MKT462 Management & Marketing Department

MKT462 Management & Marketing Department

MKT462—Retailing, E. Al Alawi Page 1 of 5
University of Bahrain
College of Business Administration
Management & Marketing Department
MKT462—Retailing
Dr. Esam Alalawi
Individual Assignment
“In an attempt to slow the spread of the virus, many countries have imposed temporary closures to nonnecessity stores, bars, and venues, as well as putting a ban on large public gatherings and encouraging
people to work from home wherever possible. As such, the retail industry faces substantial shifts: the amount
of growth in retail sales had already dropped between 2019 and 2020, even before the outbreak of the virus,
which is certain to have further ramifications. Certain sectors have witnessed growth, with and considerable
increases in sales of consumer goods recorded in heavily affected countries, such as the United States, Italy,
Germany, and the United Kingdom. This increase is in part because grocery stores have remained open and
consumers appear to be stocking up on certain goods and supplies”. (1)
It is incredibly noticeable that over the last months Covid-19 has negatively affected the global economy.
According to a recent study (2), the five industries most impacted by COVID-19 from January 1 to August 31,
2020 are as follows:
• Airlines
• Leisure Facilities
• Oil & Gas Drilling
• Auto Parts and Equipment
• Restaurants

MKT462 Management & Marketing Department

While the five least impacted industries by COVID-19 are as follows:
• Real Estate Investment
• Property & Casualty Insurance
• Multi-line Insurance
• Life & Health Insurance
• Industrial Real Estate
Another study by Finance Unboxed, presented through video footage, shows that the five worst performing
industries this year due to the impact of Covid-19 are as follows:
• Marine
• Energy Equipment & Services
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• Oil & gas
• Airlines
• Banks
While the best five performing industries are as follows:
• Internet & Direct Marketing Retail
• Technology Hardware Storage & Peripheral
• Logistics
• Wireless Telecommunication Services
• Software
Assignment

MKT462 Management & Marketing Department

The retail sector is facing challenges here in the Kingdom of Bahrain. This assignment is an individual work
where you will be asked to work on your own to interview the owner/manager of two similar retail
businesses of your choice, asking them about how the pandemic has impacted their businesses.
You should conduct the interview in person or by using any accessible means, such as social media, email or
over the phone. You are free to ask as many questions as you want, provided you cover the following main
questions. You are asked to develop a comparison table of the two similar businesses to indicate their
differences and their responses to the pandemic, i.e. describing the strategy that these two businesses
followed during the pandemic and explaining the challenges they face and how they overcome them.
At the end of this short comparison study, you should provide your conclusion and recommendation about the
two businesses that you have approached, stating in your opinion which business has performed better.
The following are some questions that might help you setup your comparison table:
• What is your nature of business? For this question, you can easily find its answer without asking the
owner or the manager, but you can always crosscheck with them.
• Is there any drop or growth on your monthly sales / revenue, in terms of percentage, if compared to
the last year figure? Please elaborate?
• Did you closedown any branches or departments of your business? Please explain?
• What is the workforce size now and what was the size before the pandemic?
• Did you do any layoff for your staff? Are they Bahrain nationals or from different nationalities? What
is the percentage of the layoff if compared to the last year workforce size?
• If your business has grown during the pandemic, then tell us more about creating new jobs and hiring
new people and where are they mainly coming from (nationality) and what department they mainly
work for?

MKT462 Management & Marketing Department

MKT462—Retailing, E. Al Alawi Page 3 of 5
• Did you receive or ask for a government support scheme? How this funding scheme helps? Please
elaborate?
• Have you thought of going online as an alternative? Or your online portal does not support your
business? i.e. promoting new app or website. Please explain?
• If you are leasing the premisses of your business, did you receive any rent discount or exemption from
your property-owner? And for how many months?
• What health precautions you have made to receive your walk-in customers?
• Have you used social media tools to promote your products/services? Please tell me more about this.
• Can you identify more challenges that you faced during Covid-19?
• What approaches/strategies you have followed to overcome all challenges that you face during this
pandemic?
• Did you come up with any creative ideas for your business during Covid-19 and did you implement
them?
• Did you change your suppliers, if yes then why?
• Did you apply for banks loan or from other funding agents to cover your operation cost? Tell me how
and why?
• Do you regularly communicate with your customers? Why? And how?
• How will you maintain trust in your brand and your products and services?
• How will you reset expectations for today? And how will you recover customer experience in the
future?
Course Assignment (Marks) 15 Marks
Group Essay Deadline – Submission Date Monday 25th October 2021
Essay Number of Words not exceeding 1000 words
Guidelines for your Research Project
Assignment Submission
The assignment should be submitted to UOB BB. You must indicate your course title for example MKT 462
Section #1 and the title of your working project. Use word processing software such as Microsoft word to
write and submit your project. You must also provide an e-copy of your final work and send it to
[email protected] . Also, be prepared for individual presentation (if needed). You must submit your
project by Monday 25th October 2021.
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SafeAssign

MKT462 Management & Marketing Department

This is the leading academic plagiarism detector, utilized by teachers and students to avoid plagiarism and
ensure academic integrity. This tool is available at University of Bahrain Blackboard which will be used to
guarantee reliability. Students are required to do so before handing in their final work as the instructor will
have access in the Blackboard to check the % of plagiarism. Student will be allowed up to 20% of plagiarism.
For the students to submit their assignment, they should do the following steps:
• Go to the course ” Retailing “.
• Go to the contents.
• Go to the assignment (to choose the right assignment from the list).
• Attach file (to upload your file).
• Save assignment.
The Project Title
The title should be clear and provide an overall idea of the research project.
Author(s) Information
The paper should include on the first page:
• Full Student name and ID number
• E-mail addresses for all students
• Contact Student mobile number
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(1) https://www.statista.com/topics/6239/coronavirus-impact-on-the-retail-industry-worldwide/
(2) Industries Most and Least Impacted by COVID-19 from a Probability of Default Perspective –
September 2020 Update, Danny, H & Neeraj K.
https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/blog/industries-most-and-leastimpacted-by-covid19-from-a-probability-of-default-perspective-september-2020-update
Source: Mitigating the impact of COVID-19: Guidance for Bahrain’s retail businesses by KPMG