📘 Part 3: Shopping

This episode's vocabulary

Accessible (adj.) - able to be reached or easily obtained.

Traction (noun) - the fact of an idea, product, etc. becoming popular or being accepted.

On offer (phrase) - available to be bought or used.

Disposable (adj.) - a disposable product is intended to be thrown away after use.

Make a day/night/evening/weekend of it (idiom) - to make an activity longer or combine a series of activities so that they last for the whole of that particular period of time.

Buyer (noun) - someone who buys something expensive such as a house.

Next to (phrase) - almost.

Better off - to have more money than you had in the past or more money than most other people.

Rampant (adj.) - (of something bad) getting worse quickly and in an uncontrolled way.

Consumerism (noun) - the situation in which too much attention is given to buying and owning things.

Void (noun) - a feeling of unhappiness because someone or something is missing.

Dopamine high (adj.) - high on dopamine.

Caught up in something (idiom) - so involved in an activity that you do not notice other things.

Personalization (noun) - the act of making something suitable for the needs of a particular person.

Shift (noun) - a change in position or direction.

Questions and Answers

M: Is location the key factor that attracts customers?

R: I'm sure it's one of them. But not the only one. You could have a shop in the most accessible and visible place possible. But if you're selling stuff that's totally useless, then you still won't gain much traction.

M: What kinds of shops are popular in your country?

R: God, it's easier to see what's unpopular, frankly. Despite the options on offer online, people still seem to prefer physical close stores, since trying things on in the moment is easier than ordering a load of them online and then sending the ones that don't sit back.

M: Why do young people enjoy going to boutiques?

R: I have absolutely no idea what those are. Could you rephrase the question, please?

M: Why do young people enjoy going to expensive stores?

R: Oh, do they? I guess, well, young people are much fonder of following trends. So maybe that's why they would go to stores that focus on brands. And, well, they don't usually have children, so they might have more disposable income. That's debatable.

M: Why do people like shopping more now than in the past?

R: Well, lots of reasons. There's good choice and people love the novelty of new different things. Plus, it's something you can make a day out of with your friends. So there's more social element, whereas in the past, it was more about survival, or, well, basic survival, yes.

M: Do you think shopping is good for a country's economy?

R: In the near future, probably yes. Since it encourages production and possibly innovation, though it depends what's on offer, I'm not sure, centrally planned and controlled economies do very well in this regard, because they often fail to meet the demand. However, shopping in a free market economy tends to be more economically viable because of this element of choice.

M: And what's your opinion about online shopping? Do you think it's better than going to the offline store?

R: Well, that depends entirely on what you have your eye on, and what sort of class of buyer you fall into. I mean, if you're someone with a lot of money to burn, then you could just order a range of everything, and then send back what you don't want, as with the previous example with clothes. But if you're someone who has next to nothing in terms of money, then you'd be better off getting things right the first time since you can't afford to buy all that stuff and then return it.

M: Can shopping be addictive?

R: If you're given to rampant consumerism and just start buying stuff to fill some sort of void in your life or chase some kind of dopamine high, then you could probably get caught up in some kind of addiction. But that goes for everything, not just shopping.

M: How have shopping habits changed in recent years?

R: Oh, I've read a book about this, and then probably forgot everything. But it was all to do with personalization and a few other aspects. I can't recall the other ones right now. But the one that sticks out in my mind, like I said is definitely the personalization, not just in terms of product, but also payments like buy now, pay later, and service like with delivery to your door, it's a pretty amazing shift, to be honest.

M: And how important are prices and quality in influencing consumer behaviour?

R: Well, we kind of touched on that already. It depends on the kind of person that you are. You know, if you don't have much money, then clearly, well, usually clearly, price will play a crucial role in what you buy since you want to maximize your bank for your buck, I suppose. But then if you have more money to spend on things then you might focus on the quality of a product. So that's where the brand comes in. And the related higher price.

M: Thank you, Rory, for your answers!

R: Whoa, you don't need to shop anywhere else for them.