A mountain of apparel stock has been piling up in stores, distribution centers, warehouses and even shipping containers during m

admin2021-10-14  42

问题     A mountain of apparel stock has been piling up in stores, distribution centers, warehouses and even shipping containers during months of COVID-19 lockdowns. As retailers reopen around the world, they have to work out how to get rid of it. Real estate company Knight Frank said it had handled inquiries for excess stock for over 6 million square feet (557,500 square meters) of short-term let warehouse space in Britain since the pandemic took hold there in March.
    Yet storage is only a realistic option for evergreen "basics" that are not tied to one particular year and could be sold at a later date should consumer demand bounce back—items like underwear, t-shirts, chinos and classic sneaker styles. Apparel chains including British high-street retailer Next and German sportswear brand Adidas said they had stashed away unsold basics, with the aim to offer them to shoppers next year instead.
    But stowing away piles of inventory is risky. "This is not like wine that gets better with age," said Emanuel Chirico, chief executive of PVH Corp, which owns Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, on a recent call. In the United States, clothing sales fell 89% in April from the same month in 2019, while in Britain clothing sales sank by 50% compared with an already-squeezed March. Retailers hope that easing of lockdown measures will see shoppers return to stores, eager to unleash restrained demand. But there is no guarantee that sales will rebound any time soon.
    Many stores are likely to pursue a combination of holding sales as well selling stock to off-price retailers. The mix will depend on consumer appetite, how much merchandise stores have to shift and how fast they must free up space for new collections. In-store discounts are usually a better option as dumping inventory in bulk to off-price players returns just pennies on the dollar for the retailers.
    Off-price retail group TJX, which started opening its TJ Maxx and Marshalls stores this month, said in May there was "incredible availability" of stock on the market. UK-based Parker Lane Group, which helps companies manage excess stock and advises on selling off-price, is processing at least double its usual volume of up to 1.5 million items of apparel per month, founder Raffy Kassardjian said.
    " Some of our customers are waiting for retail to open up to gauge their performance before they make a commitment on how much stock they want to write off," he said, referring to both selling at discount in-store and offloading to off-price. "We’re going to see the most insane sales," said Melissa McAvoy, founder of events company Luxury Experience & Co, who lives in the celebrity-studded Los Angeles suburb of Calabasas.
According to Paragraph 4, many stores are likely to_________.

选项 A、sell all the stocks to consumers
B、free up spaces for new collections
C、provide in-store discounts to consumers
D、dump most inventory to off-price retailers

答案C

解析 细节题。根据题干提示可定位至第四段第一句“Many stores are likely to pursue a combination of holding sales as well selling stock to off-price retailers”.即“许多商店可能会选择‘既保留销售,又向折扣零售商出售库存’的组合方式”,由此可见holding sales和selling stock to off-price retailers都是商店会采取的措施。选项[A]在原文中没有提及,排除。该段第二句说“The mix will depend on consumer appetite…how fast they must free up space for new collections”,即“这种组合方式将取决于消费者的需求……必须以多快的速度腾出空间来推出新产品”,由此可以得知free up spaces for new collections取决于销售的情况,因此选项[B]错误。选项[C]对应第四段最后一句“In-store discounts are usually a better option…”,即“店内打折通常是更好的选择”,故为正确选项。原文提到dump most inventory to off-price retailers returns just pennies on the dollar“向折扣零售商倾销大量存货只会使其赚几美分”,所以不会是许多商店的选择,选项[C]不符合原文,排除。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/B3Y4777K
0

最新回复(0)