📘 Part 3: Online shopping

This episode's vocabulary

Convenient (adj.) - suitable for your purposes and needs and causing the least difficulty.

At the touch of a button (idiom) - very easily and with little effort, as if it could be done by pressing a single button.

Shopper (noun) - a person who is buying things from a shop or a number of shops.

Customer service (noun) - the part of an organization that answers customers' questions, exchanges goods that are not satisfactory, etc.

First port of call (idiom) - the first place where one stops to visit, accomplish something, or begin a process.

Insurance (noun) - an agreement in which you pay a company money and they pay your costs if you have an accident, injury, etc.

Warranty (noun) - a written promise from a company to repair or replace a product that develops a fault within a particular period of time, or to do a piece of work again if it is not satisfactory.

Eventuality (noun) - a possible happening or result.

To void (verb) - to remove the legal force from something, such as a legal agreement.

Personable (adj.) - having a pleasant appearance and character.

Entitled (adj.) - feeling that you have the right to do or have what you want without having to work for it or deserve it, just because of who you are.

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Questions and Answers

M: Rory, let's talk about online shopping. Why is online shopping so popular these days?

R: Well, probably for the same reason that anything is. It's cheap, convenient, easy to use. You can get everything you need just at the touch of a button with a little extra cost for delivery that might even be cheaper than the money you'd spend on petrol, to be honest.

M: What's the difference between shopping online and in a store?

R: I suppose you can't really try on or try out the products in advance, can you? However, you also don't have to compete for space with other shoppers. Then again, you do have to wait for what you want to be delivered, most of the time anyway. I think those are the big differences.

M: What should customers do if there are problems with products they bought online?

R: I think customer service is usually the first port of call, isn't it? Most things have insurance or warranties that cover these kinds of eventuality. They could also try fixing it themselves. But that could void the warranty, I suppose.

M: What kind of service should customers expect from a company?

R: Well, ideally, one that's quick and to the point and doesn't add to what you have to do. So often these days, you call companies and have to go through a million options or speak to robots before an actual person. And they aren't that good.

M: What is good service?

R: Well, I'm hardly an expert, but if I were to guess, I'd say being effective, easy to access, with well-trained and personable people, it means you don't have to wait long and you feel better for having had it and you get what you want at the end of it. Or near enough, anyway.

M: What is bad service?

R: The opposite of what I just said. No one likes waiting for ages and then at the end of it, not getting what they want at all.

M: Is it important for a company to provide after-sales service?

R: Well, I think that depends entirely on what you bought. If it's something expensive or high maintenance, then you're probably entitled to some decent service after you buy something. If you haven't paid much, I doubt it would be necessary even.

M: What about the future? Do you think more people will buy more things online?

R: Yeah, I don't see why not. Because it's there and you have more of a reason to do it now than before, because of the cost of living.

M: And do you think that traditional shops will disappear and in the future, we'll have only online shopping?

R: Couldn't even begin to guess, to be honest with you. I suppose, there will be fewer shops. They won't disappear but just find a different purpose. But more people will shop online, probably as it becomes easier to access.

M: Thank you, Rory, for your answers! This is the end of the test!

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Discussion

M: Hey, shopping and customer service! Mm. Yeah. So these are the new IELTS Speaking questions. So in part 2 "Describe an experience of online shopping", this is new. From September to December. And Speaking part 3. We've talked about customer service before. Roy, do you remember

R: We have, but I can't remember exactly when or what I said.

M: Yeah. So if you, dear listener, remember our episode about customer service, go and relisten to it or just listen to it. It will be really helpful. So, online shopping, yeah. Is convenient, easy to use and cheap, obviously. And there's a good expression Rory used. You can get everything at the touch of a button. So at the touch of a button, you touch the button and you just get everything you need. You can get a dog delivered to you. You can buy, I don't know, a planet. I think. You ca buy a planet.

R: Well...

M: Or a star, a star, you can buy a star.

R: You can buy a star, yeah.

M: Yeah, you see. You can name this star Rory, or Maria, or Success with IELTS podcast. So at the touch of a button. So maybe kind of like two touches of two buttons to buy a star, with a little extra cost for delivery. So you pay a little extra cost for delivery, or delivery service.

R: Well, you pay a little extra or it comes with a little extra cost.

M: And then we talk about online shopping versus stores. Rory, what do you call these stores? Traditional stores, usual stores, physical stores, offline shops.

R: Well, maybe not usual stores, but like some people talk about the high street, for example.

M: High street stores, yeah?

R: Or stores like physical stores.

M: Right. Online shops, physical stores or high street stores. Right? Can I say brick-and-mortar shops?

R: You can if you want to. It's unusual, but you could still say it.

M: Isn't it a bit old-fashioned? Brick-and-mortar stores.

R: Just a little bit. Yeah.

M: Hmm. You know, some people say that, like, shops are made from brick. They are like, actual, like real shops, not virtual shops. So I prefer to go to brick-and-mortar shops. Also, dear, listen, this could be your topic in essays. So will traditional shops disappear in the future? So this vocabulary is good to go for your essay on this topic. So traditional shops, high street stores, physical stores. And what are the differences between online shopping and the traditional stores is that you can try on and try out the products. So try on clothes kind of you put them on. You try on jeans, you try on shoes. What about try out?

R: Try out is like for gadgets, I suppose, or things that aren't clothes. Because it's like put on clothes but try out would be to practise using something. You can try out using a phone when you go to a store, for example.

M: Try out using a phone. So you see the structure. You try out doing something and try out is... Come on, Rory...

R: Is it a phrasal verb?

M: It is. Try out.

R: It is. And if you're interested in phrasal verbs, then you should check out our podcourse. succeswithielts.com/podcourses

M: Dear listener, we are not advertising our premium, our phrasal verb course on the premium, it's just we can't help it. The moment I say phrasal verbs, Rory just keeps going, right? Because he just, you know, he's like a robot. So I go like phrasal verb and then he starts. No, no, Rory, focus. Focus on shoppers. Yeah. Shoppers is our favourite next word.

R: Or customers.

M: Customers. Shoppers is a good one. It's a good synonym. So customers. Can I say consumers?

R: Consumers is a bit formal and technical.

M: Mhm. So for shopping customers, shoppers. Yeah. Nice one. Shoppers. Online shopping, you wait for something to be delivered. The passive voice. Right? And you get something delivered to your house. So you want it to be delivered.

R: Yeah. Or dropped off.

M: You said that customer service is usually the first port of call. The first port. Like port like where ships are. The first port of call. Is it an idiom? What is this?

R: It's just like the first... Oh, I suppose it's an idiom but it's like the first thing that you do.

M: Mhm. So what do you do if you have problems with online shopping? Customer service is the first port of call. What do I do if I want a good score for my IELTS speaking?

R: You use idiomatic language.

M: No, Rory, you should use the first port to call in our podcast. Come on.

R: No, first port of call.

M: So the first port of call would be our podcast. Something like this.

R: Yes. For idiomatic language. There we go. We've compromised.

M: Yeah. And then you talk about insurance and warranties. What are the differences between insurance and a warranty? He-he, it's a good question.

R: It's not. It's... Well, it's a good question, but it's an easy one to answer. So insurance is if it's usually if something bad happens to your product, then it's money that gets paid out to help replace or fix it. Whereas a warranty is not to do with money, it's more to do with replacements. So if something happens to it, then you get a replacement or a replacement part of something.

M: Okay-okay. For example, so I bought a laptop online, they delivered a dead computer, so it didn't work. It didn't even switch on. So then because I have a warranty I had it changed. Or it wasn't this warranty thing, they just replaced a broken item.

R: No, that's the warranty. Yeah, it's covered by the warranty. They wouldn't do it just because. Well, they might, I don't know.

M: Yeah, but I had to go not to the shop where I bought it, but I had to go to the official centre where they made those computers. Asus, right? So because of the warranty, they got it changed. People can fix things themselves, so fix or repair things themselves. And also warranties cover certain eventualities.

R: Yes, but eventualities are just things that happen.

M: Nice. What a nice word. Could you give me some examples of eventualities?

R: Well, your warranty covers different eventualities. Insurance covers different eventualities. You need to consider different eventualities when you're planning something.

M: Yeah. For example, if you go to the toilet with your expensive smartphone, make sure not to drop it in the toilet. Oops!

R: This is an eventuality you may need to consider.

M: Yeah, yeah. Right? So be careful. So when again, something happens, while you are ordering things online, you should go through a million options. Like you call the customer service and you call companies. And then you have to go through a million options and wait for ages. Speak to robots.

R: We've done that a lot recently. Just said like, I've got a million things to do or I have to go through a million options. You don't really. It's just a way of saying, like, I have a lot of things to do.

M: Don't you dislike speaking to robots on the phone?

R: Yes.

M: Oh, and people these days, they say that you can't really tell the difference between if you are talking to a real person or a robot. Because robots are so good these days, you know.

R: Are they?

M: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

R: Can you never tell when you're talking to a robot?

M: I don't know, because I don't know if it's a robot or real person, you know? You never know. Maybe you kind of you are sure that it is a real person, but actually it's a robot. Because they, they crack jokes. They...

R: Do they?

M: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. If like a company pays for, like, good customer service on the phone and there's a robot answering the questions. Oh, yeah, yeah. It's crazy, it's creepy. Dear listeners, we are not robots, we are real, you know, real.

R: The "realest" of the real.

M: When did you use your super strategy? I'm hardly an expert, but if I were to guess.

R: When you said what's good service. That was a really cheap answer, though, wasn't it? Like I could have done that for more difficult questions, so I could have said like it could have been for is it important for a company to provide good service or what's bad service. But I did it here just because I'm lazy. So yes, I'm hardly an expert, but if I were to guess, I'd say... And then the qualities.

M: Oh... Yeah. So here Rory just got lazy. Dear listener, don't be like Rory here. And if the examiner, if the examiner asks you a difficult question and you go like, wow, I'm hardly an expert, but if I were to guess, I'd say that. And then the answer of something ridiculous or silly. Doesn't really matter. And then good service. Rory talked about easy access and interaction. Interaction, well, between you and the company where you bought things from. And also you said personable people. Personable people? What? Not robots? Personable?

R: Yeah. Personable just means that you're good at talking to people and you don't treat them like, well, the robots or machines.

M: So when I call customer service, they treat me as a person. So I talk to personable people. Yeah. Interesting. And also like this means you don't wait long. You feel better for having had it. Can you explain the grammar here?

R: Can I?

M: Can you, native speaker? It's your language. Your language.

R: So, let's talk about this in more detail. So you feel better. That's fine. And then for, preposition, -ing after the preposition for having had it. So it's like for getting the service. You feel better after you get the service.

M: Ooh la la. Yeah, but here, Rory has used Present Perfect. So have had it, dear listener, are you with me? Are you okay? How are you? So, for example, like I've bought a dress. I have bought a dress. Okay? Have had a dress. For example, I have had my phone for five years. It's the same, the same structure. Okay? I've had my phone. Present Present. I have had my phone. So I have known Rory for 5 years, 10 years, 15. No. It doesn't matter.

R: It's five. Or six, seven.

M: Feel better for buying it. But we can't say buying because you bought something in the past. So you say I feel better for having bought it. But Rory didn't use the verb buy, for some reason. He used the verb have. That's why I feel better for having had it. Oh, my God.

R: Oh, well, I can use the word buy here because I couldn't use the word buy because it's service. You don't buy a service you get service or you have service.

M: Ah, yeah, you have service. Oh, you feel better for having got it. For having got the service. There you go. Yeah. If it's kind of, if it's mind-blowing for you, dear listener, having had it, you can say I feel better for having got it.

R: Well, if it's mind-blowing for you, just imagine how I feel.

M: Explain it, you know.

R: Yeah.

M: Oh, boy, oh, boy. Yeah. But this is like pretty much high level. This is nice. And then what is bad service? And Rory cracks a joke. The opposite of what I said, the opposite of what I said. Yeah, so bad service. What is it? You have to wait for a long time, the item is broken. What else? They treat you like...

R: Well, like, like you're on an assembly line. It's not nice.

M: Yeah, they never call you back, they ignore you. Yeah. Or you call, you wait for like 20 minutes and then they just hang up on you. Do you call it after-sales service? Because this was in the question or what would you call it?

R: Well, it could be or customer service. Like it's all service. I don't think it makes much of a difference, to be honest, because it's all just people dealing with you and your product.

M: So you buy a car and then you have after-sales service.

M: Yeah.

M: Yeah. So, for example, if you get something expensive or high maintenance because a car is high maintenance, you have to maintain your car, which means take care of your car, keep it in good condition. You are entitled to some decent service. Rory?

R: Well, if you're entitled to something, it's you should expect it to happen because it's like a natural part of something. And then decent service is just good service or a service that works.

M: Good service or decent service. Yeah, they are nice synonyms. If you haven't paid much, I doubt that you would get after-sale service. And we can say that people provide you with good service or provide you with bad service. Sweet! Rory, anything else from you?

R: No. I think we've delivered a decent enough service.

M: Thank you very much for listening.!And we'll see you in the next speaking part 2.

R: Bye!

M: Bye! Oh, I need some shopping online now. Okay. Shoes. Shoes. Online shoe shopping.

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