We are seeing a significant increase in online shopping nowadays. What are the advantages of this trend? Give your own opinion and relevant examples to support your answer.
Sample Response
With the technological advancement and widespread use of computers, smartphones and other hand-held computer devices, people are doing online shopping nowadays more than ever. More store owners are going online with their products and because of the convenient shopping mechanism, customers are opting for these new trendsopting to this new trends. The advantagesadvantage of this online shopping facility is huge and there are some drawbacks as well.
To mention the advantages, we have to consider the conveniences of both merchantsmerchant and shoppers. Merchants can run their shops 24/7 and without paying utility billswithout any utility bill to be paid, employee salaries are not requiredemployee salary is not required and they can reach to a whole new segment of customers. Online shopping sites like e-bay & Amazon have more than several millions of online customers and these two websites can be two great examples of online business potentialpotentials. The merchants can reach to the new and potential shoppers with their online offerings besidesbeside their physical stores. This is indeed a great prospect for the business owners to expand the business. In fact, going online is no longer an option; it has becomeoption it has become a must in today’s world.
From the customers’ point of view, online shopping saves their time and money. They no longer have to go to the shops, faceaccept the hassle and spend more to purchase their necessary products. Nowadays all they have to do is visit online shops from their computers or phones, compare productsphones compare products and pay online. That’s it! And the quick delivery system would ensure the delivery of the ordered products to the shopper’s doorstep. This is a comprehensive lifestyle improvement for the online shoppers. They can spend more time at home with family members than spending time in marketplaces. They do not need to carry cash and that’s a saferbetter safety in terms of payment towards the purchases.
One possible concernAmong the disadvantages, the first and foremost is the inability of touching and feeling the product before purchasing. An online shopper cannot touch the product and judge the quality of it before making the final decision or purchasing. They have to rely on the images and description of the products and that might often lead to customer dissatisfactiondissatisfactions of the customers. A second serious issueThe second threatening issue is the online theft and credit card information hacking that might become an alarming issue soon.
A potential hacker and the malicious computer software worms can steal the sensitive information of an online customer and cause serious problemsnumerous troubles to the card owners. From the merchants’ point of view, customers often disagree to pay in case of pay-on-delivery payment option and this is very negative for running a smooth business.
In conclusion, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and with time the online shopping would be the primary mode of shopping for us.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response develops the benefits of online shopping from both merchant and customer perspectives, using relevant examples and a clear overall opinion. However, extended discussion of disadvantages takes space away from the question's main focus, while recurring punctuation and phrasing errors reduce precision. Keep the drawbacks brief, expand the advantages with sharper support, and proofread long sentences so each idea is linked and expressed accurately.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The essay explains several advantages of online shopping with relevant examples. However, the prompt asks for advantages, while two paragraphs focus on disadvantages, so some space is not fully task-focused.
Keep disadvantages brief and spend more time developing advantages and your own opinion.
Coherence and Cohesion
Paragraphing is clear and progression is generally logical. Some sentences need better punctuation and linking.
Use clear transitions between merchant benefits, customer benefits, and your opinion.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and topic-appropriate, with some inaccurate collocations and plural forms.
Edit phrases such as opt for, these new trends, utility bills, and dissatisfaction.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of structures is used, but punctuation, agreement, and article errors appear regularly.
Check long sentences for missing commas and independent clauses joined without punctuation.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
We are seeing a significant increase in online shopping nowadays. What are the advantages of this trend? Give your own opinion and relevant examples to support your answer.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.