Buying Gifts Online
ANCHOR
We have just two more days to "shop till you drop" till Christmas, and that typically means a lot of last minute shopping. Many of us do it online. And though buying with a mouse, one of these, is still tiny compared to shopping with your feet, one of those, online retailing1 is more popular than ever. As Jim Boulden reports, it's because mainstream2stores have finally got their e-tailing acts together.
CORRESPONDENT
You can get to the North Pole. It's Amazon's distribution center outside London. It's running 24 hours a day in order to deliver books, movies, and DVD players to some 200 countries by December 24th.
ROBIN TERRELL, AMAZON.CO.UK
Christmas is our biggest time. But we're growing so fast anyway, I mean, the international business has been growing 60 percent year over year in the past few quarters. We're expecting, you know, great growth again in the fourth quarter at our most important time.
CORRESPONDENT
Amazon and other retailers have largely slain3 the twin fears of consumers: Internet fraud4 and unreliable delivery.
But this Christmas should see the traditional retailers benefiting. The dot com shakeout allowed major retailers to quietly build reliable websites, with reputations and deep pockets intact.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE
People have got their act together, I mean, now it's mainly the major
retailers who are leading the way and, of course, they know what they're
doing. The whole thing's grown up. Consumers have got better at shopping online, the shops are a lot better.
CORRESPONDENT
In the U.S., online shopping is predicted to be 30 percent ahead of last December, while malls can e
xpect less than a 6 percent increase in sales. In Britain, Europe's biggest e-tailing market, online gift-buying is expected to grow by 50 percent, with $8 billion worth of goods sold through the net in the November to January period.
REBECCA JENNINGS, FORRESTER
孙羽幽We're much more, now, into getting people to buy more online. They've bought books, they've bought videos, they've bought CDs; they understand that. So now it's, like, persuade them to buy apparel5, persuade them to buy more of their
gifts.德芙和多芬
CORRESPONDENT
Amazon says it's licked that challenge already.
ROBIN TERRELL
One of our best sellers at the moment is a chocolate fondue6 set. I don't think people think of Amazon and chocolate fondue sets in one, in the same sentence. CORRESPONDENT
But the lure7 of shopping online vs. shopping in store splits the pundits8. UNIDENTIFIED MALE
Christmas shopping in the street, like this, is great sometimes. But when you've just got to get a bunch of shopping done and you want to have something to send to a third-party location, it's much better online. You can do it, you know, when you want.
CORRESPONDENT
Except, that is, if you leave shopping until the last minute.
RICHARD HYMAN,VERDICT
As December the 25th gets nearer, retailers start to panic9, they start
launching the odd promotion10 here or there, the odd discount11 day, markdown day, call it what you will. And consumers have been encouraged to leave it as late as they can because the later they leave it, the better the deal's going to be. CORRESPONDENT
The big shops came late to the Internet, and this Christmas will go a long way to show whether they have blended the convenience12of buying online with the fun of shopping under the Christmas lights. Jim Boulden, CNN, London.
部落升级路线
网上购物潮
主播
圣诞节前夕，我们还有两天可以“尽情购物”，这通常是指最后一分钟的抢购。我们中的许多人都在网上购物。用手操作鼠标，要比用脚逛商店轻松多。网上零售比以往更加普及了。正如吉姆·波顿报道，这是因为主流商店也都开始了他们的网上零售业务。
记者
这里是伦敦城外的亚马逊经销中心。销售网络广至北极。24小时营业，在12月24日前，可把书、电影和DVD播放机递送到200多个国家。
罗宾·特雷尔，亚马逊公司，AMAZON.CO.UK
圣诞节是我们的重大节日。我们的业务发展很快，我是说国际业务在刚过去的几个季度里每年递增百分之六十。你们知道我们期望在这个重要时刻，使我们的第四个销售季度里又有更大的增长。
记者
平面图形亚马逊和其他零售商已经打消了顾客两方面的顾虑：网络欺诈和送货不兑现。
今年圣诞节传统的零售商仍然获益。大部分网上零售商尚未正式运行，大零售商家正在悄悄地建立其可靠而有信誉的网站。
男被访者
人们统一行动起来，主要是大的零售商在领导潮流，当然，他们的一举一动引导了整个事情的发展。顾客已经尝到了在线购物的好处，而网络商店获利更大。
记者
在美国，据测在线购物将比去年12月份增长百分之三十，大型商场的销售增长不到百分之六。英国是欧洲最大的电子商务市场，在线购买礼物增长到百分之五十，在11月至1月期间，网络销售额高达80亿。
丽贝卡·詹宁斯，福里斯特
我们鼓励人们在网上购物，如买书、录像带和CD盘。现在希望他们在网上购买衣物和更多的礼物。
记者
亚马逊说他们已经战胜了这个挑战。
罗宾
我们最畅销之一是巧克力干酪。我认为人们不可能把亚马逊与巧克力干酪联系在一起。
记者
在线购物与商店购物吸引顾客之争，人们观点不一。
男被访者
街头销售在圣诞节有时候也很可观。但当你必须购买大批量物品时或当你想把某礼物送到第三方手里时，最好还是在线购买。任何时候需要，你都可以在线订购。
记者
除非要等到最后一分钟的氧化铁抢购。
张冬玲照片
理查德·海曼
当12月25日越来越临近，零售商开始忙乱了，这儿或那儿掀起了促销、打折或减价酬宾活动（愿意叫什么都可以）。怂恿顾客把采购拖得越晚越好，因为越晚购物，折
扣越好，价格越便宜。
记者
大型商场是最晚开始上网销售的。这个圣诞节后才会表明是否把网上购物的方便与在圣诞节彩灯下采购的乐趣有机地结合了起来。CNN，吉姆·波顿从伦敦报道。
注释：
1. retailing［ ❒♓♦♏♓●］n.零售
2. mainstream［ ❍♏♓⏹♦♦❒♓❍］n.主流
3. slay［♦●♏♓］vt.打消
4. fraud［♐❒♎］n.欺骗
5. apparel［☜☐✌❒☜●］n.衣服
6. fondue［ ♐⏹♎◆］n.干酪
7. lure［●◆☜］n.诱惑力
给孩子起名字
8. pundit［ ☐✈⏹♎♓♦］n.权威，学者
9. panic［ ☐✌⏹♓］n.忙乱，恐慌
10. promotion［☐❒☜❍☜◆☞☜⏹］n.促销
11. discount［ ♎♓♦♋◆⏹♦］n.折扣
12 convenience［ ☜⏹♓⏹☜⏹♦］n.方便