Shopping: Products and Services
Describe a service from a company or shop.
You should say
- What the service was
- When and where you received the service
- Whom you were with
- And explain how you feel about it.
Model Answer
Hmm, this is indeed an interesting question. Well, regarding some excellent service that I received, I must say that I was really impressed by a company called Traveloka, which provided me with a booking service for flight tickets and a hotel reservation.
Last summer, my mother and I made up our mind to go on a trip to Taiwan. Previously, we would just simply book a package tour from a travel agent and they would take care of all the expenses and itinerary for us. However, this time both me and my mom wanted to do everything on our own, from booking the plane tickets to choosing the hotel and planning the trip.
Thanks to a friend’s recommendation, I tried booking flight tickets online, from a website called Traveloka.com. This website is a product of the Traveloka company, which aims to provide a user-friendly platform for users to search and book flight tickets and hotel rooms.
At first I held a lot of doubt over this website since I had never bought plane tickets online before. However, after browsing through the site for a while, I was quite impressed by the sites’ smartly designed layout and easy-to-follow content, and furthermore, it only took a few minutes to find the plane tickets that I wanted. Another good point to mention about the service was how quickly and convenient the payment was. They
offered a variety of payment methods, such as credit card, bank transfer or direct debit, which would suit many different customers’ needs.
Thanks to Traveloka, I managed to book the plane tickets at a reasonable price and at lightning speed. Both my mother and I were completely satisfied with the service that we received, and we gave the website a 5 star rating on the user review page. I would also recommend this site to other friends of mine.
Vocabulary Highlights
- impressed by – have a positive effect or influence on your feeling about something
- hotel reservation – an accommodation booking at a hotel
- made up our mind – decided
- package tour – a holiday you purchase with accommodation and travel together from a travel agent
- travel agent – a person or business that specialises in booking holidays
- itinerary – the day to day plan of a holiday or journey
- user-friendly – easy to use or understand
- platform – an app or program used for a service
- held a lot of doubt over – to not trust or to have doubt about something
- smartly designed layout – well designed
- easy-to-follow – easy to use
- at lightning speed – really fast
Describe a newly-opened shop
You should say:
- Where the shop is
- When it opened
- What it sells
- And how you feel about the shop.
Model Answer
I am going to talk about a newly-opened convenience store in my neighbourhood called Circle K. Actually, Circle K is an extremely popular chain-store from America and has multiple outlets around Hanoi now.
But the Circle K that I’m speaking about was recently built only a couple of blocks away from where I live and I noticed it as soon as it was built. Also, because of its eye-catching logo with a giant, red letter K in a white circle, it’s quite hard to miss.
I think that the main reason that I became a regular customer of Circle K was because of one particular item that they sell in their stores, and I was on cloud nine when I discovered it, my favourite alcoholic drink, Vodka Cruiser. You know Cruiser’s only contain 4.5% alcohol which is perfect for a lightweight like me. And so, after my discovery, Circle K pretty much became a regular hangout spot of mine where my buddies and I would
sometimes meet up and sit outside the store with a couple of Cruiser’s chatting about our lives and stuff. It’s actually kind of embarrassing but Circle K is the place where I come to let off some steam after a break up or some other big drama I have in my life.
So yeah, as long as Circle K still keeps on selling Vodka Cruisers, it will always be my favourite shop.
Vocabulary Highlights
- convenience store – a store that sells some commonly used items and stays open long hours
- chain-store – a shop that is one of many owned by a larger company that all sell the same products
- outlets – a place where things are sold
- blocks – the distance from one street to the next
- eye-catching – very attractive or noticeable
- hard to miss – obvious, or easy to see
- on cloud nine – extremely happy
- lightweight – a person that is thin, light, and/or gets drunk easily
- hangout spot – a place to relax with friends or by yourself
- chatting – to talk with someone in a friendly informal way
- let off some steam – to do something that helps you relax and get rid of anger or frustration
- big drama – a big problem or issue
Describe your favourite shopping mall.
You should say:
- where it is
- how often you go there, and what you buy from there
- what types of people usually go there
- and explain why this is your favourite shopping mall.
Model Answer
Well, this is a rather tough topic for me because I have visited several shopping malls, that I like, and it is not really easy to pinpoint one of them as my favourite. But, I would still go ahead and pick one of them as my most favourite to keep our discussion interesting.
The shopping mall, I want to talk about, is called “Eastern Plaza” which is conveniently located several kilometres away from where I live in my city. Considering how people from all directions can arrive at the mall rather easily, I would say that the mall is located at a perfection location. Having served the residents of my city for more over 20 years, Eastern plaza mall easily is one of the largest and busiest shopping destinations of my country which has 6 floors and an area of almost 400,000 square feet.
Having a very beautiful and contemporary architectural design, this mall is home to almost 300 stores which include some of the world’s top-class collection of designer labels and luxury brands. I like to visit this shopping mall as often as I can in order to buy my clothes, shoes and perfumes, but I just can’t make it more than once a month because of my busy schedule.
But, no matter when I visit this shopping mall, I see that all kinds of people from all age groups, professions and backgrounds are visiting this place. I have even noticed that many people from other cities, far, far away from the city in which the mall is located, come to do shopping at this mall.
Anyway, it is my favourite shopping mall, mainly because it is close to where I live, and it takes about only 15 minutes to drive there. I also like visiting the mall because it has a rather huge selection of products for all ages and sizes, making it almost impossible for a shopper to leave the place without buying what he or she really needs. Finally, it is my favourite mall also because it looks very organized, and the prices there are very reasonable.