christmas_shopping.pdf

Worksheet

Christmas shopping

As Christmas approaches, a recent report reveals that more and more people are doing their shopping

online. Will Christmas this year be a success for high street retailers?

1 Which speaker is most like you? Explain your answer to a partner.

(A) “I did my Christmas

shopping ages ago!”

(B) “I always shop

at the last minute.”

my Christmas

shopping online!”

(D) “We’ve given up

buying Christmas

presents completely!”

2 Guess the answers in this list of statistics from a recent report. Check your answers in paragraph 2 of the article.

Report: Shopping online (UK)

a) 5% / 15% / 25% / 35% of people in the UK prefer to do their Christmas shopping online

b) 20% / 30% / 40% / 50% of people will do some of their Christmas shopping online

(Based on research

by Mintel)

Online shopping

The British certainly like to spend money on Christmas

presents – figures suggest they spend as much as £600 on

gifts, double that for people in Germany and France. It seems

only the Americans spend more! Perhaps that’s also because

of the British love for ‘debt’, and the use of loans and credit

cards at Christmas time.

published the largest bound book of the 20 th Century. At

500mm by 700mm, it comes with it’s own display table. The

original price was £1,500 … rather expensive for most of us.

How about sushi plates from Tokyo? Or clothes from

Florence? The web has enabled us to view the world as a

giant shopping bazaar – despite shipping costs and

occasional extra charges such as customs duties and tax.

A new survey of 1,000 people in the UK has revealed that

15% of people actually prefer to do their Christmas shopping

online. This is up 5% on last year’s figures. Almost 40% of

people will buy some of their gifts online – nearly twice as

many as five years ago. Music CDs, DVDs and computer

games are among the most popular items chosen on the web.

Meanwhile, out on the High street, stores are hoping for a

late surge in shoppers this year because Christmas Eve falls

on a Saturday. Many people expect to be still doing their

Christmas shopping on the Saturday. Last year, some shops

started their sales before Christmas in a desperate bid to

encourage people to spend. For many, this time of year has

become too commercial. As more shoppers avoid queues by

shopping online, will Christmas 2005 be a busy time for

retailers?

What about buying presents for those people who ‘have

everything’? A new market seems to have emerged in ‘once-

in-a-lifetime’ books. In 2000, the German publisher Taschen

3 Now read the whole article. Which presents are mentioned? Does anything in the article surprise you?

4 Complete the tables below. Mark the word stress. Use some of the words to create sentences about your company.

NOUN

VERB

NOUN

VERB

NOUN

VERB

survey

(a)

tax

(e)

(i)

to buy

product

(b)

loan

(f)

market

(j)

(c)

to retail

(g)

to sell

charge

(k)

bid

(d)

surge

(h)

price

(l)

5 Discuss the following questions in small groups. Be ready to report your ideas to the class.

(a) What would be your ideal Christmas present?

(b) What would you buy for ‘the person who has everything’?

This page has been downloaded from www.businessenglishonline.net.

It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages.

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