
Reference List
Bucki, L.A., Walkenbach, J., Alexander, M., Kusleika, D. and Wempen, F., 2013. Microsoft Office 2013 Bible.
Carey, P., DesJardins, C., Shaffer, A., Shellman, M. and Vodnik, S., 2016. New Perspectives Microsoft Office 365 & Office 2016: Introductory, Loose-leaf Version.
Eccles, R.G., Krzus, M.P. and Ribot, S., 2015. Models of best practice in integrated reporting 2015. Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, 27(2), pp.103-115.
Essentialretail.com (2017). – M&S digital team establishes new agile model – Essential Retail. [online] Essential Retail. Available at: https://www.essentialretail.com/news/ecommerce/article/573a120fccda0-ms-digital-team-establishes-new-agile-model [Accessed 2 Nov. 2017].
Essentialretail.com (2017). What is the M&S technology roadmap for 2016/17? – Essential Retail. [online] Essential Retail. Available at: https://www.essentialretail.com/ecommerce/article/5746c18194550-what-is-the-ms-technology-roadmap-for-201617 [Accessed 2 Nov. 2017].
Islam, K., 2016. Can Ethical Business Strategy Influence Consumers’ Buying Behavior and Loyalty: Marks and Spencer PLC?. Case Studies in Business and Management, 3(1), p.38.
Kolay, M.K., 2015. Productivity from Technological Upgradation: A Case Study. Productivity, 56(2), p.184.
Kolluri, B., Panik, M.J. and Singamsetti, R.N., 2016. Introduction to Quantitative Methods in Business: With Applications Using Microsoft Office Excel.
Marksandspencer.com. (2017). Store Details. [online] Available at: https://www.marksandspencer.com/MSStoreDetailsView?storeId=10151&langId=-24&SAPStoreId=0220 [Accessed 2 Nov. 2017].
Microsoft UK Small and Medium Business Blog. (2017). 5 Benefits of Microsoft Excel – Microsoft UK Small and Medium Business Blog. [online] Available at: https://blogs.business.microsoft.com/en-gb/2016/07/08/top-5-benefits-microsoft-excel/ [Accessed 2 Nov. 2017].
P. Wilson, J. and Beard, C., 2014. Constructing a sustainable learning organization: Marks and Spencer’s first Plan A learning store. The Learning Organization, 21(2), pp.98-112.
Shockley-Zalabak, P., 2014. Fundamentals of organizational communication. Pearson.
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