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I. Read the text, translate it and do the exercise.
II. What do you know about online shopping? (20-25 sentences)
Online shopping expected to grow by 35% this year Elizabeth Rigby
5 2005 to an estimated £19.6bn, according to the Interactive Media Retail Group. In its first annual report, published today, IMRG said it expected 4m more Britons 10 to shop online this year, taking the total shoppers to 24m, more than half the UK's adult population. The latest figures underline the sharp growth of internet shop- 15 ping in the decade since 1994. While internet shopping accounted for just £300m of retail sales in 1999, by 2004 consumers were spending £14.5bn online, accord- 20 ing to IMRG. Online shopping is also counteracting sluggish consumer spending on the high street. Household expenditure grew by only 0.2 per
25 cent in the fourth quarter of 2004. "For a sector to have grown from scratch in ten years with very little investment suggests that the internet's time has come," said 30 James Roper, IMRG chief executive. The larger retailing groups -Kingfisher, Argos, Dixons, Tesco and Boots - are spending money 35 on developing their internet offering, but many retail chains are not investing in online shopping, which in turn is allowing entrants such as figleaves.com, which sells 40 underwear, and asos.com, the clothing e-shop, to gain a foothold in the market. In 2004, the IMRG estimated that the top 100 retailers in the UK 45 spent just £100m on their internet presence - and most of this came from a handful of stores. But in spite of the neglect from big retailers, the growing popularity of 50 online shopping looks set to con- tinue as more people gain access to the internet. Figures out from 2004 from Ofcom, the communications regu- 55 lator, showed that more than 56 per cent of homes had internet access, with a third of those having a broadband connection. The emergence of mobile commerce 6o technology could also mean that people will be able to shop online from their mobile phones. IMRG said electrical and clothing goods were experiencing 65 strong growth online, with more than £2bn of electrical goods sold over the internet in 2004. Dixons, the high street electrical retailer, expects its online sales - currently 70 at £170m - to hit £lbn in the next five years. Meanwhile, clothing is another big expansion area, with sales growing 37 per cent to £644m in 2004. From the Financial Times
Date: 2015-12-17; view: 2335
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