HOHUYEN’s EDITED VERSION

Some say that online shopping has made our lives more convenient and efficient.
Others say that online shopping has led to overconsumption and environmental harm.
Still, others say that online shopping can be both convenient and environmentally
conscious if done responsibly.
Which one do you prefer? Or what is your own opinion about online shopping? Give
specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

As a direct result of science and corresponding technological advancements, especially

in the era or economics - macro and micro, and concerning global economic activities
or global trading culture, the rapid development of e-commerce has been demonstrated
in the constantly uprising trend of online shopping globally. Discussing this topic -
relevant pros and cons, some support its convenience and effieciency, while others
oppose its consequential overconsumption and the environment crisis. However, it is us,
acting as both demanders and suppliers, that suppress and take control over the
unwanted but undeniable consequence of the hypermarket while benefically wandering
through it.
Stated in the first viewpoint is the convenience and proficiency of the real-life e-
commercial platform. This is really true to the heart of the matter when it comes to the
benefits of the concerning parties, consumers, businesses, and the government. As for
the customers, the benefit they can take from doing and going shopping online comes in
a wide range in terms of time convenience and choice diversity. Indeed, any online
shopper values the time-saving and time availability they have as their going online can
take place without the limited working hours as that of a physical store. Moreover,
online markets, known via specified names with regconizable electronic applications,
e.g. Shopee, Lazada, Amazon, enable the customer to surf through hundreds or even
thounsand of hyper-shops for what they want in a wide range of catagories, brands and
affordable prices. Nowadays, a student can place an order to buy a book, or anything the
like, at midnight and have it delivered the next day early morning. In fact, the benefit
that a customer takes always comes from the benefit that a business has gained. An
online business stay working around the clock, keeps taking orders easily with the pre-
programed application to satisfy their based customers. Furthermore, anyone, without
professional knowledge in macro or micro economic, but with a simple practice of
trading can start-up an online business even on a social networking site. For example,
due to the impact of the Covid-19 crisis, instead of staying at home and waiting for
government support, a working mother created a chanel on Facebook’s live-streaming
gadgets specialized in selling agricultural products, helping her whole family overcome
the calamity. Finally, when the customer and the business meet each other, the benefit
they gain come not only to them themselves, but their government as well. Specifically,
taxes can be better collected via the online recorded transactions , lowering the amount
of tax lost via black market or “the second book” concerning their balance account
conducted by most physical stores where selling and buying can be deliberatedly
misrecorded. Moreover, even the state-owned enterprises can utilize the online platform
to inform and advertise the domestic products from the farthest corner of the country to
any targeted market. Vietnam, say, is now selling agricultural produce to foreign
HOHUYEN’s EDITED VERSION

markets thanks to the electronic market. Apparently, the buyer, the seller and the
government are taking benefits from the flourishment of e-commerce.
On the other hand, those of environmental awarness and social concern are talking out
loud over the impact of online shopping in view of overconsumption and environ’s
stresses. In other words, people are spending much more than necessary on what they
do no really need, and at the same time, their activities are doing harm to their living
environment. As for the former matter, the act of surfing the electronic martkets that can
take place anytime of the day induce and talk surfers into clicking on eye-catching items
or new-priced items to fill up their hyper shopping carts with further tricks in terms of
discount voucher, asking them to buy more in order to take the so-called benefits. Such
tricks pop up and direct to you all day and night, tempting and pleasing, exactly the time
you can act intuitively, as you are never aware of the fact that the data on your shopping
habits, your price range, your favorite items, etc have been statistically collected and
analyzed. Psychologically, few can curb their desire for their favorit stuff; say, a woman
can try to collect one dress of their favorite style in wide range of available colors, a
man for the same electronic gadget of different makes and brands. This will surely make
the worse become the worst; constant satisfaction brings about wasteful redundancy. As
a causual chain, the latter consequented so seriously that the plastic crisis has gathered
more concern of the environmentalist who are trying to criticize the culture of the hyper
shopping practice prevailing every corner of the world for fear that the new shopping
practice will surely ask for higher consumption of nilon synthetical wrapping bags and
containers, which then dumped as domestic waste, polluting and contaminating soil, air
and water sources. Another serious risk for the environment lies in the higher amount of
automobile emission due to the constant combustion of ignited gasoline used, releasing
an overaccumulating amount of carbon (foot)print into the environment, increasing the
number of respiratory diseases for people at any age. To say the least, overconsumption
possibly consequented from online shopping practice will also severely depress the
environment.
Yet, while we cannot avoid or stop going online for our shopping list every day, we,
human-beings, must be better aware of, or more concerned with our living environment
we are sharing with other living species. Some may maintain that it is the nature itself
that can always heal and self-balance sooner or later. This is understandable and
observable that human history has witnessed times after times the earth self-destroy,
heal and reorder in forms of natural disaters, wars as clamities, or mass-killing fatal
diseases as pandemic. However, it has also been observed that long before the
emergence of such a clamity, humans have to face with numerous threats and pains that
come in a wide range of phenomena: changes of weather patterns here and there, new
coming of chronic diseases at lower ages recorded, or even mass-dying of marine life.
Scientifically, all such mentioned act as indicators of something more serious
approacching, and that humans have to suffer from those events and even pay their life
for any of those. Humans, hence, in addressing and settling the risks of online-shopping
resulting overconsumption on their living environmeny, should learn and get one
another to learn how to manage their shopping lists wiselyin order to minimize the
amount of waste they may release. Also, businesses should change the way the pack and
deliver the stuff to the customer. A lot of manufacturers have replaced nilon wrappers
with paper alternatives. Moreover, the government worldwide should run special
HOHUYEN’s EDITED VERSION

policies concerning environment protection as well as propaganda campaigns raising

public awareness on the matter of on-going environment destruction. Public lectures,
videos, talkshow, television reality shows, billboards, etc should be more seen
everywhere as positive and effective actions that the government must take.
As discussed, we, the demanders and suppliers of goods and services, must take the lead
in suppressing and taking control over the unwanted but undeniable consequence of the
hypermarket while beneficially wandering through it; no matter how good or bad it is,
it has come into being as an intergral part of our lives, and keeps developing not only as
a means but also as an objective of modern economic research in name of e-commerce.