本文音频及原文摘自杂志The Economist《经济学人》2016年第10期，Britain版块。

Supermarkets

An American giant moves into online grocery shopping

Mar 5th 2016

BRITAIN’S big supermarkets have had a dismal few years. Aldi and Lidl[1], two upstart German-owned discounters[折扣商店;廉价商店], have taken huge bites out of their market share, margins have been squeezed[2] and record losses have mounted[3].

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[1]Lidl，是一间德国的连锁超级市场，在全球拥有超过8,000个分店。Lidl亦是Aldi在德国的主要竞争对手。

[2]利润受到了压榨/挤压。Margin有利润/利润率/赢利/毛利的意思。

[3]创纪录亏损不断攀升。

▷dismal ['dɪzm(ə)l]

 and without 

悲伤绝望的，忧郁茫然的a dismal  悲伤绝望的表情

informal very 十分糟糕的The  was dismal, wasn't it? 表演很糟糕，是不是？

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One refuge[避难;避难所;庇护], however, was in online shopping, which Aldi and Lidl have been reluctant to[1] embrace, despite the fact that British consumers are Europe’s most enthusiastic e-shoppers. Online grocery sales[2] have been growing strongly, and the likes of Tesco, the biggest supermarket, and Sainsbury’s, have taken full advantage. Tesco, which runs a “Click+Collect[3]” service, has about 40% of the online market.

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[1]不甘心情愿做…

[2]网上杂货销售

[3]“Click & Collect”字面意思是点击+提货，也就是通俗意义所说的线上下单线下自取。

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Now, however, that refuge is looking less safe. On February 29th Amazon, an American online retailer, announced that it will start selling fresh food and groceries as well, in a tie-up[企业协作,公司协作] with the fourth-largest British supermarket, Morrisons. Thus Amazon, with deep pockets[1] and a wealth of experience offering food online in American cities, will now go head-to-head[2] with Tesco and others. The move had been expected, but that will be of no comfort to its new rivals. Shares in Tesco and Sainsbury’s were down on the news, while shares in Ocado, an online-only grocer, plummeted by about 10%.

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[1]财富深度;雄厚的账力;财力雄厚

[2]Head-to-head

a   between two  or 

正面交锋a head-to-head 正面竞争

▷plummet ['plʌmɪt]

to  very  and 

暴跌，急剧下降House  have plummeted in  .房价近几个月来暴跌。Several   were  plummeting down the .好几块巨石被从山上推下。She plummeted to the .她一下摔到了地上。

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Shares in Morrisons rose. It has suffered more than most at the hands of Lidl and Aldi, selling, as it does, to the same customers in the same areas of the country. Yet the deal with Amazon gives it a straightforward new sales channel into the online market. Morrisons also makes its own food products, and under the new agreement it will supply fresh and frozen foods to Amazon to sell on its Prime Now and Pantry services. Until now, the Pantry service had offered only household goods such as cleaning products, drinks and pet food.

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Morrisons has an existing arrangement to sell its groceries to Ocado, and there are fears that the Amazon deal could undermine[破坏] that. But Ocado hopes that the intervention of the American giant will just increase the market instead. For Amazon, this is probably just the beginning of its journey into Britain’s grocery market, which is worth about £180 billion ($254 billion) a year.

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“It is a real race now,” says Ray Gaul, an analyst at Kantar Retail, of the online market. And to add to the competitive pressures, the Amazon move comes only a month after Aldi launched its first British online-shopping service. This is, for the moment, limited to wine, offering hefty discounts[1] on boxes of six, but there will undoubtedly be more to come. The north of England used to be the bastion of Aldi and Lidl, but Aldi is now advertising this service heavily in London, Tesco’s and Sainsbury’s backyard. The two discounters also have ambitious plans to open many more shops in the capital.

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[1]很高的折扣

▷bastion  ['bæstɪən]

something which  or   a  or a way of  that is  or 

堡垒British   are  as one of the last bastions of .英国公学被视为上流阶级特权的最后堡垒之一。

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The new competition should be good for online shoppers, but less so, perhaps, for the 3m or so people who work in retailing. The same day as the Amazon announcement, the British Retail Consortium[1], a trade body, published a report predicting that 900,000 jobs could be lost in the industry by 2025. The authors blame this partly on the cost of the new “national living wage” and apprenticeship levies, but also the rise in online shopping and the increasing costs of running shops on the high street[2]. Avocados and cheese twists straight to the door won’t be helping everyone.

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[1]英国零售商协会

[2]High street

a  where the most   and  in a are

（位于重要商业区的）大街，商业街There's a new    on the high .商业街上新开了一家意大利餐馆

▷apprenticeship [ə'prentɪ(s)ʃɪp]

a  of   as an 

学徒期

▷levy ['levɪ]

an  of , such as a , that you have to  to a or 

征收额；税款They  a 5% levy on .他们对酒品征收5%的税。

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以上言论不代表本人立场。

摘自《经济学人》杂志，仅外语学习之用。

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