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Would you enjoy doing the same activity as shown in the picture?

In this picture, I can see many people grocery shopping. Some people have baskets filled with products of their choices. Some seem to be browsing the various aisles of the supermarket, I think that they are looking for the cheapest deals. Personally, I would be elated to do grocery shopping. Grocery shopping gives me a sense of accomplishment when I am able to look for my needed items as well as fish out the best deals. I gained independence through learning how to shop by myself as I am entrusted to handle the finances as well as get the right items, which is a huge responsibility. I recalled when my mother told me to buy some important groceries on my own for the first time, as she had household chores to handle. I was petrified because I would usually just follow my mum around while she is doing the job. I would not pay too much attention to what and how she was selecting the items. When I reached the supermarket, I was overwhelmed by the wide selection of items displayed in front of me. However, I got the hang of it as my mum had already prepared me with a list of things to buy. I faced a few challenges along the way. I was confused on where some of the items were placed so I asked one of the staff for help. I learned to be patient and calm even during tough situations. Till this day, I have offered to help my family with the grocery shopping and I enjoy doing it a lot.

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do you enjoy shopping.
yes i personally enjoy shopping as
i can relief some stress. during the weekends, i would usually develop some stress towards revising my subjects in time for tests, completing school homework while juggling my extra curricular commitments like piano lessons. Thus, during my free time after all these intensive activities  , i would look forward  to go to my neighbourhood mall, Junction 8, to hang out with my friends. During our time there, we will visit some of the favourite stores there such as POPULAR where we can pursue some once in a while deals on stationary or binders, and as we browse through the collages of paraphernalia, my mind would slowly unwind from the heavy stresses weighing on my shoulders, helping me to feel just a little bit lighter. Hence I enjoy shopping

besides that, i will also be able to spend less time on my phone during free time. i usually spend hours on my phone after studying because i do not really have anything else to do. however, if i go shopping, i will be focused on looking at things available at the malls instead of just being on my phone all the time. i can even ask my friends along to go on a shopping spree together. it would be a lot more fun and we can also use the chance to interact more with each other and rant about things that happens over the weekends.

however shopping at this time would not be enjoyable as shopping malls are relatively crowded. Due to the current Covid-19 situation visiting such places with high density of people can threaten our safety as risk of being infected heightens. If the number of cases diminishes I would definitely visit the

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Why do you think the woman in the picture/video is selecting items from the shelf?

I think the aunt in the picture is purchasing biscuits and other essentials to stock up at home. In the picture, two women browsing along the many flavours and brands of titbits on the shelves for their family or for themselves. Personally, I don’t go out with my parents often to buy groceries as I’m always either at school or busy doing something else outside or at home. For example, like revising for my examinations or going out with my other friends. However, when I was younger, I went out with my parents a lot more often and I enjoyed following them to grocery shopping. When I have free time or am taking a break from my revision, I will definitely hang out with my parents and accompany them to places such as going NTUC FairPrice and shopping malls. This way, I’ll be able to bond and spend more time with my parents to maintain a healthy relationship. I can also relieve stress from my academics and relax while spending time with my parents.

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Do your prefer online shopping. Why or why not?

I prefer online shopping is more convenient as we can do it in our comfort of own home. As technology advances, we can now order ingredients at the tip of our fingertip and have it personally delivered right straight to our doorsteps. Personally, I like to cook. But unfortunately I am lazy to shop for my ingredients, so I like to use food panda as they have this new feature that they will deliver my ingredients to my home and I can conveniently start my cooking as soon as it arrives.

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Do you think that having more options to choose from have brought more negative impacts? Why or why not?

Firstly, in terms of shopping, there are more varieties of goods to choose from and people may have difficulties choosing a product which may lead them to over-purchasing. These products purchased may not be of use to the buyer, as they buy it in impulse. Some may also buy these products to flaunt their wealth, spending more than they should.

As they shop for more products, more plastic bags are used to pack the  goods. This contributes to global warming as plastic bags take a long period of time to decompose hence, brings about a negative impact to the environment. For example, plastic bags are stored as trash and later burned at the incineration plant, releasing greenhouse gases that increase global temperatures. This pollutes the earth and people will suffer from the harsh outcomes based on their actions.

Furthermore, there are people who like to over-purchase goods to show off their money, this gets the attention of the people around them and they like the sense of superiority they have over the less fortunate.

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How would you feel if you were in this picture?

In the picture I can see many aunties in the snack aisle. They may be rushing to stock up on snacks before the circuit breaker. One auntie is pointing to the crackers and probably asking the auntie next to her about her recommendation. This reminds me of the time I went to the supermarket with my family. My parents always ask me to buy groceries and this always make me annoyed. To me, I hate going to the supermarket as is very troublesome to walk there and carry back the item home. With the technology today like foodpanda and grab food, i am able to buy groceries and food which would be delivered to our doorstep. This make my life much easier as during this time, I am able to stay away from all the clusters, like the Jurong fish port cluster, which are coming up everywhere. This will ensure the safety of me and my family :)))

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With the rise of online services, will onsite shopping still be as popular or relevant in the future, why or why not.
I feel that onsite shopping will still be relevant in the future due to the increasing frequency of online scams with deals too good to be true. For example I have bought galaxy buds at a very unrealistic price of $32SGD. However the galaxy buds never came leaving me with immeasurable disappointment.
Furthermore, the quality of products online are not guaranteed. Products bought online might be damaged unlike the close to pristine condition that products are sold in person. For instance, I bought a box of biscuits from FairPrice online, the biscuits were all broken and its container was severely dented. As the saying goes, nothing is ever what it seems, especially online.
However, online shopping has been proven to be more convenient method of buying groceries and products. With quality of life improvements like a user friendly interface and the ability to buy a whole bag of products with just a few taps from the comforts of their homes.
But more often than

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Qn: What do you like to shop for?

Ans: I shop for daily necessities but I mostly enjoy shopping for clothes and food. Some places I regularly shop at are Junction 8, Bugis and Orchard. They have a wide variety of stalls and stores. Some franchises that I often go to are Pull and Bear, Cotton On and Adias. They sell really stylish and comfortable clothes that make me feel confident when i wear them. Although I do enjoy online shopping as I have access to a wide range of clothings to choose from, it may be harder to gauge whether or not they have the correct size for me or if it looks different from what was advertised. I ever ordered from the online shopping site called shein, i remember ordering a hoodie and it came a lot bigger than the measurements stated in the description and i couldnt refund it so the hoodie went to waste.

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Do you think that on-site shops have a wider range in products as compared to online shops?

Ans: No I disagree with that statement as online shops provide a wider range of products as compared to onsite stores. As on online stores, they have products from other countries across the globe as compared to onsite stores only have products catered to the local people it is situated in. For example, I remember there was a time where I wanted to buy a pair of shoes that I found online and found out it was a special edition shoe that was only available in Korea. I was bummed out that I couldn’t find it in stores in Singapore so I went online to search for that specific model, and luckily I had ecstatic when I found the pair of shoes. Hence I feel that online stores are able to provide more products that are sometimes only available in certain countries.

Additionally, online shops has more products featured on the shells compared to physical shops. This is because all the products are featured on the same website.  For physical shops, if the products ran out, the consumer must go to another outlet to get the Same item. For example, the online shops have oversea products available for sale compared to the physical shops who usually have popular local products.

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Do you prefer shopping online or IRL.
I personally prefer shopping online. This is mainly because of the convenience. I wouldn’t need to walk around a mall to find items, be it a particular article of clothing or a gaming accessories, it is so much easier to just search it up online. Secondly, rare or unique items like the RTX 3080ti or even Pokémon cards that are difficult to find in the real world and much easier to find online. I recently bought a taco sleeping bag which you could not normally buy in shops, in case my parents throw me out of the house, I would still have a comfortable sleeping bag which allows me to have a fun time outdoors too. Hence, I would rather buy stuff online.

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Q3. Shopping has caused detrimental harms globally.
What are your opinions/views?

I agree that shopping has caused detrimental harms globally.
Since the advancement of globalisation, it has provided us  convenience and easy access to goods. Like sumptuous buffets in real life, varieties of items and desired products from all over with the tap of a button.
However, shopping , regardless of on-site or online, has contributed to solid waste to the environment. When items are sold at cheaper prices,
consumers have more purchasing powers. Hence, more items are purchased without any thoughts beforehand. These acts of ‘stock-piling’ causes more waste when people do not make good use of the items purchased. For example, 82 million tons of textile waste in 2018.
Next, shopping increases the number of people getting scammed. For on-site shopping,
Shopping has created jobs opportunities to help with development of countries, especially for less developed countries.

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What do you think about the wide variety of choices shopping offers? Is it beneficial or not?

Beneficial:
Yes, I think that having many choices when shopping is beneficial as I can personally pick out the best items I want for myself and things that I like. I also think that having a big range of items when shopping is also advantageous when picking out gifts for family and friends. We can choose the best and the most unique gifts that our loved ones will enjoy. Additionally, having many choices means that we can pick the cheapest options while still being able to consider more expensive deals. This allows us to justify whether the purchase will be worth it.

Not beneficial:
However, having many choices will also encourage people to buy many items at once, thinking that the products will be sold out or low in stocks. This brings about a hoarder mentality, and such behaviour is not healthy, especially when it results in high expenses that are not justified.

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Q1) What do you think the woman on the left in the picture is thinking?

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Q1) What do you think the woman on the left in the picture is thinking?

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I think she is wondering if she wants to purchase something from the aisle. This seems like a scene of a supermarket.  She is probably comparing the prices and seeing which is cost-efficient. She is also not holding a basket so she is decisive / smart consumer.  The supermarket has a myriad / plethora of goods so it's a common sight to see people browsing the aisle, pondering which product to buy.  She seems like a well-informed buyer and knows where are all the products are placed at, so she can easily locate them and save time. Personally, I only go to the supermarket to buy groceries for my family. My parents would hand me a list of items to buy and if that particular brand is not available, I will seek their advice before purchasing an alternative. Sometimes, I get distracted by the snacks aisle and the sales in-store, which causes me to spend an unnecessarily long time at the store and spend beyond my means. Nowadays, with the current pandemic, I would cajole my mom to simply purchase our essentials online. This brings us convenience and prevents overcrowding at the stores.

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Q2) Do you think it is better to shop in supermarkets or in smaller shops? Why?

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Q2) Do you think it is better to shop in supermarkets or in smaller shops? Why?

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Yes, I think it's better to shop in supermarkets. Firstly, there is a larger variety of both local and international brands to choose from. For example, Fairprice brings in many interesting snacks from overseas such as Cheetos from US, green tea kit kat from Japan and fresh strawberries from Korea. These may not be readily available in smaller shops as international shipping fees may be too costly to bear.
However, I do understand the appeal of smaller shops because  of its convenience. They are located in close proximity to my home and are easily found everywhere. Also, because of its smaller size, we will take a shorter time to buy what we need.
In conclusion, I would still prefer to shop at the huge supermarkets because of its wide variety of goods. They are also increasingly becoming more prevalent in the neighbourhoods and there are also freshly cooked meals available for immediate consumption.

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Q3) How far would you agree that people's lives would be easier if they had less choice when shopping?

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Q3) How far would you agree that people's lives would be easier if they had less choice when shopping?

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I disagree that people's lives will be easier with less choice.

With less choices, I may not be able to make the best choice because of the limited options available. This reminded me of that time when I wanted to buy Pokka Strawberry Tea from a mart but they only had other options such as iced lemon tea and iced peach tea. Because of this, I had to content myself with these drinks which I did not fancy very much.

With limited choices, consumers will purchase similar or same items regularly, which can make shopping  a mundane experience altogether. For example, if there is only a limited number of breakfast cereal brands, we can only purchase one type of product and we can eventually get tired of its taste.

On the other hand, having too many choices causes us to be indecisive and waste our time. For example, selecting different water brands is a waste of time when they are all offering the same thing; bottled distilled water. This is a marketing gimmick that sellers use to compete with one another. Thus, I will simply choose the cheapest option since I am not particularly brand-conscious.

In conclusion, I still believe that lesser choices do not