[6 Minute English] Showrooming and shopping @ 看BBC學英文

Have you ever visited a shop to see and test a product but then gone and bought it cheaper online?

你在血拼的時候，是習慣在店面購買還是會先去實體店面繞一圈，然後回家上網用更便宜的價錢下訂呢?

在資訊越來越發達的今天，網路又那麼方便，所以，相對地，買東西的比價也越來越容易。在這樣的情況下，賣家的競爭也越來越激烈。因為，身為買家的我們，當然會希望同樣的東西，可以用更便宜的價錢到手。以台灣為例，pchome和yahoo商城上面有很多的網路商家，因為少了店租的壓力，所以，有很多時候，都可以給出更好的價格回饋給消費者。也因此演變成現在很多人有一種習慣，當我們要買東西的時候，都會先去實體店面看實機，請店員現場解說一番，把玩一下，然後就跟店員說 "謝謝，那我在想一下，等一下再回來喔!" 講到這裡，我想各位應該都心裡有數，這個意思，就是see you啦! 如果玩完之後，有滿意到的話，就會立馬手刀衝刺回家上網下訂啦! 在此也對那些認真解說的店員捧由們說聲 Sorry! 因為錢真的難賺阿~

不過呢，也因為網購的發達，所以，商品的品質參差不齊，因此在購買的時候，真的要注意一下，才不會花了冤枉錢喔~

文章網址:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2014/01/140102_6min_showrooming.shtml

Are these shoppers 'showrooming'?

Have you ever visited a shop to see and test a product but then gone and bought it cheaper online?

If so, you have been 'showrooming' - a new word to describe this activity.

In 6 Minute English, Rob and Finn talk about why people do this and how it is affecting the shops in our town centres.They'll also be explaining some of the vocabulary related to shopping.

This week's question:

Which country has the most people who shop online? Is it:

a) The United Kingdom

b) The USA

c) Korea

Listen to the programme to find out the answer.

Let’s dig in!

Finn and Rob are the speakers who are talking about how people are changing the way of shopping. For Rob, he buys CDs, electrical goods 就是我們所謂的3C產品 and food online. 其實網購最大的好處就是，可以在家裡悠閒的上網，不用出去人擠人，而且，又有人把東西送到你家門口，完全不需要出力。

Rob: OK, well, I’ll let you know the answer at the end of programme. So today we’re talking about how technology is changing the way we shop and how it could spell disaster – or be very bad for –the high street.

Finn: The high street – this is a term we use in Britain to mean the collection of everyday shops that we normally see in our town centres. Things like shoe shops, newsagents, supermarkets.

High street指的是我們現在看到路上的實體店面/超市等。

Rob: We know that the high street is competing with the internet. I buy things like CDs, electrical goods and food online, from the comfort of my home.

Finn: Ah but have you ever ‘showroomed’ before, Rob? That means going to a shop, having a look at something and then going home to buy it online.

今天要跟各位介紹的重點字彙就是showrooming這個新動詞，意思就是，現在消費者會先去店面看過實機之後，然後在回家上網訂購商品的這個消費行為。

Rob: Yes, I bought a camera at a knock-down price online, although it was from the same retailer as the shop that I saw it in. I know I’m not alone in doing this though. Research by a company called Foolproof, found 24% of people ‘showroomed’ while Christmas shopping last year.

Knock-down price指的是超級優惠的價格。

Retailer 是零售商的意思。通常你在外面百貨公司看到的品牌店面，都是retailers。而如果你說你是在retailer工作的話，意思就是品牌服飾店工作。

Finn: And a market research company called TNS found one third of consumers around the world said they used this tactic –or this type of shopping.

有一個民調公司叫做TNS發現世界上有三分之一的消費者有showrooming的消費行為。

Rob: Now, although people do it to try and save money, there are other reasons for this too, as we can hear from the Head of Technology at TNS UK, Amy Cashman. See if you can hear what the three reasons are:

Head of Technology, TNS UK, Amy Cashman:

There’s basically three main points that this kind of behaviour can overcome. People are short on time, short on money and they want reassurance about the products they are buying. So they use the internet in store and online on their mobile which we found is particularly prevalent, to do things like try and get to the bottom of where they can find a cheaper price elsewhere but also get information, product reviews and also do things like look at store layouts and see where products are so they can go and find them faster.

TNS表示，消費者之所以會有這樣的行為，是有三大原因:

short on time第一就是，現在的人時間越來越少，越來越忙

short on money第二就是，現在的人越來越拮据，錢越來越難賺

they want reassurance第三就是，因為資訊那麼發達，所以購買商品之前，都會希望一再確認買到的是最好的價錢