IELTS Writing Task 2 22/2/2020

Online shopping is increasing dramatically. How could this trend affect our environment and the kinds of jobs required?

In today's world, the trend towards shopping online is increasing rapidly along with the proliferation of the Internet. There seem to be several effect this can have on the environment and job market, which will be discussed in this essay.

On the one hand, some might think that online shopping is greener than in-store shopping. After all, an online store does not use the electricity that a traditional store might use and it does not require customers to drive anywhere, thus reducing the volume of energy consumed. However, when the customers choose to return the items, the carbon footprint will go up due to delivering process and goods disposal. For instance, clothes is one product that has high return rate as online shoppers can not try things before buying. Therefore, companies often offer free returns to help those customers to purchase other items at the same price. Moreover, returned clothes are not always cleaned and put back on stock. In these cases, most of them will end up in landfills.

In terms of employment impact, the growing popularity of e-shopping has created various opportunities for skilled workers, such as programmers, web designers or online marketers. Delivery service companies are also developing quickly to ensure the handing out of the packages. Besides, e-commerce may result in the bankruptcy of traditional retailers, forcing thousands of employees to leave their work, therefore exacerbate the matter of unemployment.

In conclusion, online shopping is on the rise, and this trend can exert both positive and negative impact on our environment as well as the labor market.