IELTS Essay Question:

Nowadays online shopping becomes more popular than in-store shopping.

Is it a positive or a negative development? Give your reasons and examples.

Answer:

As many retail shops has closed its doors to shoppers last year due to coronavirus pandemic that have shaken the world. The people and businesses turn to adopt the use of technology to responds to the shift of buyers behavior towards digital transactions. In my opinion, the recent surge of e-commerce has brought some positive development in the greater use of information technology and digitalization.

The Covid-19 outbreak has impacted the way people shop and changed the business environment for many companies across the globe. The present rapid shift to online shopping drive many organizations to adapt to online platforms as a coping tool to carry out shopping activities that were previously face-to-face. One unanticipated benefits of online shopping is health. As governments are taken further solutions to suppress viral spread that lead to enforcing social isolation and physical distancing in crowded places such as in brick-and-mortar retail stores. And it turns out that online shopping end up playing a very important role in limiting the viral transmission.

Another factor that drive customers to shop on the internet is the shopping convenience. Customers can purchase items from the comfort and the safety from their own homes or work places. Electronic shopping allows individual to do shopping in minutes without taking the long queue at the counter or waiting for assistant to help them with their purchases. Similarly, the internet is the better place to buy informational pieces like e-books and other digital products, which are available to buyers in an instant. Internet shopping eliminated the crowds especially during holidays and special occasions where this inconvenience triggered a huge headache to shoppers. 

In conclusion, the recent events have made e-shopping more important to avoid the risk of catching the virus and makes shopping a much more convenient to consumers.  The new heights of online shopping popularity has put e-commerce at the forefront of retail’s new normal, which is a positive step that are seen to last even after the end of the pandemic.

Vocabulary

• Retail
• Pandemic
• Surge
• e-commerce
• Digitization
• Outbreak
• Suppress
• Brick-and-mortar
• Transmission
• Eliminated

Read more essay

• The most important consideration when choosing any career or job is having a high income.
• It is generally believed that the internet is an excellent means of communication but some people suggest that it may not be the best place to find information.
• Some people think that more money should be spent to promote the use of bicycles in cities. Others, however, believe that cities should focus on investing in public transport systems.