首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
After taking a brief hiatus to weather the recession, an invasion of Britain by some of America’s best-known retail brands—inclu
After taking a brief hiatus to weather the recession, an invasion of Britain by some of America’s best-known retail brands—inclu
admin
2013-08-05
21
问题
After taking a brief hiatus to weather the recession, an invasion of Britain by some of America’s best-known retail brands—including Best Buy, Banana Republic and Forever 21—is back on the march. And early reports from the front line in the land of shopkeepers indicate that, unlike with earlier attempts by U.S. retailers to break Britain, British consumers are welcoming the invaders with open arms—and wallets.
That’s not always been the case. While the British public has long had an appetite for American fastfood vendors, the record of U.S. retailers who have tried to make it big in Britain is mixed. But the latest arrivals enter the market as already established brands with built-in consumer awareness, thanks to the dominance of U.S. culture in media and online. And they satisfy British shoppers’ desire for "something new," says analyst Natalie Berg, of London-based consultants Planet Retail. "They all bring a cult aspect" to the U.K. high street.
Best Buy—America’s largest consumer-electronics chain—kicked off the latest rush into the British market in May, when it opened its first-ever U.K. store. The 4,650-sq-m big-box outlet in the London suburb of Thurrock is the first of eight to 10 stores Best Buy expects to open in the country this year. And it has proved an impressive beachhead: in terms of sales volume, that first weekend was the chain’s biggest opening weekend in its 27-year history. For some U.S. stores, this will be their first foray into the U.K. Following in Best Buy’s footsteps is California-based Forever 21, which specializes in cheap, trendy clothes for young women and will open its first U.K. branch in Birmingham, northern England, in November. But for others, now is the time to expand on past success. Hollister, which is owned by Abercrombie&Fitch (A&F), has proved extremely popular in Britain since it launched its first surf-shack-chic store in London in 2008. Hollister rode the recession like it was the perfect wave. Despite the economic downturn, it opened 11 more stores across the U.K. over the past two years. As a result, A&F reports that average sales volume for Hollister’s British stores is six times the level of its U.S. stores. What’s the attraction? Britain boasts an overall retail market worth around $415 billion—a tempting target. The U.K. is also a good launchpad for further expansions into continental Europe. Moreover, thanks to growing online sales, U.S. retailers no longer have to blanket Blighty with shops to achieve full market penetration. They can open a few flagship stores in key cities, and back them up with a strong Web presence, which in turn reduces overheads and risk.
The Internet also provides a strong prelaunch marketing tool: Best Buy set up a U.K. website back in January that featured blogs, forums and advice, and used social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to build anticipation for the Thurrock launch. And there’s a new, postdownturn draw too: cheaper rents. U.K. retail rents have historically been sky high, particularly in London. Now many landlords—hit by a raft of vacancies—are willing to bargain.
While the invasion is off to strong start, U.S. retailers shouldn’t consider Britain a sure thing. U.K. retailing is a highly mature market that’s brutally competitive, particularly now as retailers battle to entice credit-crunched shoppers back into shops. "It’s probably not a great time to enter the British market," says Sarah Peters, an analyst at British retailing consultants Verdict Research, "But I’m not sure if there is ever a good time." Indeed, Britain’s retailing landscape is littered with the bones of successful U.S. retailers who stumbled badly when they crossed the Atlantic.
If this latest flock of U.S. retailers does well in the U.K., it will likely be because they offer British shoppers something completely different. For example, Best Buy has an edge. Not only are its big-box stores a novelty in Britain, but so is the brand’s emphasis on customer service. Its Geek Squad unit gives customers rpund-the-clock technical support, and shoppers can use its in-store setup service to configure gadgets before taking them home. "Consumer-electronics stores in the U.K. traditionally have not had good reputations for customer service," says Matthew Piner, another Verdict Research analyst. "And no one has really challenged them before."
To show the success of American retailers, the passage cites the following examples EXCEPT
选项
A、Best Buy has gained most of the market share in Britain.
B、Forever 21 extended its branches in many cities of Britain.
C、The sales volume of Hollister in Britain is five times more than in America.
D、Banana Republic is well-known in Britain from its website, blogs and forums.
答案
D
解析
第4段第1句提到Best Buy利用网站、博客和论坛进行宣传,而D项张冠李戴,因此符合题意。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/hoZO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
CharacteristicsofAmericanCultureⅠ.punctualityA.Goingtothetheater:be【1】twentyminutespriorB.Eateries’responsef
Materialculturereferstothetouchable,material"things"--physicalobjectsthatcanbeseen,held,felt,used--thataculture
______isthelargestcityandthechiefportoftheUnitedStates.
Inthelate1960smanypeopleinNorthAmericaturnedtheirattentiontoenvironmentalproblems,andnewsteel-and-glassskyscra
Inmanyclassroomsaroundthecountry,teachersareemphasizing,andperiodicallytesting,students’readingfluency,thecurrent
SimilaritiesandDifferencesbetweenPublicSpeakingandConversationI.BothPublicSpeakingandConversationneedyouto1.or
Accordingtothenewresearch,theoddshapemoundswereformedby______.
LangstonHughesandHisWork:InsideandOutI.GeneralIntroductionofLangstonHughes—Time;TheHarlemRenaissanceofthe192
A、Friday.B、Thursday.C、Tuesday.D、Monday.A消息中有:GeorgeW.BushonFridaypresentedtoCongressaletterformallyrequestingane
Disneyland’sHistoryWaltDisneyhadavisionofaplace,amagicparkwherechildrenandparentscouldhavefuntogether.T
随机试题
疫疠邪气的致病特点有
机体对结核菌再感染与初感染不同反应的Koch现象,其机制为
下列关于反复呼吸道感染恢复期治法中,错误的是
最高最佳使用原则要求房地产估价应以估价对象的最大收益为前提进行。()
(2010年)根据《中华人民共和国行政许可法》的规定,下列可以不设行政许可事项的是()。
集团项目组与组成部分注册会计师针对关联方关系及其交易进行沟通时,集团项目组的下列做法中,不正确的有()。
被监视居住的犯罪嫌疑人、被告人不得离开住处或指定的居所,但行动不受限制。()
某大型超市购进一批苹果,每千克的进价是1.2元,售价为5元。由于售价太高,几天过去后,还有500千克没有销售掉。于是公司决定按八折出售苹果,又过了几天,部门经理统计一下,一共售出800千克,于是将最后的苹果按3元售出。最后商店一共获利3100元。求超市一共
以纲要的形式编写的有关每门学科的教学内容,规定各学科的基本规范和质量要求的指导性文件是()。
中国近代史上第一个资产阶级革命政权是______,第一个苏维埃政权是______。
最新回复
(
0
)