Impact of Recession on Food Retail Industry in UK

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank all my acquaintances that have helped me in completing this study and without their support this project may have not been possible. Above all, I am grateful to my friends, teachers and family for their far-reaching and motivational comments on their early drafts. I also owe the favour to my instigators who have contributed to my awareness and headed me towards a successful thesis. The information used in this thesis has increased my learning and also set an example for me that should be considered for future research studies.

STATEMENT OFAUTHENTICATION

I [type your full first names & surname here], it is to affirm that the following thesis and all the information included is work of an individual, included without anybody's support and has not been submitted or published at any academic level. Moreover, the thesis is a reflection of my views and understanding of the research topic and it does not signify the views of my University.

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ABSTRACT

The following research study was conducted in order to find out the effects of recession during the years 2008-2009 on the food retail industry existing in United Kingdom. The recession of 2008-2009 has led towards alterations in the business and behaviours of the customers. The period of recession is just like a natural disaster that leads towards restructuring of the entire country. It is due to these changes that retailers have to face different situations and attitudes of their customers. During severe financial crisis, the economic growth in the country is very low and retailers have to design strategies in order to run their business operations in a successful way. There are different types of strategies that are considered by the retailers for responding to the recessionary situations for example innovation, provision of value products and services and etc. The main objective of the current study is to investigate the impact of recession on the food retail sector of United Kingdom and the research thesis will provide a financial comparison among two supermarkets that are Tesco and Sainsbury. It is through their financial analysis that we will investigate their financial performance for the period 2006 to 2012. The method used for this dissertation is quantitative and secondary methods. A questionnaire has been constructed and circulated to the consumers for obtaining the responses. Interviewees were conducted with the employees of Tesco and Sainsbury. The results from the responses of the interviewees have shown that Tesco has robust results of trading during the year 2010. The sales value included VAT of almost 32.9 billion pounds and was up to 8.3 percent in comparison to the recession years, which specifically came from the global markets. The results of the questionnaire have shown the responses of the consumers for Tesco and Sainsbury and the way they prefer behaving in a recession situation. The results have shown that the recession does not cause the consumers to spend less on food items. The results of the financial ratio ...