THE ECONOMY - CONSUMERISM 2

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A. Online Shopping Statistics

Online sales have been consistently rising for the last 10 years. OR There has been a consistent rise in
online sales for the last 10 years.
The percentage of internet sales as compared to the retail sales total was just under 6% in 2008.
Only 10 years after, that percentage has more than doubled, reaching 20% of total retail sales.
The sharpest rise happened in 2016, when online shopping went up by 3% with regard to the previous
year – from 14% to 17%.

NOTICE THAT:

 We don’t use the article THE/A before percentages. We say “sales went up by 3%” (las ventas
aumentaron un 3%). We don’t say “they went up by a 3%”.
BUT, we do use the article when the percentage acts as an adjective: “a 5% rise” (una subida del 5%).

VOCABULARY:
Verbs meaning going up: GO UP, RISE, INCREASE
SOAR (increase in size or volume): Benefits soared last year.
If it goes up very rapidly: SHOOT UP: Sales have shot up (las ventas se han disparado).

Verbs meaning going down: GO DOWN, FALL, DROP, DECREASE, SHRINK, SINK
If the fall is abrupt: PLUMMET: Sales have plummeted (han caído en picado)
PLUNGE: Company shares plunged after the takeover bid (se
desplomaron)

When there’s no change: REMAIN STABLE, STAY THE SAME, COME TO A STANDSTILL,
Internal demand remains stable for the third consecutive month.
Prices stay the same for the fourth year in a row.
Car sales seem to have come to a standstill.

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A.2. Practice

B. The British High Street

Apart from being the main street in a city, tthe high street, or often High Street, is a term that refers to the
retail sector of a country, that is, the shops. Since the emergence of online shopping, the high street has
been in dire straits, losing big numbers of shops every year. The number of empty stores already stands at a
record high.
h. As online sales go up, so go down the sales in retail, a situation that looks bleak for companies
and employees and will probably leave city centres looking desolate and full of empty premises, like ghost
towns.

Look at the following bar graph. Whaat has been going on in the British High Street?:

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Now look at the following graph:

Work in small groups:

 Explain what you see in the above bar chart.

 What changes in consumer demand/preference can we infer from the data?
 Speculate as to why that might be so.