MSc Retail Management and Marketing

Course details If you want to study part-time, you’ll study alongside full-time students over two years. You'll be expected to study a minimum of three units per year, along with your dissertation towards the end of your second year. The timetable for when units take place varies each year but the typical delivery for one unit is four hours a week, split between two sessions, so you will be required to be on campus at least two days a week. We can work with you to consider the timetable and make an appropriate individual plan in terms of which order to study which units. Core units Business Strategy & Finance: The foundations of strategic analysis and choices that tie into an organisation’s business decisions. This includes private, public and third sector. You'll study the corporate finance sources of organisations, reporting and interpreting financial data. This will help you understand the dynamics of the tourism, hospitality and leisure sectors. Retail Consumer Experience & Behaviour: The theoretical and practical aspects of individual and social processes underlying and influencing human behaviour, particularly as this relates to people as consumers in a retail setting. You'll develop the ability to evaluate and apply theories and models to the retail sector. Retail Marketing & Digital Communication: Develop an understanding of the current market environment for retailers in relation to their marketing and communication strategies, including traditional and digital communication methods. You'll be introduced to a range of marketing concepts, discuss the key parts of the marketing planning process, including analysis, planning, execution and control, and review the effectiveness of traditional and digital communication tools that retailers use. Retail Principles & Practice: An introduction to the structure and dynamic nature of retailing throughout the world. You'll examine the forces that shape the industry and the changes it makes to survive. This will help you understand the contemporary retail environment and examine topical issues, such as the impact of out of town retailing on existing town centers. You'll develop analytical skills related to the UK and the international retail environment. Research Methods: You'll learn how to collect, analyse, interpret and present both qualitative and quantitative data. You will be able to understand the nature of research, and its associated ethics which will provide essential underpinning for your research project. Dissertation: An opportunity to study a subject in-depth, showing your understanding of it. The dissertation is the conclusion of your learning experience, where you'll carry out a research project. You'll use appropriate research methodology to collect and analyse data and present your findings. Your dissertation will be 15,000 words, and you'll be taught about research methods. Option units (choose one) Entrepreneurship: The process of creating a new entrepreneurial venture, and funding sources for new and upcoming entrepreneurs. There's a focus on identifying and evaluating entrepreneurial opportunities. Entrepreneurial development may cover a single entity, a further investment by a portfolio entrepreneur, a management buy-out, a spin-out or a venture in an existing organisation. Buying & Merchandising: Understand the concepts and processes of buying and merchandising, in theory and practice, and recognise the links and differences between the roles of a buyer and a merchandiser in retail. Fashion Retailing: You should consider choosing this unit if you want a career with some element of fashion. You'll learn how the fashion industry is important to the retail sector, and get the chance to explore how fashion can be used here to appeal to fashion-conscious consumers. Food & Drink: Food and drink gives us sustenance, meets our nutritional needs, and forms the basis for many of life’s experiences. It's also central to the hospitality, tourism, retail and events sectors. As such, understanding our relationship with food socially, economically, politically, environmentally and technologically is valuable for strategic and operational areas of expertise. Food, Culture & Society: Explore the complex relationships among food, culture and society from disciplines in humanities, social sciences and sciences. You'll look at the world of food beyond the commercial context, review all aspects of food studies and debate a range of topics. Mobility & Cultural Change: Learn about the underlying causes of increasing international mobility, and the implications of the movements of people for the individual and society. You'll increase your employability through developing intercultural awareness and tolerance. Mobile Communication & Mobile Marketing: Design and evaluate innovative mobile applications for an effective marketing communication campaign. You'll learn to understand, design and evaluate mobile communication and marketing initiatives in experience-based industries. Spatial Design for Retailers & Restaurateurs: A creative exploration of the current trends for retailer and restaurant design, primarily from a consumer perspective. You'll develop visual and verbal forms of argument, communication and validation for design ideas. Please note that option units require minimum numbers in order to run and may only be available on a semester by semester basis. They may also change from year to year. Optional work placement The placement is intended to foster personal and professional development, and to help you to make a connection between academic learning and the working world. You should consider how a range of management theories can be used, and if management in industry could be improved. The transferable skills developed will improve your performance in your future career, both as employee and manager. Programme specification Programme specifications provide definitive records of the University's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used. Download the programme specification for MSc Retail Management & Marketing. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry. 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