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b. rise a lot
c. fall a little
d. fall a lot
2. spree
a. activity that makes most money for the company
b. first involvement in a business activity from which they can develop
c. a short period of time during which someone spends a lot of money
3. shopping cart
a. buying and selling goods and services and doing other business over the Internet
b. hardware and software applications that manage order processing, billing, sales, inventory and shipping.
c. piece of software that acts as an online seller's catalogue and ordering process.
4. spin-outs
a. rival companies created using the knowledge and experience gained at larger ones.
b. the amounts of money coming into and going out of a company, and the timing of these.
c. something belonging to an individual or a business that has value or the power to earn money.
5. intrusion
a. being contactable via e-mail
b. annoying interruption
c. underachiever
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a. 1,300-year-old
b. ancient
c. been
d. graves
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more. They shop online because it is quick and convenient. If your website says one thing and the stock room
another, they are not going to invest their time with you again," he says.
The White Company started out as a mail-order company in 1994, moved on to the Web six years ago and
on the high street in 2001. And after a slow start, the e-tailing side is booming. "We launched our first website in
2000, and this year it will bring in sales of about 8m (12m). It's about 20 per cent of total sales and is growing
twice as quickly as the rest of the business. Overall growth is about 40 per cent, but the online side is up 86 per cent
on last year," says Spark.
The company's website is integrated in real time into its stock management database, the same database
which feeds its shops and mail-order business. It means that when an item is sold, whether through a shop or mail
order, the website is automatically updated. All its stock is stored in one warehouse and fulfillment centre in west
London. During the day, mail order and online orders are picked and packed for delivery, while at night it is the
stock orders for shops that take priority.
It is not taking the orders online that causes the problems for e-tailers, it is the operational costs of fulfilling
those orders. Getting the website up and running and taking the orders is the easy part. It is meeting the higher
expectation levels of the e-tail consumer where it gets tricky.
Read these statements about the text and write if they are true (T) or false (F).
1. A company's website doesn't have to be designed to integrate with the company's existing systems. F
2. A website could lose repeat customers if it doesn't give correct information about what is available. T
3. The White Company's online sales are growing at more than double the rate of the rest of the business. T
4. The White Company's website receives the latest information about sales made in all areas of the business. T
5. Taking orders online causes problems for e-tailers. F
TRANSLATION
Now translate the first three paragraphs of this section.
1. plummet
a. rise a little
b. rise a lot
c. fall a little
d. fall a lot
2. toehold
a. activity that makes most money for the company.
b. first involvement in a business activity from which they can develop.
c. a short period of time during which someone spends a lot of money.
3. back-end systems
a. buying and selling goods and services and doing other business over the Internet.
b. hardware and software applications that manage order processing, billing, sales, inventory and shipping.
c. piece of software that acts as an online seller's catalogue and ordering process.
4. cashflow
a. rival companies created using the knowledge and experience gained at larger ones.
b. the amounts of money coming into and going out of a company, and the timing of these.
c. something belonging to an individual or a business that has value or the power to earn money.
5. gripe about
a. universally laud
b. complain
c. annoying interruption
3. Labels should include the information that allows shoppers to compare ingredients and contents of the food they
are buying.
a. should
b. that
c. and contents d. they are
4. In a preschool, children sometimes join hands, sing songs, and are playing circle games.
a. a
b. sometimes
c. songs
d. are playing
Choose the correct way to complete the sentences:
5. One of the German executives ____ attended the meeting had previously visited our head office.
a. whom
b. whose
c. when
d. that
6. A loudspeaker in an instrument ____ electrical energy into sound energy.
a. that
b. where transform
c. who is transforming d. that transforms
7. Seat belt laws were introduced ____ traffic fatalities would be reduced.
a. as if
b. when
c. then
d. so that
8. The little terrier dog, Bobby, spent fourteen years on his master's tombstone ____ it were waiting for the old
shepherd's return.
a. thought
b. although
c. even thought
d. as though
9. ____ to England remain strong, the Channel Islanders are exempt from most British taxes.
a. Before their ties
b. Although tied
c. Tied
d. Although their ties
10. ____ declaring the area useless, Daniel Webster could not have foretold how irrigation would make California's
Imperial Valley bloom.
a. When
b. Because
c. So that
d. While
READING COMPREHENSION
Read the first part of the article about doing business online
Net gains on the shop front
Cyberspace is increasingly the location of choice for many retailers. it is not hard to see why online
retailing - or e-tailing - is big bucks. The e-tail market, worth 14bn (21bn) a year in the UK alone, is growing at
an annual rate of between 30 and 40 per cent. In the six weeks leading up to Christmas, over 3.5bn (5bn) was
spent online - almost 7 per cent of the total retail spend during the same period.
It is not just online retailers such as Amazon or eBay that have build successful businesses in cyberspace. A
huge number of retailers have some kind of presence on the Internet. Most high-street name have fully transactional
online operations. But many smaller retailers are nervous about the potential of e-tailing, often perceiving it as a
risk and an expensive distraction as much as an opportunity.
"It is not a question of building a nice website and waiting for the money to come rolling in. It calls for a
new business model, which seamlessly connects e-tail with the rest of the business," says Ian Bathgate, a principal
lecturer at the University of East London Business School. "It only takes one mistake, one oversight online, to not
only lose huge volumes of sales, but cause serious damage to your brand and reputation."
Research shows that e-tail customers are more demanding, less forgiving and more fickle. The Web is
fiercely competitive, and customers have access to unprecedented amounts of information. It takes more than a
flashy website to convince them to part with their cash. An up-to-date and user-friendly website is taken as
standard. The issues that are decisive in whether an online sales operation is a success and which can create that
vital competitive advantage - are around good old-fashioned customer service and order fulfillment.
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An online operation that amounts to printing the e-mail orders at the end of the day, manually checking
they are in stock and popping them in the post, probably costs more in time and effort than it earns and is unlikely
to meet customer expectations in terms of accurate information on stock availability and delivery times. 'You have
to manage expectations from the very beginning. It's often assumed that e-tail is all about finding the cheapest
product. Yes, price is important, but probably not as important as delivery or customer service. Paying a rockbottom price is no good if the product doesn't get delivered when it should,' says Andrew McClelland, head of
projects and marketing at the Interactive Media Retail Group, the trade body for e-tailers.
Read these sentences about the article and choose the correct option to complete them:
1. The majority of well-known shops ____ online sales operations.
a. still haven't invested in
b. now offer
2. Many small businesses appear to ____ about e-tailing.
a. be enthusiastic
b. have mixed feelings
3. The consequences of a problem with your website are loss of sales and the ____.
a. high costs of finding a solution
b. repercussions for the company's good name
4. When online customers sees a stylish website they are ____.
a. no longer impressed
b. more willing to make purchases
5. Manual dealing with online orders is ____ for some businesses.
a. unlikely to be cost effective
a. a good low-cost option
TRANSLATION
Translate the last two paragraphs of this section of the article.