READING LEVELING

Why Black Friday is No Longer Just One day

Read the text about Black Friday and choose the right answer for each question (a, b,
or c). Question 0 has been done as an example. Write your final answers in the
answer box below.

(8x1=8
points)

Black Friday is a discount sales phenomenon that arrived in the UK and Ireland
with something of a bang last year, and is due to fall this year on November 25.
It's a big tradition in the US, where shoppers flock to the stores the day after
Thanksgiving to snap up all kinds of goods in this one-day flash sales festival.
Retailers offer big one day-only discounts on large numbers of products in an
attempt to persuade you to spend your hard- earned cash in the run-up to
Christmas. Many retailers here jumped on the bandwagon, although many
others seemed to be unhappy about it, believing the whole thing was more
trouble than it's worth. Retail Excellence Ireland's (REI) commercial and
communications director, Lynn Drumgoole, says some of them were taken by
surprise at the heightened consumer expectations of huge bargains that the
phenomenon generated last year, particularly through social media.
"The feeling is that this year will be a little less manic, but certainly there is
increased pressure on retailers to get involved in something."
It's already shifted consumers' shopping habits here, judging by REI figures
released earlier this year that appeared to show a trend emerging of Irish
shoppers prioritising Black Friday sales over traditional gift buying periods and
post-Christmas sales.
However, Drumgoole says some retailers have been taking a more pragmatic
and flexible approach to the phenomenon this year, such as by extending
special discounts over a few days or a week either side of November 25 or 28,
in the hope of generating interest, but at the same time avoiding the
concentration of spend on a single day. But while it's definitely tempting to
hold back on shopping you might have done in November or even October in
the hope of bagging bargains on Black Friday and its online shopping
equivalent, Cyber Monday (November 28), it comes with a few caveats.
Dermott Jewell, the Consumer Association of Ireland's policy advisor, said:
"We found this last year that too often, the prices are not as attractive as they
would be in the US. In the US, they have a very, very different approach, but
here it's just being seen as an opportunity to make your presence felt on the
retail side." On some occasions, prices are low only because they're getting
 rid of some quite old stock that they want to see the back of, he added. Some
retailers will eschew the whole thing, too, so "you'll get some bargains, but you
won't get, if you like, a nationwide effort very similar to that in the US, that's
just not the way it's done here". In the UK, Black Friday bargain hunters have
been warned "do your research" after a watchdog found half of last year's so-
called deals were cheaper on other days.

0. Last
Year
a) Black Friday appeared in the US.
b) Black Friday appeared in the UK and
Ireland.
c) Black Friday exploded in the UK.

1. Shop owners in Ireland

a) consider Black Friday too complicated.
b) expect to find extremely low prices.
c) have mixed opinions about Black Friday.

2. A recent study by REI shows a growing

popularity in
a) Post-Christmas sales.
b) Black Friday sales.
c) Traditional gift-buying
periods.

3. According to Lynn
Drumgoole
a) shoppers are more pragmatic this year.
b) shop owners are adapting Black Friday.
c) shops will remain open from November 25th to
28th.

4. Retailers intend
a) to focus on specific offers.
b) to generate a concentration of spend.
c) to maintain the interest over a period of
days.

5. Cyber Monday
a) involves cheaper prices than Black
Friday.
b) is for buying bargain IT gadgets.
c) is a similar concept to Black Friday.
6. According to Dermott Jewell
a) prices in Ireland are lower than in the USA.
b) bargains are very similar in Ireland and the
USA.
c) prices in the USA are lower than in Ireland.

7. Some offers are due to stock being

a) of previous seasons
b) at the back of
storerooms.
c) in bad conditions.

8. In Ireland
a) Black Friday involves
the whole country.
b) some shop owners are
not interested.
c) some cities will not get
involved.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total points 8

b Your score