07 37285 Services and Retail Marketing Assignment 1 Brief 2026 | University of Birmingham

07 37285 Assignment Brief

Module Learning Outcomes

This assignment is designed to assess the following module learning outcomes. Your submission will be marked using the Grading Criteria given in the section below.

• LO1: Explain service and retail marketing principles and analytical techniques;
• LO3: Appraise and critique the complex relationships between service and retail providers; customers; suppliers and additional stakeholders;
• LO6: Critically analyse the problems and challenges experienced by service and retail organisations and demonstrate thoughtfully considered solutions.

Assignment 1 - Group Assignment – Digital Artefact

Presentation Title: Design and Create Your Own Service, Retailers or Places

In this assignment, you may choose from the following options:

You need to design:

• One service
• One retailer
• Or create a small habitation with several services and retailers around a green space

The service/ retailer or place must be completely new, e.g. you cannot redesign the Nike store. You are completely free to decide on the services offered and the product range, e.g. if you have chosen a technology store, you can decide on the content, e.g. phone, tablets and computers or TV’s and computers and service offering. If you design a spa, you can decide on the facilities and experience, etc. You must design a physical and not a virtual/ online place.
 
Of course, as you will know from the module, services and retail are often intertwined, so you may design a place that combines both elements, e.g. a spa that also sells well-being products. 

You may assume that you have finances in place to create your vision. You may also assume that you have permission to stock any branded products needed. Finally, if (for example) you wanted to site your service or store in the Bullring or Birmingham Airport, you may assume that you have the relevant permissions to do so.

You have a minimum of 8 minutes and 30 seconds and a maximum of 10 minutes for your submission. You may submit either a:

• Video in an MP4 format
• YouTube video (please make sure your channel is unlisted and that I have any relevant passwords)
• Presentation in PowerPoint (with voice over)

You can be as creative as you wish. 
Your submission should cover the following: (you are not limited to these areas and may add in any relevant design features you feel are required):

Your design must feature 3 essential elements:

A green space, e.g. a park or roof garden
A sustainable element – this may be, e.g. the products sold or sustainable building design 
Innovative technologies you must include at least one of the following, and we encourage you to include more innovative technologies:

• AR
• VR
• Robots

A phygital and immersive customer experience 

In addition, you must clearly define and present:

• Your service, retail or place concept
• Location and layout of the service or retailer, if you have designed several outlets, include a visual map
• Your service(s) and/ or product offering(s)
• Your chosen target customer * We encourage innovation in the target customer. Don’t opt for the obvious – depending on where you site your store, think about local demographics and spending power

Optional – you may include a 30-second advert for your place

When submitting your final presentation, please double-check that you have included all of the elements. Below is a handy checklist for you:

• Brand or place name and reason(s) why
• Services offered and/or product range, and why
• Location and reason(s) why
• Target customer(s) and reason(s) why
• Green place element(s)
• Sustainable element(s)
• Innovative technologies 
• A phygital and immersive customer experience
• Layout/ floor plan(s) of the outlet(s)
• Design features
• Optional advert 
• Any references should be submitted on a final slide 

One electronic copy of the submission is to be handed in via Canvas. Please check Canvas for your submission date.

You are encouraged to explore how you can best present your store in the digital format and go beyond a basic PPT. You may wish to use your IT and technical skills to build your store. 

Within the module, we have built in a lot of support for this assessment. The Friday 3-hour seminar will be dedicated to offering support for this assessment. Via a series of tasks and the feedback given in these sessions, you will build your design week by week. 

Submission Date: 

Please check Canvas for the submission date. 

Group Work:

Please ensure that you register your group names on the canvas page as set up by the MSc Programme Office. You need to sign up the relevant group members. You must have a maximum of 5 people per group. You can have fewer than 5 people per group if you wish, but no more. You must sign your group up by the end of week one, as in the Friday seminar, you will be working in your groups.

Working in groups is an important part of your MSc and enables you to develop employability skills. However, we know that sometimes issues can arise in groups. If you experience any problems in your groups, please talk to us as soon as possible, as we are here to support you and help you navigate any issues. It is very difficult to resolve problems once you have submitted your assignment. To help the process, we would recommend that as a group you:

• Identify suitable times to meet that work best (compromise may be needed)
• Appoint a group leader (this person must not do all the work, but can oversee and keep tasks on time)
• Take minutes of your meetings
• Set key deadlines
• Monitor your progress
• Check when one of your group members may be away, e.g. have an interview and work around those dates
• Most of all – please enjoy this process – we have designed a different type of assignment for you to be creative and imaginative.

One question we are frequently asked is, must we all do the same tasks or all speak on the presentation? Our answer is no – you do not all have to do the same, we encourage you to work to your strengths, e.g. if one of your group has a degree in civil engineering, they can lead the building design, if another is a gamer, then they may want to produce the graphics. What is essential is that you must all contribute the same amount of effort and level of work.

You may find the following resources helpful:

Presentation resources: ASC presentations and collaboration resources (birmingham.ac.uk)

Multimedia: ASC Digital multimedia resources (birmingham.ac.uk)

Using GAI for Study: Student guidance on using Generative Artificial Intelligence tools ethically for study (birmingham.ac.uk)

Assessment Rationale: 

This presentation is designed to assess:

• Your understanding of place design and the experience created
• Your understanding of how customers are entertained
• Your understanding of how to create an innovative customer experience 
• Your innovation and creativity around place design
• Your understanding of customer needs and how place design can facilitate the shopping experience 
• Your understanding of how services/retailers may innovate in the future

Grading Criteria / Marking Rubric

Your submission will be graded according to the following criteria:

• Knowledge Acquisition of Place Design Principles (LO1)
• Innovative Application of Place Design Principles to your service/ retailer or place (LO1 and LO6)
• Construction of Customer Experience Arguments (LO3)
• Creativity and Innovation of the Presentation
• Proficiency in the English language - PASS/ FAIL ONLY

See the marking rubric at the end of the remit for more information on how your work will be marked and graded.

Marking Rubric: 

Note that the information below is guidance and feedback only and not a quantitative measure to calculate the grade. 
The final grade represents the overall quality of the work taking these criteria into account but is the academic judgement of the marker(s).