Questions 1-5. Match the heading with the relevant paragraph below. Write a letter for each answer.
- Changing Tastes
- Rising Overheads
- Squeezed Incomes
- Too Much Debt
- E-commerce
A) A big factor has been a fall in discretionary spending, spurred by rising shop prices and weak wage growth. A near 15% fall in the pound since the Brexit vote has pushed inflation over 3% – way above the Bank of England’s 2% target. This has made imported goods more expensive, with those costs passed on to consumers. Couple that with the fact that wages have been rising at a slower pace than inflation – and shoppers have less disposable income to spend in stores and restaurants.
B) Online giants such as Amazon have had a huge impact on the high street as more consumers see online shopping as cheaper and easier than going to the shops. And while overall retail sales growth is weak, online sales continue to shoot up. If shops fail to do either “value, convenience, or experience” well, they will struggle, Mr Martin says.
C) Toy store “Toys R Us” fell short in all three areas, according to Simon Thomas of Moorfields Advisory, the toy chain’s administrators. He says it was “unlikely” the retailer can be saved because its business model “isn’t what consumers really want now”. “We’ve got very large stores which are fairly impersonal. People are looking now to have a better shopping experience, and we were unable to deliver that.”
D) Inflation is not the only cost pressure retailers face. The National Minimum Wage and new National Living Wage for over-25s go up each year, pushing up payroll costs. “Business rates are deterring investment in local communities, causing shop closures and job losses in hard-pressed communities and preventing retailers from delivering what their customers want in an efficient and cost-effective way.”
E) As a consequence of over expansion, many retailers are shouldering “high debt burdens”, says KPMG’s Mr Martin. Just before its collapse, Toys R Us UK faced a looming VAT debt payment deadline of £15m. It would have been unable to pay it without a cash injection from an outside investor.
Source: Passage from BBC News Photo sourced online.
Questions 6-12. Find the following synonyms in the passage above. The answers will come in order in the passage. No more than two words for each answer.
- triggered
- combine
- expendable
- soar
- discouraging
- imminent
- boost
Answers
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