Local businessmen are increasingly facing competition from online retailers. Larry Pollock, owner of Camera Co/Op on South Congress, said he has been dealing with this kind of problem for years, even before the Internet. The struggle began with mail-order catalogues(目录), which are similar to online retailers in that they have few employees to pay, no sales tax fees and no business venue to lease and manage.
“Their overhead is lower, but they don’t offer a service like we do,” Pollock said.
Pollock, however, said providing a valuable service to customers does not always guarantee continued sales.
“We spend 30 minutes to an hour with somebody and they go home and buy it on line,” he said.
According to the state comptroller’s office, online shopping is developing at a more rapid rate than traditional businesses.
In spite of how fair or unfair online shopping may be to the local businessmen, consumers will continue to turn to the Internet for its variety and accessibility, said Mitch Wilson, an online shopper. “You have a larger selection and it's easier to compare prices.”
Wilson said he built his personal computer and paid a third of the price by shopping on line.
“Before the Internet, I would have had to go and buy an assembled computer from somebody like Dell,” he said. “Before I started shopping on line I could never find all the pieces I wanted. No single store had everything needed, so shopping on line saved me from having to buy from Dell.”
Janny Brazeal, a psychology freshman, said online shopping is too impersonal.
“’d rather see it in person, touch it, know that I’m getting it,” she said.
Brazeal also said she would not give out her credit card number or other personal information on line no matter how safe the site claims it is.
小题1:Larry Pollock has been facing the problem _____.
| A．before long |
| B．after the Internet |
| C．since there were mail-order catalogues |
| D．since he worked as a businessman |
小题2:According to the passage, which of the following is WRONG?
| A．Traditional business can provide valuable ser- vices to customers. |
| B．People can get cheaper goods from traditional business. |
| C．More and more people will turn to the Internet for their needs. |
| D．There are still many people who don’t like on- line shopping. |
小题3: Mitch Wilson prefers to build his personal compu- ter by shopping on line because _____.
| A．he can easily get what he needs at a lower price |
| B．he can not get the price at traditional businessman |
| C．he is not satisfied with the service of local busi- nessman |
| D．the quality of Dell is not satisfying |