Contribution of the Retail Sector to the London's Economy (Other (Not Listed) Sample)

Contribution of the Retail Sector to the London’s Economy Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Contribution of the Retail Sector to the London’s Economy Executive summary The paper purports to discuss how the retail sector has positively influenced London’s economy. We first start by having a look at a case study Homebase, one of the leading retail chains in the London economy that has for years placed customer service at the heart of its values. Retailing is a process that involves the spending by the customers in shops or through online forums. In recent years, the retail sector has been pressurised by the growth and emergence of one stop shopping units such as supermarkets, e-tailing and the recession in the sector. Research carried out shows that the London’s economy has a high potential for growth without causing inflation. Despite the high growth rate of the London’s economy, it is still below the UK rate CITATION Chr15 \l 2057 (Rhodes, 2015). The paper will proceed to discuss how the retailing sector has positively added up to the solving some of the economic constraints that face London such as unemployment rate which for years has persistently remained above the average rate in the United Kingdom. Research shows that the retailing has advanced by a greater percentage than all the other sectors in the United Kingdom economy. The sector happens to be a major driver in the London economy where any downturn realised has an adverse effect in the aggregate economy CITATION Chr151 \l 2057 (Lewis, 2015). In the previous year, the retail sector contributed up to £80.bn in the gross value added (GVA) of the economy. This represented up to 8% of the United Kingdom overall GVA CITATION GLA06 \l 2057 (GLA Economics, 2006). Organisations that want to venture into multi- channel or online retailing need to have the right technical skills and a know how in order to avoid future short comings. All employers need to be competent enough to positively engage with customers from different channels, combine their traditional and online retailing skills with one major objective of ensuring consumer satisfaction. The incorporation of the retailing into the wider economy has raised the workforce ratio to 5:1. This includes the hospitality sector such as the restaurants, pubs and tourist services among others that play a role in the wider economy CITATION GLA06 \l 2057 (GLA Economics, 2006). Case study Homebase became an integral part of the Argos Retail Group in the year 2002. It is second after DIY retailer in the UK. It has more than 300 stores across London with a transaction record of approximately 2 million per week. In the recent decade, Homebase and Argos have gained trust of their businesses partners and consumers by consistently providing high quality products and relatively fair prices. Presently, Homebase is leading over DIY by being a contemporary home and lifestyle store. It provides a variety of products from where customers can choose from based on their preference and test. It strives to ensure that it avails more than everything a customer could expect such as practical yet stylish and exclusive furniture, designer products in different commodity lines for example Linda barker range of wall fixtures and linen. Homebase was a major milestone for the ARG in the overall strategy of growing their business that included widening their customer base. Any turn down in the retail sector almost brings the London economy down to its knees hence confirming that the retail sector is a vital key to this economy. A lot of people spend their disposable income in the retail sector. Homebase has increasingly garnered more customers due to the quality services they provide. CONTRIBUTION London’s economy is almost at its peak. This is a result of the retail sector that has continually contributed to revenue generation and improvement of the lives of citizens living in the city. The sector has achieved the following in the improvement of the economy in London; 1. ERADICATION OF UNEMPLOYMENT Unemployment is the situation where an individual of working age is not able to find a job. There are different types of unemployment including frictional, structural, classical, cyclical and seasonal unemployment. There are also several causes of unemployment that include rapid changes in technology, recessions, inflation, disability, undulating business cycles, changes in tastes and willingness to work CITATION Gre13 \l 2057 (Ip, 2013). The retail sector has provided employment to all sorts of unemployed persons in the city of London. This has seen more participation by more people in the growth of London’s economy. This sector has employed close to500000 people living in the city by June last year. This is about 19% of the total population in London. Through entrepreneurship and part time jobs in the sector joblessness in the city is now in manageable levels. In our case study, Homebase has actually employed so many individuals especially in the grocery sector since not much skill is required to run a small grocery store with fast moving that give returns in a short period of time. 2. REDUCTION IN CRIME RATES Crime is the deliberate breach of regulations and laws laid down by relevant authorities and its execution means harm to the environment or the people around the criminal. In recent years before the thriving of retail sector, crime was rampant in the London economy. The sector is now approaching its peak and the crime rates have reduced largely due to the creation of jobs that fit almost everybody. There are no more idle persons of working age and if there are then it must be in very minimal numbers CITATION Aar14 \l 2057 (Hurst, 2014). 3. ECONOMIC OUTPUT. The government generates most of its revenue from taxes charged on various activities in the economy. Through a summary of the same; the discovery is that the retail sector has contributed close to 4 million in revenue for London which is about 21% of London’s economic output. This shows how dependent the city has become on the retail sector and the government has focused on this sector in order to make it more efficient. Homebase was recorded to have the highest number of employees in London and subsequently generating the highest amount of revenue for London CITATION Rob15 \l 2057 (Baxter, 2015). 4. RISE IN LIVING STANDARDS. The retail sector has tried to stimulate the betterment of lives of its many employees and at this it is succeeding. An analysis if the sector discovered that most of the employees of the retail sector are now living better lives as compared to when they were not yet in the sector. The people who used to live from hand to mouth can now be able to save something after meeting their necessities. This has really given the economy of the town Avery big boost.in our case study, the employees of Homebase are better in life and are comfortable in their working environments. This is because it deals with broken down goods and most of these are fast moving products like groceries that give returns almost immediately even though it is in small quantities CITATION Man09 \l 2057 (Krafft, 2009). 5. BOOSTING OTHER ECONOMIC SECTORS Retail sector has also contributed to the growth of other economic sectors such as the e-commerce. Customers are able to transact over the internet and hence save time for the hassle of looking around for stores with the best of what they want. Even though most situations have the final purchase taking place in the store physically, online research, recommendations about various products and different offers are done online and this has boosted the sector to stimulate economic growth in London as well. A large percentage of the consumer base of Homebase in our case study has researched online about the products that interest them before buying them at the Homebase stores all over London CITATION Lei07 \l 2057 (Sparks, 2007). 6. BETTERMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE. Infrastructure refers to the key systems, physical structures and facilities serving a particular area. These entail roads, utilities, sewage, buildings and more others. Infrastructure helps smoothen life for people accessing it. This eases locomotion, hastens business transactions and the standard of life is improved for the people in the surrounding. Entrepreneurs have built better houses for doing business, roads have been improved to enhance access to the retail centres. Facilities are more improved to serve the people living in the city including water, healthcare, and entertainment. This has helped to improve the service offered by retailers in London CITATION Ann13 \l 2057 (Jonsson, 2013). 7. COMPETITIVE PRICES. Price is the monetary value attached to a product that is for sale. When prices are competitive in the economy it encourages buying and selling. Price influences demand and demand influences price as well. Retail trade offers the best platform for this to take place. Retailers buy goods in bulk from manufacturers and break down these goods before selling directly to the consumer. Due to this the customer is rest assured of getting a quality product at the same price at any retail store. This has encouraged more customers to enter this cycle and therefore participation of more individuals helps raise the rate at which the economy grows. 8. CONVENIENCE. In recent years in the economy of London the link between producers and consumers was very minimal and it was very difficult to obtain small quantities of goods from the p...