Impact of Digitalisation on Dubai's retail business due to COVID-19

Aim: ‘Digitalisation’ broadly means integrating digital systems and infrastructure in day to day operations. However it takes place differently for various industries. For example in the healthcare industry, all patient records are maintained digitally now. In the education industry, classrooms have become virtual. Likewise in the retail industry some ways of digtalisation include point-of-sale (POS) systems and customer relationship management (CRM) tools. The aim of this milestone is to explain the scope of digitalization in retail stores, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic

Methodology: Conduct a  Literature review to identify about 6-8 forms in which digitalization is taking place in the retail industry. Use 20-25 sources of secondary data. Refer only to journal articles dated after 2020.

Structure: To complete this milestone, write a 1000 words article in the below structure. Make use of figures and graphs where possible but do not copy paste them from any source.

• Introduction to growth in digitalization in the retail industry post pandemic
• Methods and types of digitalization in retail stores today
  • Point of sales
  • Ecommerce platforms
  • CRM
  • Augmented reality
  • Inventory management
  • Supply chain management
  • Payment gateways
• Examples from Dubai/ UAE (give 1 or two case studies and explain them in detail)
• Conclusion
• References

 

Aim: Digitalising a majorly manual company takes significant time, effort and investment. There are some factors based on which retail stores decide whether to digitalise their systems. Some of them are ecommerce growth, size of the store, customer expectations, cost benefit analysis, technological advancements, regulatory compliances, and operational efficiency. The aim of this article is to assess these driving forces of digitalization in the retail industry.

Methodology: Conduct a systematic review of at least 30 research papers published in A-category journals after 2018. All these studies must have some kind of primary research for identifying the driving forces of digitalization of retail stores.

Have a clear inclusion and exclusion criteria to ensure the selection of relevant and high-quality research. Employ the PRISMA diagram to transparently depict the studies' selection process.

Structure: To achieve this milestone, write a 1500 words article following the below structure.

• Introduction: Start the article by explaining how digitalization is growing in the retail industry. Mention the most popular means and methods of digitalization like ecommerce, PoS, payment gateways, etc.
• Aim of the article: Then explain the aim of this article i.e. to carry out a systematic review to identify the driving forces of digitalisation in the retail industry.
• Methodology:
  • Introduce your chosen methodology, i.e., systematic review of literature. Explain the elements you will focus on, i.e., identifying the driving forces of digital systems in retail stores.
  • Studies selection process: Clearly articulate the criteria used for selecting studies such as keywords used, and sources or libraries used.
  • Inclusion and exclusion criteria: explain the criteria employed to include or exclude studies, like year of publication, language, format, publication credibility, etc.
  • PRISMA diagram: Present the PRISMA diagram to visually depict the systematic review process and highlight the number of studies at each stage.
• Analysis: This is the main section presenting the systematic review. It will have a table showing the following columns. Summarise each of the 30 studies in this format.
  • Author (year)
  • Aim of the study
  • Findings (explain the driving forces of digitalization this author found)
  • Variables identified
• Discussion: Summarize and synthesize the findings from the selected studies.
• Conclusion: Summarize the key findings
• References

 

Note: Do not accept this milestone unless the previous milestone “Systematic review of driving factors of digitalization in retail stores” is completed.

Aim: The process of ‘digitalisation’ involves converting systems and processes into digital mode. In the retail industry, digitalization may refer to ecommerce, online payment gateways, point of sales, augmented reality and data analytics. However digitalization is not easy for everyone. The process itself has many challenges. The purpose of this milestone is to explain the various challenges which retail stores face in digitalizing their functions.

Methodology: Conduct a literature review using at least 15 relevant studies and scholarly articles published after 2021.

Structure: To achieve this milestone, write a 1000 words article in the following structure.

• Introduction: Briefly introduce the previous milestone and explain the growth of digitalization in retail stares today.
• Challenges in digitalization of retail stores
  • Costs and investments
  • Skills availability
  • Resistance to change
  • Complexity of technology
  • Data privacy concerns
  • Customer adoption
  • Infrastructure limitations
  • Regulatory compliance
• Conclusion: Summarize the key findings

Note: Use figures, diagrams and tables wherever possible. Do not copy-paste them from any source.

Note: Do not accept this milestone unless the previous milestone “Challenges in digitalization of retail stores” is completed.

Aim: digitalization has many implications for a retail store. Depending upon the type, extent and market in which it is digitalized, response can vary. For example, a digital retail store in Dubai can perform differently than a digital retail store in India due to different customer profile, market situation, competition, etc. The purpose of this article is to identify and explain all the implications of digitalizing a retail store.

Method: Conduct a literature review using at least 15 relevant studies and scholarly articles published after 2021.

Structure: To achieve this milestone, write a 1000 words article in the following structure.

• Introduction: Briefly introduce the previous milestone and explain the impact of digitalization in the overall retail industry today.
• Implications of digitalization of retail stores
  • Enhanced customer experience
  • Operational efficiency
  • Omnichannel integration
  • Inventory optimisation
  • Innovation and adaptation to new trends
  • Increased revenues
• Conclusion: Summarize the key findings

Note: Use figures, diagrams and tables wherever possible. Do not copy-paste them from any source.

 

Note: Do not accept this milestone unless the previous milestone “Impact of digitalization of retail stores in the UAE” is completed.

Aim: so far in this study we have reviewed the various methods of digitalization in retail stores, the challenges faced in the process and the impact of digitalization on retail stores. However none of these milestones have focused on the chosen market of our study, i.e., Dubai. The purpose of this milestone is to empirically review all studies conducted on the challenges and impacts of digitalization for retail stores in the UAE.

Method: Conduct a systematic review of at least 30 research papers published in A-category journals after 2018. All these studies must have some kind of primary research for identifying the challenges and impact of digitalization in Dubai’s retail industry.

Out of this, 15 papers must be about small scale retail stores, and 15 for large scale retail stores.

Have a clear inclusion and exclusion criteria to ensure the selection of relevant and high-quality research. Employ the PRISMA diagram to transparently depict the studies' selection process.

Structure: To achieve this milestone, write a 1500 words article following the below structure.

• Introduction: Start the article by explaining how digitalization is growing in the retail industry of the UAE. Mention the most popular means and methods of digitalization like ecommerce, PoS, payment gateways, etc.
• Aim of the article: Then explain the aim of this article i.e. to carry out a systematic review to identify the challenges and impacts of digitalization for the UAE’s retail industry.
• Methodology:
  • Introduce your chosen methodology, i.e., systematic review of literature. Explain the elements you will focus on, i.e., identifying the challenges and impacts of digitalization for the UAE’s retail industry.
  • Studies selection process: Clearly articulate the criteria used for selecting studies such as keywords used, and sources or libraries used.
  • Inclusion and exclusion criteria: explain the criteria employed to include or exclude studies, like year of publication, language, format, publication credibility, etc.
  • PRISMA diagram: Present the PRISMA diagram to visually depict the systematic review process and highlight the number of studies at each stage.
• Analysis: This is the main section presenting the systematic review. It will have two tables (one each for small scale and large scale retail stores) showing the following columns. Summarise each of the 30 studies in the following format.
  • Author (year)
  • Aim of the study
  • Findings (explain the challenges/ impact of digitalization for retail stores in the UAE)
  • Variables identified
• Discussion: Summarize and synthesize the findings from the selected studies.
• Conclusion: Summarize the key findings
• References

Before proceeding with this milestone, please ensure to meet all the below-stated requirements

Note 1: The milestone will only be done once all the other milestones in goal 1 are completed.

Note 2: The milestone involves four steps: 

• Step 1: Conceptual framework development
• Step 2: Quantitative questionnaire development – the close-ended questionnaire for food retail customers wherein multiple choice questions are included (Survey questionnaire)
• Step 3: Qualitative questionnaire development – an open-ended questionnaire for owners of food retail stores in Dubai (Interview-based questionnaire)
• Step 4: Hypothesis statement

Note 3: Prior experience of making a questionnaire, hypothesis development and conceptual framework is mandatory.

Note 4: Prior experience in making conceptual framework diagram is mandatory.

Note 5: The final submission of this milestone involves three word documents; the milestone article, interview questionnaire, and survey questionnaire.

 

Aim: This is the last milestone for goal 1 of the study. The purpose of this milestone is to build a conceptual framework diagram for :

• Driving factors of digitalization in retail stores
• Challenges of digitalization in retail stores
• Implications of digitalization in retail stores

Method: The conceptual framework diagram will have three main boxes to represent. The boxes would include details for three variables and their sub-statements i.e.

• Driving factors
• Challenges
• Implications

To understand the procedure of developing a conceptual framework, you can refer to this article.

Apart from the conceptual framework, the milestone also includes the development of two questionnaires i.e.

• Closed-ended quantitative questionnaire for the survey: The questionnaire has basic questions to represent the demographic and background details of the respondents, i.e. food retail customers in Dubai, and an inferential section for linkage assessment which is based on scales. You can either use a 5-point Likert scale or any other scale based on your review but remember that the best means of impact assessment is the Likert scale for implementing regression, it is recommended. The questionnaire will be divided into three sections
  • Demographic profile – about 5-8 questions to include demographic details like age, experience, gender, total experience, income level, marital status, and generation,
  • Background information – about 4-8 questions
    • Their preference for digitalized retail stores over manually operated ones
    • Their experience with digitalization in retail stores, particularly for food.
  • Inferential section (the section based on which hypothesis testing would be done with multiple regression)
    • Impact of digitalization on their food shopping experience in retail stores
  • Open-ended qualitative questionnaire for interview- The questionnaire will consist of about 10-12 open ended questions for retail store owners. The questions will be open-ended and will majorly focus on identifying:
    • Challenges faced by them in digitalization
    • Impact of digitalization on their business

Structure: to complete this milestone, structure your work in 800 words in the stated manner

• Introduction- herein summarizes the findings from goal 1. This should not be copy pasted but instead provide a synthesis of all information presented in the previous milestones.
• Conceptual framework diagram.
• Present the explanatory paragraph to explain the diagram.
• Paragraph for Summarizing the key findings
• Survey questionnaires (separate document)
• Interview questions (separate document)

 

 

Note 1: do not accept this milestone until all the milestones in Goal 1 have been completed.

Note 2: This milestone will include information about questionnaires developed in Goal 1. Obtain a copy of those questionnaires from the Module Creator.

Note 3: Prior experience in writing research methodologies is mandatory for working on this milestone.

Aim: This is first article in Goal 2 of this study. The overall purpose of this study is to identify the challenges and impact of digitalization on the retail industry of the UAE. Until now we have completed the literature review, conceptual framework and questionnaires in the previous milestones. The aim of this milestone is to discuss the methodological process applied to fulfilling the study objective.

Background: The collection of data would be done in two parts i.e. 

• Survey: Customers of food retail stores in Dubai will be surveyed about their experience with digitalized processes in the stores. Our targeted sample size is 500-600. Equal number of customers from large and small retail stores will be surveyed.
• Interview: Alongside the survey, owners of the same retail stores will be interviewed to understand the challenges they faced while digitalizing the store as well as the impact of the changes on their operations and customer experience.

Method: the milestone will not include a theoretical explanation but a discussion of justification for choosing the method like why primary data, why mixed research methodology and so on. The sections discussed under the methodology would be:

• Types of data used (the nature of data used i.e. qualitative and quantitative)
• Target respondent profile (selected population characteristics like customers falling in the age group 18 to 70 years and buyers of food products for quantitative while owners of same organizations for qualitative)
• Sampling process (sample size calculation, sampling type)
• Data collection process (how respondents were approached, how the desired sample data was collected, how the questionnaire was shared, how the respondents responded (like multiple rounds could have been there for a survey to derive data for 100 employees using Google Forms while single round based one-to-one google meet interview for qualitative))
• Data analysis process (SPSS for survey data analysis and thematic analysis for interview data analysis)

For justification of the selected approaches, references should be used

Structure: The milestone will include article writing within 1500 words. The structure of the writing would be

• Overall study introduction and statement of Goal 2
• Brief description of conceptual framework developed in Goal 1
• State the methodology used (primary research and mixed research methodology)
• Data types
  • Quantitative
  • Qualitative
• Target population profile
• Sampling method
  • Sample size calculation
  • Sampling type
    • For survey (probability)
    • For interview (purposive)
  • Data collection process
    • For survey
    • For interviews
  • Data analysis method
    • SPSS (for survey)
    • Thematic (for interview)
  • Reliability, validity and ethical considerations
  • Concluding paragraph: explain here based on stated methods what is expected findings

 

Note 1: Do not accept this milestone until the previous milestone “Research methodology for identifying the challenges and impact of digitalization on Dubai’s retail industry” has been completed.

Note 2: This milestone involves analysis of survey data using SPSS software. Correlation and regression tests need to be applied. Therefore you must have knowledge of SPSS software, MS Excel, hypothesis testing, correlation test, and regression test.

Note 3: Obtain the dataset and questionnaires from the Module Creator before working on this milestone.

Note 4: Your submission must include the final dataset, SPSS files, and article explaining the results.

Aim: The milestone aims to examine the perception of 100 employees to identify each generation's motivation factors and assess how motivation factors vary with each generation.

Method: To complete the analysis follow the below stated procedure.

• Firstly, collect data in MS EXCEL format from your module creator for 100 employees and after that clean the data and import it in SPSS for working.
• Next, apply the correlation test. The independent variable is ‘digitalised systems in the retail store’ and the dependent variable is ‘customer experience’. Do this in MS Excel first. Share the results with the Module Creator.
• Secondly, use a reliability test to verify the reliability and validity of the questionnaire.
• Next, import the dataset in SPSS and apply the frequency analysis test on the ‘demographic profile’ and ‘background information’ sections. Prepare pie charts for it.
• Next, apply the final correlation and regression tests in SPSS.
• Next, interpret the values obtained in these tests. Guidance can be found here and here.
• Share the final results with the Module Creator before proceeding with the last step, i.e., writing the article.

Structure: To complete this milestone, present the findings of this milestone in a 1500-word article in the below structure.

• Introduction- restate the hypothesis mentioned in milestone 1 of goal 2 (Research methodology for identifying the challenges and impact of digitalization on Dubai’s retail industry) and explain the sampled population and this analysis purpose.
• Background of the surveyed respondents- present the pie charts of demographic profile and background information here.
• Correlation test findings – use tables and detailed text for explaining the linkages.
  • Which sub-variables of the independent variable are found to be correlated?
• Regression test findings- again, use tables, graph and text to interpret the findings of the regression test.
  • Hypothesis 1- digitalization of food retail store has no impact on customer experience
• Dicussion
  • What is the impact of digitalization on customer experience? Support your answer with primary and secondary data findings.
  • Differences in the responses of SMALL and LARGE retail stores customers.
• Concluding paragraph- connect the findings with part of the goal 2 objective and goal 1 findings.

 

Note 1: This milestone cannot be achieved until the previous milestone “Research methodology for identifying the challenges and impact of digitalization on Dubai’s retail industry” is completed.

Note 2: This milestone involves analysis of interview transcripts. Therefore knowledge of thematic analysis is mandatory to work on this milestone.

Note 3: Obtain the transcripts and questionnaire from the Module Creator before starting this milestone.

Aim: in our study so far, we reviewed secondary literature to understand how digitalization has taken place in the retail industry, and how it has affected retail businesses. It also delved into the challenges faced by retail shops in digitalizing their systems. However, since these studies were based on the general market rather than Dubai/ UAE, we conducted the primary study of Dubai shopowners to understand their perspectives of the challenges and impacts of digitalization on business. The purpose of this milestone is to analyse their responses thematically to draw informative conclusions.

Methodology: Follow the below steps to perform thematic analysis.

• Read all the transcripts and deduce the common patterns in all answers to a specific question. For example, for Q1, what are common keywords, trends and patterns which can be seen in all the responses?
• Then compare these patterns to the study objective. For this, read all the milestones in ‘Goal 1’.
• Next, draw a mind map or a chart of these patterns and their linkage to the study objectives and send it to the Module Creator for approval. From this, the ‘themes’ will be finalized.
• Remember to show differences in the responses of SMALL and LARGE retail stores. If these patterns can be connected to their sizes then show that.
• Finally, write your analysis based on the themes.

Structure: to achieve this milestone, write a 1500 words article in the below format.

• Introduction to the objective of this study and purpose of the interviews
• Demographic profile of the interviewees
• Procedure followed for deriving the themes
• Theme 1 analysis and its connection to the objective: what is your analysis of the theme? What new findings have emerged? Show evidence from the interviews and relate them to secondary data findings.
• Theme 2 analysis and its connection to the objective: what is your analysis of the theme? What new findings have emerged? Show evidence from the interviews and relate them to secondary data findings.
• Theme 3 analysis and its connection to the objective: what is your analysis of the theme? What new findings have emerged? Show evidence from the interviews and relate them to secondary data findings.
• Discussion
• Conclusion
• References

Note: This is the concluding milestone of the study. You must not proceed with it unless all the previous milestones in Goals 1 and 2 have been completed.

Aim: Covid-19 has disrupted businesses in almost every sector and industry. Retail businesses too faced an overhaul. Many stores were forced to go digital suddenly in the form of ecommerce, online payment gateways and data analytics. The overall aim of this study was to find out the challenges and impacts of digitalization on food retail businesses in Dubai. For this, we had conducted primary and secondary research of retail stores in Dubai. Their responses were consequently analysed and presented. The purpose of this milestone is to conclude the study by tying all these elements together- aim of the study, findings of secondary data, findings of the interviews, and findings of the survey.

Method: Go through all the previous milestones. Understand the findings of the primary and secondary data and connect them.

Structure: To achieve this milestone, prepare a 1000 words article in the following structure.

• Introduction to the objectives of this study
• Discussion of findings from secondary data
  • Challenges of digitalization
  • Impact of digitalization on customer experience and business operations
• Discussion of findings from primary data in comparison to secondary data
  • Challenges of digitalization
  • Impact of digitalization on customer experience and business operations
• Comparison of small and large retail stores (challenges and impacts of digitalization)
• Concluding paragraph- shed light on how this study can be taken further by other researchers. Also explain how the findings can be put to practice by retail store owners around the world to digitalise their systems, especially for small scale retailers.