Social Environment (AQA A Level Business): Exam Questions

Source A: Burberry

Burberry Group plc is a British luxury fashion brand, headquartered in London and listed on the London Stock Exchange, where it is a member of the FTSE 100. It was founded in 1856 by Thomas Burberry, whose gabardine fabric and trench coat became the basis of the brand. It sells mainly through its own stores, of which there were 410 at 28 March 2026, and online. It also sells to other retailers and earns income from licences.

In the 52 weeks to 29 March 2025 Burberry's comparable store sales fell by 12% and its adjusted operating profit fell to £26 million. Joshua Schulman, who became Chief Executive in July 2024, launched a strategy called Burberry Forward in November 2024. Its aims include restoring the brand's cultural relevance and asserting its authority in outerwear and scarves before extending that success to other categories.

In the 52 weeks to 28 March 2026 Burberry's revenue was £2 420 million, compared with £2 461 million the year before, while comparable store sales rose by 2% and adjusted operating profit rose to £160 million. The Chief Executive described the year as "a meaningful inflection point". During the year the company:

• achieved savings in operating costs of £80 million, while continuing to invest in marketing;

• spent £45 million on restructuring, mainly on redundancies and consultancy;

• opened 200 scarf bars in its stores;

• increased e-commerce sales by a percentage in the high teens;

• opened 9 stores and closed 21.

Outerwear sold better than other categories in every region, scarves grew throughout the year, and sales of leather goods improved in the second half.

Sales growth differed between regions. In Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa, sales were held back by a fall in tourist numbers. In Japan, sales fell by 6% in the final quarter as fewer visitors arrived, while South Korea grew by 13%, helped by visitors from China. In Greater China and the Americas, sales in the final quarter grew by 10%, driven by local customers.

For the year to March 2027 Burberry expects to increase both its revenue and its profit margin, but says it is mindful of the uncertain economic and political environment.

Source: Burberry Group plc, Preliminary Results, 14 May 2026

Appendix A: Burberry selected data

The gross margin in the year to March 2026 was helped by better sales at full price and by recovery from the clearance of excess inventory in the previous year.

Source: Burberry Group plc

Appendix B: Comparable store sales by region, year to 28 March 2026

Change in comparable store sales on the same quarter a year earlier

• EMEIA: the fall in Q4 reflected fewer tourists in the region and conflict in the Middle East towards the end of the quarter.

• Americas and Greater China: growth in Q4 was driven by spending by local customers.

• Asia Pacific: South Korea grew 13% in Q4, helped by visitors from China; Japan fell 6% as fewer visitors arrived.

Source: Burberry Group plc

Assess whether luxury shoppers choosing to buy in their home countries rather than while travelling is likely to reduce Burberry's revenue.

Source B: Draycote Soap Co

Draycote Soap Co Limited makes solid shampoo bars, conditioner bars and soaps by hand in a workshop near Rugby, Warwickshire. It was founded in 2016 by Hannah Okafor, who began making soap at her kitchen table; she remains its Managing Director and sole owner. The company employs 14 people. Its products contain no palm oil, are sold without any plastic packaging, and have an average customer rating of 4.8 out of 5 from more than 6 000 reviews.

The company sells through five channels:

• Its own website, where a shampoo bar costs £8.50.

• Amazon.

• About 240 independent shops, many of which specialise in reducing waste.

• Markets and fairs.

• TikTok Shop, since 2024/25, where people who post videos of its products earn a commission on each sale they generate.

All of its staff are paid at least the Real Living Wage, a voluntary rate set by the Living Wage Foundation which is higher than the legal minimum wage. Several large distribution warehouses close to the workshop also recruit local staff. Every product is packed in a card box which costs 11p, compared with about 4p for a plastic wrapper.

Supermarkets have begun to sell their own-label shampoo bars, priced from about £3. Lush, a much larger business with its own shops, has sold solid shampoo bars for many years. In 2026 a national supermarket chain offered Draycote Soap Co a three-year contract to make shampoo bars to be sold under the supermarket's own label.

Source: Draycote Soap Co

Appendix E: Draycote Soap Co selected data

Source: Draycote Soap Co

Appendix F: Where Draycote Soap Co's sales come from

Revenue by channel, £000, years to 31 March

Share of the selling price taken by fees and commission, 2026

Source: Draycote Soap Co

Assess whether the growth of shopping through social media is likely to increase Draycote Soap Co's profit.

Calculate Draycote Soap Co's operating profit margin in the year to 31 March 2026 to support your answer. Give your answer to one decimal place.

Source B: Swanmoor Knitwear

Swanmoor Knitwear Limited makes knitted jumpers, cardigans and scarves at a factory in Hinckley, Leicestershire, a town with a long history of knitwear manufacturing. The company was founded in 1958 and has been owned and run since 2015 by Priya Desai. It employs 92 people.

For most of its history Swanmoor Knitwear made knitwear for other brands, including luxury fashion houses, to their designs and under their labels. Since 2015 it has also sold its own brand, Swanmoor, online. Own-brand jumpers sell for an average of £165. They are designed to last for at least twenty years, and the company repairs them free of charge.

Customers can choose the colour of an own-brand jumper on Swanmoor's website and have it knitted to order, for delivery within ten days.

Swanmoor's managers use data on the workforce to judge the success of their decisions. After a new training scheme was introduced in 2025, the share of employees leaving each year fell from 18% to 9%.

The company is considering buying four seamless knitting machines, which knit a whole garment in a single piece. At present, the separate pieces of each garment are knitted and then joined by hand, a skilled process called linking.

Second-hand clothing is increasingly bought and sold through apps such as Vinted, where Swanmoor jumpers resell for around £70.

Source: Swanmoor Knitwear

Appendix D: Swanmoor Knitwear selected data

Source: Swanmoor Knitwear

Appendix E: Where Swanmoor Knitwear's revenue comes from

Revenue, £000, years to 31 March

Source: Swanmoor Knitwear

Assess whether customers' growing interest in where and how their clothes are made is likely to increase Swanmoor Knitwear's profit.

Calculate Swanmoor Knitwear's operating profit margin for the years to 31 March 2025 and 31 March 2026 to support your answer. Give your answers to one decimal place.

Source A: Rightmove

Rightmove plc runs the UK's largest property portal, where estate agents, letting agents and housebuilders advertise homes for sale and to rent. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Its customers are the agents and developers, who pay a monthly subscription; people looking for a home use the website and app free of charge. In 2025 users spent 16.8 billion minutes on Rightmove, which had 89% of all the time spent on UK property portals in December 2025, and more than 85% of visits came to the site directly rather than through a search engine or advertisement.

In the year to 31 December 2025 Rightmove's revenue rose 9% to £425.1 million and its underlying operating profit rose 9% to £297.7 million, a margin of 70%. Average revenue per advertiser rose by 6%, while the number of advertisers rose by 1%. Most agents choose a package of products, and a growing share choose the most expensive one.

Rightmove has three newer areas of business, which it calls its strategic growth areas: commercial property, mortgages and services for landlords and tenants. Together their revenue grew by 25% in 2025.

The company is using artificial intelligence across its business. It had 46 strategic AI initiatives in progress by June 2026. It has also launched a conversational search tool developed with Google Cloud and has submitted an app for use within ChatGPT. In November 2025 it announced that it would increase its investment in technology and AI, and that its underlying operating profit would therefore grow by only 3% to 5% in 2026. Its share price fell by more than 25% that day.

Source: Rightmove plc, Results for the year ended 31 December 2025, and Half Year Results 2026

Appendix A: Rightmove selected data

The three strategic growth areas do not add exactly to the published total because of rounding.

Source: Rightmove plc

Appendix C: Rightmove in 2026

Source: Analyst, using Rightmove plc and press reports

Assess whether more people renting their homes is likely to increase Rightmove's revenue.

Source B: Kelsmere Community Trust

Kelsmere Community Trust is a registered charity founded in 2003 on the Kelsmere estate in Middlesbrough. It employs 15 staff and is supported by 96 volunteers. Its founder and chief executive, who has led the charity for 23 years, will retire in December 2026. It runs:

• a food bank

• a youth club

• a café that trains young people for work; in 2026, 15 of its 22 trainees found work

Most of Kelsmere's income comes from a five-year National Lottery grant, which is its largest single source of income, and a contract with the local council to run youth services. Eleven local businesses now support the charity with money, food or staff time, up from seven. In the year to March 2026, income from local business partners and income from café and room hire both rose.

The charity faces four main pressures:

• Demand. Use of the food bank is rising.

• Council funding. The council cut the youth services contract by £30 000 in 2025/26, and the youth club has closed on Fridays since September 2025 because of the cut. The council proposes a further 20% cut from April 2027.

• Lottery funding. The National Lottery grant ends in March 2027. A new application must show evidence of the charity's impact.

• Volunteers. Volunteers agreeing "I feel listened to" fell from 81% to 63%.

The trustees are considering whether to merge with Northgate Family Centre, a charity 1.5 miles away that provides family support and debt advice.

Source: Kelsmere Community Trust

Appendix D: Kelsmere Community Trust financial data

• Reserves policy. The trustees aim to hold reserves equal to at least three months' spending.

Source: Kelsmere Community Trust

Appendix E: Demand for Kelsmere's services

• Two in five households using the food bank for the first time in 2026 included someone in work.

• The youth club closed on Fridays from September 2025 because the council contract was cut.

Source: Kelsmere Community Trust

Assess whether rising demand for its food bank is the biggest challenge facing Kelsmere Community Trust.

Calculate Kelsmere Community Trust's employee productivity, measured as food parcels given out per paid employee, in 2025 and in 2026 to support your answer. Give your answers to the nearest whole number.

Source A: Just Eat Takeaway

Just Eat Takeaway.com (JET) runs online food delivery platforms in Europe, including Just Eat in the UK and Ireland, Lieferando in Germany and Thuisbezorgd in the Netherlands. Its headquarters are in Amsterdam. JET was formed in 2020 when Just Eat merged with Takeaway.com. In October 2025 JET was bought by Prosus, a Dutch-listed technology investor, for about €4.1 billion, and its shares were removed from the stock market. Roberto Gandolfo replaced the founder, Jitse Groen, as chief executive in January 2026.

Customers order from restaurants and shops through JET's apps and websites. Some orders are delivered by the restaurant itself and some by couriers working through JET.

JET has changed in three main ways:

• Acquisitions. In 2021 it bought Grubhub, a US delivery business, for $7.3 billion; it sold Grubhub in January 2025.

• Countries. Since 2022 it has left Norway, Portugal, New Zealand, France, Australia, Denmark and Bulgaria, and it now operates in 14 countries. When it left Denmark in April 2026, its customers there were directed to Uber Eats.

• Technology. About 450 jobs were cut in September 2025, partly by automating customer service. An AI voice assistant was launched across Europe in August 2026; early UK users found what they wanted about 40% faster than with the text assistant.

In the UK, JET competes with Uber Eats and with Deliveroo, which DoorDash, a US delivery business, bought in October 2025.

Prosus wants JET to become "a true European tech champion" and says it is "trading short-term profitability" for growth.

Source: Just Eat Takeaway.com, results for 2024 and the half year to June 2025; Prosus; and press reports

Appendix A: Just Eat Takeaway financial data

• Gross transaction value is the total value of orders placed through JET's platforms. Adjusted EBITDA is profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, excluding one-off items.

• 2023 and 2024 include Grubhub. In 2024 JET reduced the value of Grubhub in its accounts by €1 002m.

• Half year to June 2025. Orders 308 million, down from 330 million. UK & Ireland orders 114 million, down from 120 million, while UK & Ireland gross transaction value rose from €3.4bn to €3.6bn.

• After the takeover. JET's orders fell for 55 months in a row before rising 0.1% in September 2026.

Source: Just Eat Takeaway.com and Prosus

Appendix B: Couriers and the law

• Rising living costs reduced how often UK customers ordered.

Source: Analyst, using UK court judgments, UK government announcements and press reports

Assess whether changing attitudes and rules on gig work are a threat to Just Eat Takeaway.com in the UK.

Source A: Trainline

Trainline plc, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, sells rail and coach tickets through its app and website in the UK and across Europe. It also provides ticketing technology to train operators and to travel management companies, which book travel for businesses. Its app is the most downloaded rail app in Europe.

Trainline earns its revenue mainly as commission on the tickets it sells. In April 2025 its commission on UK online ticket sales fell from 5.0% to 4.5%, under a rail industry agreement announced in 2022.

In the year to 28 February 2026:

• it sold tickets worth £6 319 million, up 7%, to 27 million customers, 18 million of them in the UK

• revenue rose by 2% to £453 million, while UK revenue fell by 2%

• adjusted EBITDA was 2.80% of the value of tickets sold; the target for the year to February 2027 is about 2.9%

Growth in the UK slowed in the second half of the year. Trainline identified three causes:

• Contactless payment. Transport for London is expanding contactless payment, which lets passengers travel by tapping a bank card without buying a ticket.

• Operators' websites. Train operators have encouraged customers to use their own websites, including by offering automatic delay compensation, which independent retailers such as Trainline were not allowed to offer.

• Fares. The government has frozen regulated rail fares until March 2027.

The government is creating Great British Railways to run most of the railway; its online retailer is expected eventually to replace the operators' websites. In March 2026 the government announced that passengers will then be able to claim delay compensation wherever they bought their ticket, including through Trainline.

In the first half of the year, sales to foreign travellers fell after Google changed its search results page. Trainline has made its app available within ChatGPT and introduced artificial intelligence features which help customers when trains are disrupted. Young people are among its most important customers: 45% of railcard holders aged 16 to 30 use a Trainline digital railcard, held on their phone.

Source: Trainline plc, Results for the twelve months ended 28 February 2026

Appendix A: Trainline selected data

Net ticket sales are the total value of tickets sold. The three segments do not add exactly to the total because of rounding.

Source: Trainline plc

Appendix B: Changes in the UK rail market

• Commission. The commission on online ticket sales in the UK fell from 5.0% to 4.5% in April 2025, under an agreement announced in 2022.

• Contactless payment. Transport for London is extending pay-as-you-go contactless payment to more stations outside London.

• Train operators' own websites. Operators have offered their customers automatic compensation for delays, which independent retailers were not allowed to offer.

• Great British Railways. The government is creating Great British Railways. Its online retailer is expected eventually to replace the operators' own websites. In March 2026 the government said that once it is established, passengers will be able to claim delay compensation wherever they bought their ticket. Trainline's legal and public affairs costs rose as it engaged with the process.

• Fares and refunds. Regulated fares are frozen until March 2027. Rules on refunds were tightened from April 2026, which Trainline expects to reduce its income from refund fees.

• Contracts. Trainline lost its contract to run CrossCountry's ticket website during the year and expects to lose its contract with ScotRail.

Source: Analyst, using Trainline plc

Appendix C: Technology and Europe

• AI features. Travel Forecast warns customers of likely disruption to their journey; an AI Travel Assistant answers questions and helps with refunds; customers are prompted to claim delay compensation.

• Search. Trainline has the largest share of mentions in answers from generative AI tools among rail retailers, and its app can be used within ChatGPT. Sales to foreign travellers fell in the first half of the year after Google changed its search results page, and recovered in the second half as more customers arrived through generative AI.

• Competition in Europe. In markets where new train operators compete with the national operator, Trainline sells tickets for all of them. Sales on the South-East France network grew 26% after Trenitalia expanded services there. The routes Trainline expects to sell in France and Italy are expected to be worth €10 billion by 2030.

• Profitability. International Consumer is expected to break even in the year to February 2027 for the first time.

Source: Analyst, using Trainline plc

Trainline has 18 million customers in the UK, but the ways in which people find, buy and use train tickets are changing.

Evaluate two ways Trainline could respond to changes in how people buy and use train tickets and recommend which one it should do first.

Source B: Swanmoor Knitwear

Swanmoor Knitwear Limited makes knitted jumpers, cardigans and scarves at a factory in Hinckley, Leicestershire, a town with a long history of knitwear manufacturing. The company was founded in 1958 and has been owned and run since 2015 by Priya Desai. It employs 92 people.

For most of its history Swanmoor Knitwear made knitwear for other brands, including luxury fashion houses, to their designs and under their labels. Since 2015 it has also sold its own brand, Swanmoor, online. Own-brand jumpers sell for an average of £165. They are designed to last for at least twenty years, and the company repairs them free of charge.

Customers can choose the colour of an own-brand jumper on Swanmoor's website and have it knitted to order, for delivery within ten days.

Swanmoor's managers use data on the workforce to judge the success of their decisions. After a new training scheme was introduced in 2025, the share of employees leaving each year fell from 18% to 9%.

The company is considering buying four seamless knitting machines, which knit a whole garment in a single piece. At present, the separate pieces of each garment are knitted and then joined by hand, a skilled process called linking.

Second-hand clothing is increasingly bought and sold through apps such as Vinted, where Swanmoor jumpers resell for around £70.

Source: Swanmoor Knitwear

Appendix D: Swanmoor Knitwear selected data

Source: Swanmoor Knitwear

Appendix E: Where Swanmoor Knitwear's revenue comes from

Revenue, £000, years to 31 March

Source: Swanmoor Knitwear

Appendix F: Seamless knitting machines

Source: Swanmoor Knitwear

Appendix G: Responding to second-hand clothing

Source: Swanmoor Knitwear

More people are buying second-hand clothes through apps such as Vinted, where Swanmoor jumpers resell for around £70.

Evaluate two ways Swanmoor Knitwear could respond to the growth of second-hand clothing and recommend which one it should do first.

Use information from Appendices D to G to support your answer.

Source B: Royal Shakespeare Company

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a registered charity based in Stratford-upon-Avon, the town where Shakespeare was born. Its Co-Artistic Directors are Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey. Its mission is to "redefine how Shakespeare and great story-telling connects us, creates opportunities and brings joy".

The RSC performs in three theatres in Stratford, transfers productions to London, tours the UK and abroad, and works with schools nationwide. It also earns income from licensing its productions, including the musical Matilda, which has had more than 5 000 performances in London since 2011 and began a UK tour in October 2025.

Its income comes from ticket sales, an annual grant from Arts Council England, Theatre Tax Relief, donations, catering and retail.

In 2024/25 the RSC sold more than 25 000 tickets at £25 or less, and in Stratford it sold 77% of its seats but achieved 64% of its potential ticket income. It sold more than 23 000 tickets at £10 to young people aged 14 to 25, in a partnership with the social media company TikTok. Linear television viewing is declining, particularly among younger audiences.

The RSC faces two pressures:

• Income. In the year to 31 March 2025 income fell from £92.1 million to £82.0 million, partly because the previous year's income from Matilda and other productions was not repeated, and spending exceeded income.

• Audiences. The RSC sees cost-of-living pressures as a risk to audience levels.

In 2025 it announced plans to reduce its workforce by 11%, first through voluntary redundancy, to close a shortfall of about £5 million.

Source: Royal Shakespeare Company, Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2025, and press reports

Appendix D: RSC financial data

• Free reserves are money not tied up in buildings or given for a particular purpose.

• In 2021 the RSC borrowed £19.4m from the government's Culture Recovery Fund for 20 years at 2%; repayments of about £1.5m a year began in February 2025 and run to 2041.

Source: Royal Shakespeare Company

Appendix E: Audiences and productions

• 2024/25 season. 17 plays on four stages in Stratford; 68% of actors made their RSC debut; more than 25 000 tickets sold at £25 or less. Productions transferred to London theatres, and one toured to Chicago.

• Matilda. More than 5 000 performances in London since 2011; a UK tour began in October 2025.

• Theatre Tax Relief. Worth £8.1m in 2024/25; the rates fell by 5 percentage points from 1 April 2025.

• Estate. Spending on buildings and equipment was £4.2m (2023/24: £1.6m); the RSC describes its estate as "a major drain on our resources".

Source: Royal Shakespeare Company

Appendix F: Funding, people and strategy

• Arts Council England. National Portfolio funding of £15.3m a year, unchanged since 2022 apart from a 1.61% increase in 2025/26, and extended to 2026/27. It was 18.6% of income in 2024/25.

• Donations. More than 38 000 individual donations in 2024/25, and a legacy of £2m, of which up to £1m is designated to support a Shakespeare curriculum for schools.

• Board response. The 2025/26 budget "shows a further reduction in unrestricted reserves". The Board began a strategic review of ways to increase income from a range of sources and make "its cost base more flexible".

• Workforce changes, 2025/26. Staff were invited to apply for voluntary redundancy from September 2025. The in-house music department has effectively closed, and long-term contracts for actors and musicians are being replaced by freelance contracts.

• Pay. The 2024/25 pay award was 3.75%.

Source: Analyst, using the Royal Shakespeare Company and press reports

Appendix G: Young people, schools and communities

• Risks. The RSC identifies a "risk of audience levels being impacted by cost-of-living pressures affecting consumer spending patterns".

• Region. The Musicians' Union describes the West Midlands as the "worst-funded region in England for the arts".

• Viewing habits. Across the UK, linear television viewing is declining, particularly among younger audiences, while viewing on streaming services and YouTube grows.

Source: Analyst, using the Royal Shakespeare Company, ITV plc and press reports

The RSC works with more than 1 000 schools and sells £10 tickets to young people, but identifies the cost of living as a risk to its audiences.

Evaluate whether the RSC should respond to changes in the social environment by focusing on building young and first-time audiences or by protecting income from its existing audiences.

Use information from Appendices D to G to support your answer.

Source B: Elvaston Food Hub

Elvaston Food Hub Limited is a private limited company, founded in Derby in 2017. It sells fresh food online from 60 farms and producers in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, all within 40 miles of Derby, and employs 38 people. Its range includes:

• fruit and vegetables

• meat and dairy products

• bread

Customers order through the company's website and app, which records each customer's order history. They choose a delivery slot at least one day ahead, and food is delivered within 15 miles of Derby. Elvaston buys from its producers only what customers have ordered.

All deliveries are made by electric van; the last of the company's diesel vans was replaced in 2025. Electric vans cost more to buy than diesel vans, but less to run. Food is delivered in reusable crates, which customers return.

In a customer survey, most customers said they buy from Elvaston mainly because its food is local.

The company faces two main pressures:

• Speed. Supermarkets and delivery apps in Derby offer grocery deliveries within one hour.

• Price. Elvaston's prices are higher than supermarket prices for most products.

Its directors are considering whether to launch a lower-priced range.

Source: Elvaston Food Hub

Appendix D: Elvaston Food Hub selected data

Source: Elvaston Food Hub

Appendix E: Customers and competition

• Why customers stopped, 2025 survey: price 41%; wanted faster delivery 23%; moved away 14%; other reasons 22%.

• Price. A basket of 30 products cost 18% more from Elvaston than from the nearest large supermarket.

• Speed. Supermarkets and delivery apps in Derby offer deliveries within one hour.

Source: Elvaston Food Hub

Appendix G: Customers and the proposed Essentials range

• Who buys. 38% of Elvaston's customers are aged over 60. In a survey, 64% of customers said they buy from Elvaston mainly because its food is local.

• Proposal. An Essentials range of 40 everyday products, bought from a wholesaler rather than local producers, priced to match supermarkets, with a gross profit margin of 12%.

• Producers. Some of Elvaston's farm producers worry that cheaper products would take sales from theirs.

Source: Elvaston Food Hub

Elvaston Food Hub's directors are considering launching an Essentials range of 40 everyday products priced to match supermarkets.

Evaluate whether Elvaston Food Hub should launch the Essentials range or keep selling only food from local producers, and recommend which it should do.

Use information from Appendices D, E and G to support your answer.