1 . Online shopping has changed retail (零售) forever. Most of us wouldn’t know what to do without it. But the e-commerce revolution seems to have missed an industry—groceries. Why aren’t we making our most important shopping trip easier?

The issue isn’t so much that grocers don’t want to be creative. Until recently, many grocers couldn’t afford the technology to support an e-commerce platform. But times are changing, and stores are adapting to meet increasing customer needs by adopting a unified commerce approach.

Grocery shopping is a tiring process and one that most people prefer to do as quickly as possible. However, the current state of online grocery shopping is not quite user-friendly. Maybe it’s because consumers like to touch and feel the fresh produce they’re purchasing. Maybe it’s because grocery e-commerce lacks features that clothing and other industries’ websites have—such as the ability to identify the closest store, an accurate inventory (库存), and the ability to manage large basket sizes.

E-commerce platforms can be expensive and hard to set up for grocers, but the industry is changing, and grocers need to get ready to stay competitive. The key to any successful shopping experience is a 360-view of the customer. Grocers need to invest in solutions that can gather customer information from multiple sales channels, online and off, and bring it together into one platform. Retailers should be trying their best to make shopping possible on different devices—simplifying the journey to help shoppers find what they need more easily.

Part of the reason that unified grocery commerce hasn’t taken off just yet is the fact that stores are not set up to serve different types of shoppers at once. Who is responsible for handling online orders? Should store associates put in-store shoppers or online ones first? It can get confusing for employees and customers alike. There is also the cost associated with adopting new technology in-store, such as creating apps to scan products, the ability to find the right shelf using the product locator and more.

According to Salesforce, the average retailer uses 39 different systems to manage the customer relationship. The key will be finding a way to combine these systems and analyze customer data to best serve customer needs.

1. What does the author say about grocers?

A．They find it unrealistic to be creative.

B．They have no money to get essential technology.

C．They have no clear idea of customer needs.

D．They are unaware of technological changes.

2. What’s a possible problem with online grocery shopping at the moment?

A．Customers can’t buy fresh produce.

B．Customers aren’t friendly in many cases.

C．Customers can’t have quality experiences.

D．Customers aren’t able to buy small-sized items.

3. What do grocers need to do to ensure a successful shopping experience?

A．Have a competitive spirit at all times.

B．Gather information on customers’ daily journeys.

C．Turn multiple sales channels into one simple channel.

D．Make their services accessible to people using various devices.

4. Which of the following accounts for the slow progress of unified grocery commerce?

A．Not enough space for more shelves.

B．Failure to handle orders online and off at the same time.

C．Employees’ limited knowledge of new technology.

D．Difficulty in putting online shoppers above in-store ones.