Sentence:  Aside from the fact that <WSD>business</WSD> was slow this time of year and his one salesgirl was not the most enterprising , Mr. Phillips had no worries at all , and he said as much to Gun Matson , who sat across from him in civilian clothes , on a Jiffy-Couch-a-Bed , mauve velour , $ 79.89 nothing down special ! 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  the volume of commercial activity