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On major retail websites, companies and merchants will have pictures, descriptions and prices of the goods that they have for sale. If a smaller company does not have the means to create a website, some sites like Amazon and Yahoo! make it possible for small businesses and individuals to display products or build their own online stores for a monthly fee.

Other websites like eBay and Bidz provide an auction format, in which sellers can display items for a minimum price and buyers can bid on these items until the listing ends or the seller chooses to award it to a buyer. Most stores also have placed virtual customer service centers on their websites, so you can either call, email or chat with a live customer service representative if you have questions.

Buying and Receiving the Product

After finding and selecting your desired product, the webpage usually has a "checkout" option. When you check out, you are often given a list of shipping and payment options. Shipping options include standard, expedited and overnight shipping. Depending on the shipping company being used and your location, standard shipping usually takes seven to 21 business days and expedited shipping can take anywhere from two to six business days.

When it comes to paying for your purchase(s), there are also different options:

E-Check: This payment option is just like paying directly from your bank account. If you choose to pay by electronic check, you are required to enter your routing and account numbers. Once this is done, the amount is taken directly from your bank account.

Credit Card: When you pay by credit card, instead of swiping your card as you would at a brick-and-mortar store, you type the required credit card information into provided fields. Required information includes your credit card number, expiration date, type of card (Visa, MasterCard, etc.) and verification/security number, which is usually the last three digits on the back of the card, right above the signature.

Payment Vendors: Payment vendors or payment processing companies, such as PayPal, are e-commerce businesses that provide payment exchange services. They allow people to safely transfer money to one another without sharing financial information. Before you make a purchase through a payment vendor, you’ll need to set up an account first to verify your credit card and/or financial institution information.

(from: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/08/buy-sell-online.asp)

3.Study the following information. Speak about online shopping.

15 ONLINE SHOPPING STATISTICS THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

1.What percent of American consumers shop online?

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79% of U.S. consumers shop online, up from just 22% back in 2000.

2.Which countries have the highest online retail sales in terms of percentage of total retail sales?

UK has the highest online retail sales as percentage of total retail sales (15.6%), followed by China (13.8%), Norway (11.5%), Finland (10.8%) and South Korea (10.5%). The US comes in 8th at (8.3%).

3.Between Apple and Windows PC users, who spends more money

online?

Apple users win by a mile, their average order value is $228 compared to $187 for windows PC users.

4.How many people in the country are shopping online and what is the projected growth?

217.1 million people in the US are online shoppers. These figures are projected to reach 224 million in 2019.

5.What is the current value of mobile shopping?

Mobile shopping, the fastest growing segment in e-commerce is worth $3.2 trillion in 2017, a jump of over $1.5 trillion since 2013.

6. Do online shoppers buy on impulse?

They do, as 48% of users have bought or spent more than planned when shopping online.

7.What are the factors that influence an American’s decision to buy

online?

87% of online shoppers indicated that price was the most important purchase factor, followed by shipping cost and speed.

8.Are consumers prepared to spend more to reach the free delivery threshold?

They are, 58% of 5,849 respondents were ready to add items to a cart to take advantage of free shipping.

9.Are online shoppers conscious of the retailer’s return policy?

Yes, as 63% of online shoppers look at a retailer’s return policy before making a purchase.

10. Can a hassle-free return policy drive customer loyalty?

Yes, it most definitely can. 95% of online shoppers surveyed said they would shop again with a retailer that provided a satisfactory return experience. 82% of participants who had already returned an item to a retailer claimed they were repeat shoppers.

11.Since a customer-centric return policy drives customer loyalty, can it also boost revenues?

Offering free return shipping can improve sales by at least 25% in six months.

12.If there are significant advantages to a customer-centric return policy, does it mean that many online retailers implement it?

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Unfortunately, that is not the case. 90% of online retailers charge for return shipping and more than 30% do not provide detailed information on their return shipping policies and charges on their website.

13.What percent of online shoppers consider online reviews before

buying?

6out of 10 customers read online reviews before making a final purchase decision.

14.What is the impact of online reviews in the customer’s decision to buy

or not?

The impact of online reviews is dramatic. 90% of consumers say that an online review is more important than input from a sales professional. In addition, roughly 80% of consumers purchase the product online after reading an online review and deciding to make a purchase.

15.What are the sites providing the most reliable product reviews according to online shoppers?

Reviews on Amazon are rated by 80% of online shoppers as extremely or very credible. Other than Amazon, consumers rated the reviews on the following sites as extremely or very important:

Amazon (80%) Target (67%) Best Buy (64%) Walmart (62%) eBay (59%)

Trip Advisor (55%)

(From: https://fitsmallbusiness.com/online-shopping-statistics/)

4.Study the following information. Speak about advertising.

ADVERTISING: PROS AND CONS

Why we advertise our products

If we want our products to be well-known we should advertise them. Advertisements play an important role in the modern economy. They are useful to both consumers and producers. They help the consumers by giving them information about various products available on the market. Many readers appreciate advertising because it lets the vendor speak directly to the consumer about the product.

Where we can see advertisements

We find advertisements everywhere. Most of the advertisements are made through the media, newspapers, magazines, and journals. We can also see th

em on the radio, television, and billboards.

Is it a good idea to spend money on advertising?

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Advertising is the best way to let the consumer know the product well. The more we advertise, the more people will know the product. The bigger the demand, the more income the producer gets. Money spent on advertising is money well spent. Thus, it is a good idea to spend money on advertising.. Advertising assists a rapid distribution of goods at reasonable prices. It draws attention to new ideas and so helps enormously to raise standards of living. By helping to increase the demand for goods, it increases the number of workers needed to supply the goods and therefore, provides employment. It also helps to pay for many services. Without advertisements, our daily newspaper would cost a dollar or more, the price of our television license would need to be doubled, and travel by bus would cost more.

The things advertisers should know

Advertisers shouldn’t offer a product that fails to live up to to the promise of his advertisements. Advertising helps to keep up the quality of the products and services you buy. The public has the good sense not to buy the poor quality article more than once.

If you’re going to get into advertising on your Web site, either for your Web site or on it, you’ll need to know a little about various "intrusive" ad types and the pros and cons of them. Once you have this information, you can make clear decisions about what types of ads you’ll support on your site (if any) and what types of ads would be best for your own marketing. A strong advertising base can be your best assurance of a long and successful publication run.

How will people feel if advertisements give information only?

If advertisements give information only, it would so boring that no one would pay any attention. Advertisements aimed at men often include the picture of a pretty girl. Such advertisements are suggesting that a man will be more attractive to women if he owns a certain type of car, or watch or if he dresses in a certain style. Advertisers use popular actors, actresses, male and female, models as well as singers to advertise their goods.

The Pros and Cons of Advertising

There are pros as well as cons concerning advertisements.

The case for advertising

Advertisements help to increase the sale of goods and so producers can sell goods at reasonable prices. They raise the standard of living of people by drawing attention to new products and ideas. They increase the demand for goods and more workers are needed to produce goods so they provide employment. They pay for many services such as transporters, porters and sellers. Daily newspapers, television license fees and bus fees remain cheap because of advertisements. They also keep up the quality of the goods and services we use.

There are many advantages of print advertisements. Newspaper readers are more likely to consider information in advertisements seriously. Print

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advertisements are concrete, and therefore, readers are able to pick the paper back up and read it a second time, or whenever is convenient for them. All of the information will always be right in front of them. But radio and television give impermanent information and if you miss it, you don’t have a choice when you can hear it again. Newspaper readers are usually older, better educated, and higher earning than television and radio audiences. Magazines have all of the same advantages of newspapers including a longer shelf life, which means that it stays in use longer. Also, people share magazines so more people are exposed to the ad, and the ads in magazines have the potential to be more glamorous than newspapers.

The case against advertising

Advertisements try to influence our emotions by making us buy things we do not need or want. They make us believe that our dreams will come true if we use their products. This is why advertisements for home cleaning products often try to convince ladies that they become perfect wives and mothers only if they use those products. They imply that money can make our dreams come true. But this is obviously not so. We cannot buy personal good looks, intelligence, good friendships or a happy family. A lot of advertisements are, therefore, a form of lying. They can also make people feel depressed and discontented with their ordinary lives, especially those people who have only a small amount of money to spend on luxuries.

The majority of mainstream commercial publications accept paid advertising, generally to help cover production costs and to provide their readers access to related resources and information. Non-commercial publications, such as those published for organizations, often do not include advertising, preferring to maintain a neutrality in the commercial marketplace and to keep production costs to a minimum.

A publication that accepts ads brings consumers and vendors together, and this creates a vested interest in maintaining the happiness of both parties. If the consumers remain happy they’ll continue to subscribe, and if the vendors remain pleased they’ll continue to advertise. Thus the publisher strives to support a good climate for commerce within the market, which often strengthens and supports the entire community, organization, or other target audience.The Pros of Advertising

1. It’s an easy way to create a value proposition.

Prospects need to see that something can solve a problem for them in order for them to consider making a purchase. Value is often seen as saving someone time or saving them money. Advertising is an easy way to prove that there is a value proposition to be considered with a brand or product. If the real value which is received is equal to or greater than the perceived value received in an advertising message, then a solid relationship can be built.

2. It creates a way to set brands and products apart from the competition.

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People today don’t just want to buy something that is “good enough.” They want to purchase the best product at the best price. If someone has got $100 to spend on Champagne and there’s a bottle of Dom Perignon found within that person’s budget, would they spend all of their cash on the bottle of Dom or buy 5 bottles of $20 Champagne instead? Setting a brand apart gives the product extra value and that’s why most people would purchase the bottle of Dom.

2. It reaches multiple demographics simultaneously.

Advertising is one of the easiest ways to reach out to multiple target groups at the same time. This action helps a business to better discover who their primary customers tend to be, the demographics to which they belong, and provides information that allows for prospect cloning. It also gives a business the chance to reach out to multiple new demographics in order to judge how influential their marketing messages happen to be.

4. One single target demographic can also be emphasized.

Advertising also allows for a business to specifically target one demographic. This is seen every day with direct mail campaigns, email marketing, and even food commercials that air right when people get done with their 9-5 grind and don’t feel like cooking. If a business knows when and where they can reach specific prospects, then advertising creates a natural relationshipbuilding point that can help prospects engage because they appreciate the value proposition that has been created.

5. It provides consumers information about choice.

Every consumer has different personal preferences that make certain products more appealing than others. From flavors to prices to specific product comparisons to show how one product is better, companies can provide information about broad options that can appeal to broad demographics so that consumers can practice their right to choose what products are best for them.

6. Advertising provides economic growth and support.

When advertising is available in major markets, there is a direct correlation to that market’s GDP increases to the amount of advertising that is consumed. This is even true on an industry level within an overall economy. Certain industries that advertise more often have better growth results than industries that don’t advertise. Growth is always the liveliest when advertising is a major point of emphasis.

7. Advertising creates jobs.

In the United States alone, advertising provides over 18 million jobs that contribute to the economy in various ways. It isn’t just in the creative industry either. Improved revenues because of advertising contribute to job growth within the business or industry and this provides more profitability, which eventually leads to more job growth. Then the cycle repeats itself with every new advertising campaign, helping many people in the process of generating revenues for a business at the same time.

8. Advertising supports global culture.

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Without advertising, many of the things we enjoy today would be either more expensive or wouldn’t exist at all. For example, the 2012 London Games had an estimated cost of $3.5 billion in order to run. All of those costs were covered through advertising sponsorships and incoming revenues from ticket sales and other consumer purchases. The same is true of TV sports broadcasts, art exhibitions, and even grassroots crowdfunding efforts.

The Cons of Advertising 1. It costs time and money.

Advertising doesn’t come cheap. It will always cost time, money, or both to complete successfully. It may not cost someone anything to create a video, but they’ll be spending time editing the content of it, use resources to upload it, and spend time responding to comments about it. This means every business must find some way to make sure there is time or money budgeted for advertising so there aren’t any unhealthy surprises that come along. When money is tight, this naturally limits advertising options and that means growth options are limited as well.

2. Messages get lost in the white noise of information overload.

People today spend less than 5 seconds analyzing data to determine if it is worthy of consumption. If it passes the test, then it will be consumed. If not, then it will simply blend in with the rest of the white noise that occurs on the internet every day. It is very easy for an advertising message to get lost because it doesn’t properly communicate value. Something as simple as a sentence being too long or a word being unknown to a viewer can be enough to cause prospects to turn away.

3. Results are never guaranteed.

It is entirely possible for a business to spend $1 million on advertising and get $0 in return. The results of an advertising campaign are never guaranteed. This is why so much research goes into demographic research so that problems can be identified and solved by the products that a brand represents. As long as there is some sort of valid value proposition, there will always be some sort of return. Even then, however that $1 million campaign could bring a return of just $1.

4. There are a ridiculous amount of platforms that accept advertising.

Which platform a targeted demographic prefers to receive their advertising on can be just as costly and time consuming as the creation of the advertising campaign itself. From billboards to radio, TV to the internet, there are literally hundreds of ways that a business could spend their advertising budget. Although this means brand saturation is easier to achieve, it also means that being completely ignored happens more often as well.

CONSUMPTION AND THE CONSUMER SOCIETY

Exercise 1. Repeat the information after the teacher / partner.

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The average U.S. resident, in a year, consumes 275 pounds of meat, uses 635 pounds of paper, and uses energy equivalent to 7.8 metric tons of oil. Fortyfive years ago, the average American ate 197 pounds of meat, used 366 pounds of paper, and used energy equivalent to 5.5 metric tons of oil. In the U.S., there is about 1 passenger car for every two people. Europeans have about 1 passenger car for every 3.1 people. Developing countries have, on average, about 1 passenger car for every 49 people.

Exercise 2. A) Translate the text into Russian. B) Sum up the following text in 5 sentences.

Consumption is the process by which goods and services are, at last, put to final use by people. Consumption is at the end of the line of economic activities that starts with an evaluation of available resources and proceeds through production of goods and services and distribution of goods and services (or the means to acquire them) among people and groups. At last, the goods and services themselves come to be used. The effect of this consumption, including depletion of resources and generation of waste as well as enhancement of human survival and flourishing, determines the resource base for the next round of economic activity.

The modern consumer is not an isolated individual making purchases in a vacuum. Rather, we are all participants in a contemporary phenomenon that has been variously called a consumerist culture and a consumer society. To say that some people have consumerist values or attitudes means that they always want to consume more, and that they find meaning and satisfaction in life, to a large extent, through the purchase of new consumer goods. Consumerism has emerged as part of a historical process that has created mass markets, industrialization, and cultural attitudes that ensure that rising incomes are used to purchase an ever-growing output.

Why do consumers want what they want? Why do they buy what they buy? The standard marketing view draws on a wide variety of research concerning individual motivations and social influences to answer these questions.

Psychological theories of motivation can shed light on why people come to desire certain things. One frequently used categorization breaks down human perceived needs into five categories:

1.Physiological needs, such as hunger and thirst.

2.Safety needs, for security and protection.

3.Social needs, for a sense of belonging and love.

4.Esteem needs, for self-esteem, recognition, and status.

5.Self-actualization needs, for self-development and realization. Psychologists have noted that the degree to which people perceive a need

is clearly related to two important factors: our own past experience, and the experience of groups to which we compare ourselves. These create reference

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points and reference groups, in light of which people evaluate their own wellbeing and state of need.

(http://www.ase.tufts.edu)

Discussion Questions

1.How important are your lifestyle goals to you, relative to your other goals? A recent survey, for example, asked respondents to say whether each of the following was absolutely necessary, very important, somewhat important, not very important, or not at all important “for you to consider your life as a success.” How would you answer?

Earning a lot of money

Seeing a lot of the world

Becoming well-educated

Having a good marriage

Having a good relationship with your children

Having an interesting job

Helping other people who are in need

Living a long time

Having good friends

Having strong religious faith

2.Who makes the important consumption decisions that affect your life, right now? Who decides where you will live, what you will eat, what you will wear, how you will get around, etc.? To what extent are these individual decisions, and to what extent are they family or societal decisions?

WRITING

Exercise 1

Prepare to write a dictation, including the words in bold type from Introductory Readingand exercise 1 on page 150.

Exercise 2

Prepare to write a reproduction of the following text.

Shopping in London

Most of London’s big department stores are in Oxford Street and Regent Street. They are always crowded, but at sale times, in January and July, there are so many people that it is difficult to move and it is usually safer to go in the direction of the majority!

These days, it is often difficult to distinguish the goods in one large store from those in another. If you are looking for something "different" (but cannot afford the prices of Bond Street) it is certainly worth going to New Covent Garden. This used to be England’s biggest fruit and vegetable market, but a few years

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ago, the market was moved to a new site on the other side of the River Thames. The old market, now called "New Covent Garden", was restored and converted into a shoppimg centre. There are now more than forty shops of many different kinds, and there are several places to eat and drink. The opening hours are different from most other shops: they open at 10 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. As well as shopping, there is entertainment with lunch-time theatre groups and classical, jazz, folk and pop music.

Kensington and Knightsbridge is an exclusive area of London. There you can find the department store that is the symbol of expensive and high-class living

—Harrods. People say you can buy anything in Harrods, including wild animals

—they even have a zoo which will sell you lion cubs as well as more common pets such as dogs, cats or parrots.

(from "Spotlights on Britain " by S. Sheerin, G. Seath, G. White)

Note:

A reproduction is a way of rendering a text as close to the original as possible. Preparing the students for a reproduction, the teacher gives them new words and phrases from the text and explains their meanings. They may be written on the blackboard or distributed on cards. The text may be read by the teacher or by the announcer if it is recorded. The students should listen to the text once or twice, and then write the gist of it trying to use the wording of the original. The main goal of writing reproductions is memory training.

Exercise 3

Write a short essay on one of the following topics.

1.Why I Like/Do Not Like Shopping.

2.My Memorable Purchase/Gift.

3.My Method of Shopping.

4.Men’s and Women’s Shopping Styles.

5.Shopping Styles of the Young and the Elderly.

6.The Presents We Give and Are Given.

7.Why I Never Buy Things in the Market/Boutiques.

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