Exercise 5. Complete the text with active vocabulary

A) brick-and-mortar

B) merchandise

C) free shipping

D) retail chain

E) undercut our prices

F) online giants

G) a lower price

H) online shopping

I) retailers

J) discount

K) under extreme pressure

L) online

M) advent of online shopping

N) to increase demand

O) online purchases

In an effort to prevent consumers from taking a look at 1. _____________ in-store, but using smartphone

apps to shop for cheaper prices online, low-end 2.____________ Target is scaling up its business model by

asking vendors to create Target-exclusive products.

The problem, experts say, is that there isnʼt much Target and other big-box 3. ___________ can do to quash

competition from 4. _______________ like Amazon.com and Overstock.com. The practice of so-called

"showrooming," when shoppers hit the 5. ____________ venues to determine whether they like an item, but

then buy it for cheaper on Amazon.com, is here to stay, these experts note.

Consumers turned to 6._________________ in droves this year, spending a whopping $37.2 billion during

November and December of 2011 alone, representing a 15 percent increase in spending over the same time

period in 2010, according to digital research company comScore.

And while many retailers, from J.Crew to Barnes & Noble, offered 7._____________ and steep discounts on

merchandise in the days leading up to Christmas, smaller brick-and-mortar retailers cried foul when

Amazon.com rolled out its Price Check App last December.

Amazon offered customers an additional 5 percent 8. _________________ on products they purchased

using the app, which would essentially strangle brick-and-mortar stores by encouraging shoppers to seek

products there, but buy them 9.________________.

Indeed, Target sent an “urgent” letter to vendors last week, asking them to “create special products that

would set it apart from competitors,” according to The Wall Street Journal. Citigroupʼs Deborah Weinswig told

the Associated Press that Targetʼs letter insisted that it would not “let online-only retailers use our brick-andmortar

stores as a showroom for their products and 10. ________________ without making investments, as

we do, to proudly display your brands.”

Target also recently announced that it would partner with a number of boutique chains -- such as The Candy

Store and Cos Bar -- to carry specially designed Target wares, and it has long teamed up with high-end

designers to create special budget lines for its stores 11._________________.

Analysts say that other big-box retailers will likely try to follow Targetʼs example of creating exclusive

products and shopper loyalty programs, such as Targetʼs RedCard, which offers cardholders free shipping

for 12. ______________ and a 5 percent discount on select products.

“The trend toward more exclusives has been growing anyway, and showrooming is just another accelerant,”

wrote Sean McGowan, a senior analyst at Needham & Company, in an e-mail message.

And whether Target likes it or not, when it comes to higher-end products and national brands, consumers

arenʼt loyal. The 13. _____________ just exacerbates that.

“This company is 14. _______________ to keep their margins down,” said Morningstar's Keara. “They really

need you to come into the store and buy things that are a little higher margin.”

But thatʼs where Amazon goes in for the kill, because todayʼs cash-strapped consumer just wants 15.

__________________.

“I think weʼre slowly, gradually coming to this realization that consumers arenʼt going to spend what they did

in the last 10 to 15 years,” he said.