Universitas Nasional

Jakarta

UJIAN AKHIR SEMESTER GANJIL 2019/2020

Mata Ujian : Bahasa Inggris/toefl

Hari/tanggal : Jumat, 24/01/ 2020
Waktu : 18.50-20.30WIB

__________________________________________________________________________

Read the following text carefully

US department stores launch counter – attack

By Lauren Foster

As consumers demand better value and a more interesting and stimulating experience while
shopping department stores face a clear choice : adapt or die.

‘My concern is that they will become retail museums,’ says Britt Breemer, chairman
of America’s Research Group. The bottom line is that they have to admit they are in trouble
and figure out some way to reinvent themselves.’

This may help to explain why four times as many households visit discount stores as
departement stores.

Department stores face mounting competition from speciality retailers and

discounters, such as Wal-Mart and Target. Their steady loss of market share may be partly
because the concept was born in a different era, a time when, for families, a trip to the stores
combined shopping with entertaiment.

What is needed, say retail experts, is a new approach. A typical example of this
approach working is seen at Selfridges. This UK group has recast itself from a ‘sleepy 1970s-
style department store’ into a retailing experience fit for 21st century, says Wendy Liebmann,
President of WSL Strategic Retail.

One of the main changes is that more floor space is rented to vendors, in what is
sometimes referred to as the showcase business model: vendors design their own booths and
are encouraged to be creative.

1
 The Selfriges model, says Peter Williams, CEO of Selfriges, is about creating an
experience that is ‘new, interesting and different’ where it is not just the product that is
different. He says the problem with US department stores is that they all look the same.

Arnold Aronson, a management consultant, believes Selfridges could be a prototype

for failing US department stores: ‘It has brought back excitement and novelty and is really
seducing customers by developing the right quantities at the right time.’

Federated, which owns Marcy’s and Bloomingdale’s appears to be moving in the

right direction. Forty-two stores are being upgraded with the latest components of its
‘reinvent’ strategy, including enhanced fitting rooms, convenient price-check devices,
comfortable lounge areas, computer kiosks and shopping carts.

The challenge department stores face is how to develop in a sector that is, essentially,
not growing. But if they adapt, many industry observers believe they will survive. ‘The
department stores is not dead, it will live on,’ said Robert Tamilia, Professor of Marketing at
the University of Quebec. ‘But it will not be the same animal it was before.’

From The Financial Times,

FINANCIAL TIMES, world business newspaper.

I. Match these people to their views

1. Britt Breemer
2. Wendy Liebmann
3. Peter Williams
4. Arnold Aronson
5. Robert Tamilia

A. This is not the end of department stores but in the future they will be different.
B. American department stores are not different enough from each other.
C. Selfriges has changed into an up-to-date store.
D. Department stores need to recognise their problems and have to change.
E. Selfrige’s new approach works.

2
II. Which of these groups of people are mentioned in the article?
1. agents 5. discounters 9. Vendors
2. clients 6. manufacturers 10. wholesalers
3. consumers 7. retailers
4. customers 8. Shoppers

III. Which of the group of people above (II) :

1. are buyers ?
2. are sellers?
3. are intermediaries?
4. offer goods at reduced price?
5. sell directly to the public?

IV. Complete these sentences with the correct verbs from the box.

decentralising reorganised retraining grade regulate

downsize redevelop relaunch relocating restructure

1. It is now so expensive to rent offices in the city centre that many companies are
..............to the suburbs.
2. The company has recently had to ............its workfoce. Reducing the number of
employees is the best way to stay profitable in the current economic climate.
3. Excellent customer service is vital to keep up with the competition. The company has
introduced new working practices and is .........all part-time staff.
4. The seating plan in our office has been .............to accommodate new staff.
5. Our product hasn’t been selling well recently. The marketing team has decided to
...............the product with a more up-to-date image.
6. The company hs noticed that too many decisions are made at Head Office. It is
................the decision-making process so that branch managers are more involved at
an earlier age.
7. The company has finalised the plans to ............the disused car park site. It is going to
become a modern three-storey office block.
8. The most successful change in our company was the decision to .........the company
hierarchy. Now there is more opportunity for promotion.

3
V. Complete this report about the history of Joie de Vivre. Use the past
simple or the present perfect forms of the verb in brackets.
..........1(receive) the year’s results yesterday and I am delighted to announce that
our company .............2(have) another fantastic year. We ...........3(start) in 1970 in a
small factory in Shatin, Hong Kong, and we only ...........4(employ) four people. That
number .........5(grow) to around 2.000 today.

In the early years we ........6(face) strong competition from our competitors and in
1982 we nearly ..........7(go) bankrupt. But from that difficult period until now, we
.........8(hold) out and we ..........9(not make) the mistake of becoming typecast as a label
for the changeable junior market.

Things .......10 (improve) considerably since we ......11(move) from Shatin to

China. In 2000 we .......12(buy) the international operations of our partner company Joie
de Vivre Holdings and we now do business in more than 30 countries.

In recent years we ........13(expand) our product range and we have carved out a
sizeable niche in the same market as Benetton and Zara.

Last year we ........14(have) our fifth consecutive year of growth with $98 million
in net profit and in January of this year we ..........15(deliver) the first retail stock to be
included in Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index.

A lot of change ......16(take) place recently. This is because last year most of our
sales ..........17(come) from the Asian market. So, in January this year, we
.........18(decide) to try and break into the US market. Just recently, we .......19(enter) into
negotiations with Marcy’s department stores.

In conclusion, our company so far this year ........20(prosper) and that is down to
all your hard work. Congratulations to you all.

***Good luck***