WM9A1-15 Digital Retail Strategy
Introductory description
Digital technologies play an increasingly important role in modern retail practice. Alongside obvious examples such as online sale channels (e.g. eCommerce), digital plays a role in the whole product lifecycle, from inception to market development and internationalisation. This module will explore all of these interactions and the impact they are having on modern retail practice
Module aims
The principal aims of this module are to provide students with a detailed understanding of latest practice in international retail practice, and the disruptive digital technologies that are increasingly utilised in the field. The module emphasises the practical implementing of digital retail strategy, and covers the whole product lifecycle, including:
- Product inception and creation
- Product development and R&D
- Manufacturing and launch
- Sales strategy and the digital sales force
- Growth and internationalisation
Throughout students will be given hands-on experience of the latest, cutting-edge technologies and will explore the importance of digitalisation of the retail industry
Outline syllabus
This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.
Retailing key concepts
- Niche vs mainstream
- B2B and B2C
- FMCG
- Global brands
Digital and physical retail
- Online selling
- Digital store management
- Partnerships
- Multichannel and omnichannel
The product lifecycle
- Product concept and R&D
- Manufacturing and product development
- Launching a product and sales planning
- Customer experience strategies for retail
Growth and internationalisation
- Growth planning for retail
- Internationalisation
- The digital sales force
eCommerce and digital retail technology
- eCommerce platforms
- CMS systems
- System integration and operations technology
A practical simulation of the above topics
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of retail strategies and the impacts of digitalisation upon them
- Critically analyse industries and competitors to develop new initiatives and products
- Critically analyse advanced digital retail solutions and evaluate their suitability to specific use cases
- Develop comprehensive digital retail strategies to manage the entire project lifecycle
- Critically analyse the risks associated with a digital retail strategy, and develop appropriate migitagtions to manage them
Interdisciplinary
A mixture of technology/computing topics and business topics
International
Topics are of high international demand
Subject specific skills
Product development, industry analysis, product marketing, sales strategy, retail strategy, digital retail tools
Transferable skills
Consultancy skills, sales skills, project management, communication skills, teamwork
Study time
| Type | Required |
|---|---|
| Lectures | 20 sessions of 1 hour (13%) |
| Seminars | 10 sessions of 1 hour (7%) |
| Online learning (independent) | 60 sessions of 1 hour (40%) |
| Assessment | 60 hours (40%) |
| Total | 150 hours |
Private study description
No private study requirements defined for this module.
Costs
No further costs have been identified for this module.
You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Assessment group A2
| Weighting | Study time | |
|---|---|---|
| Retail Development Presentation | 20% | 10 hours |
|
Presentation of a retail development plan built based on a specific industry |
||
| Business Report | 80% | 50 hours |
|
A business-style report discussing core topics in digital retail |
||
Assessment group R2
| Weighting | Study time | |
|---|---|---|
| Business Report | 100% | |
|
A business-style report discussing core topics in digital retail |
||
Feedback on assessment
Verbal feedback for in-module element. Written feedback and annotated scripts for post-module element
There is currently no information about the courses for which this module is core or optional.