Everyone shops, which makes this topic easy to jump into at any level. These questions cover everything from simple preferences to bigger debates about consumer culture and how shopping has changed in the digital age.
Questions are organized by level from beginner to advanced. A printable PDF of all the questions is available at the bottom of the page.
Beginner (A1-A2)
- Where is your favorite place to shop for clothes? What do you like about shopping there?
- What products do you prefer to shop online for?
- What products do you prefer to shop in stores for?
- Do you enjoy shopping for other people? What is a good gift you have bought for someone?
- What is your favorite thing to shop for? What’s a good one you have?
- Do you like shopping for groceries? What do you usually buy first?
- Who do you usually go shopping with? What do you like to shop for together?
- What is your favorite store? What do they sell there?
- What three things do you always have on your shopping list?
- Do you like window shopping? What kinds of things do you look at?
Elementary (A2)
- What is your favorite ecommerce site? Why?
- Do you know anyone who is addicted to shopping? What do they do that makes you think they shop too much?
- Have you ever bought any counterfeit products like fake designer bags, clothing, or jewelry? How did you feel about the quality compared to the real thing?
- Do you prefer to shop alone or with other people? What’s good about each?
- What was the last thing you bought? Why did you need it?
- What is the best deal you have ever found while shopping? How much did you save?
- Have you ever returned something to a store? How did it go?
- Do you prefer paying with cash or a card? Why?
- Have you ever waited in a very long line to buy something? What were you buying?
- Do you check product reviews before buying things online? What do you look for?
Intermediate (B1)
- How do you feel about sales people following you and helping you when you shop?
- What makes a pleasant shopping experience?
- How do you feel about shopping at department stores or malls?
- Are expensive brands worth the extra money? When are they worth it?
- How do you feel about buying second-hand or used items? Is it common in your country?
- Should stores be open on holidays? Why or why not?
- Do you think people buy too many things they don’t need? What kinds of things?
- If you could own any store, what kind of store would you open and why?
- What tricks do stores use to make you spend more money? Do they work on you?
- Is it better to buy one expensive item or several cheap ones? When is each a good idea?
- What holiday traditions confuse tourists in your country when it comes to shopping?
Upper-Intermediate (B2)
- How has online shopping changed the way people interact with their local communities? What do you think about those changes?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of buying products directly from the company versus through a large retailer like Amazon?
- How do advertising and marketing influence what people buy? How much do they affect you?
- Compare shopping habits today to shopping habits 20 years ago. What are the biggest differences?
- How do social media influencers affect what people buy? Is their influence mostly positive or mostly negative?
- What happens to small local businesses when a big international chain opens nearby? Have you seen this happen?
- Why do some luxury brands stay popular even when their products cost ten times more than similar items? What are people really paying for?
- What would happen to the economy if everyone suddenly stopped buying things they didn’t absolutely need?
- What role does packaging play in shopping decisions? How much does it influence you personally?
- Some people say that fast fashion is destroying the environment. What are the strongest arguments on both sides of this debate?
- How do political and economic instability change the way ordinary people shop, save, and think about money? What patterns have you noticed across different countries or time periods?
Advanced (C1)
- How does consumer culture simultaneously create feelings of freedom and constraint? What tensions exist between personal choice and social pressure in shopping?
- How might the shift from ownership to access in consumer culture reflect broader changes in how modern societies define value and identity?
- How does globalized retail both homogenize and diversify local shopping cultures? What paradoxes emerge from this process?
- What role does nostalgia play in consumer behavior, and how do retailers exploit the relationship between memory, emotion, and purchasing decisions?
- To what extent does ethical consumerism represent genuine social change versus a form of moral performance that allows systems of inequality to persist?
- In what ways has the global supply chain made shopping cheaper and more convenient while simultaneously hiding the true human and environmental costs of the products we buy?
- How does the design of physical retail spaces (lighting, layout, music, scent) reveal assumptions about human psychology and decision-making? Where does smart design end and manipulation begin?
- Why do boycotts and ‘buy local’ movements gain momentum during some political moments but fade during others? What does this reveal about the relationship between shopping and identity?
- How might cashless societies and digital payment systems both empower consumers and create new forms of economic exclusion? Who benefits and who loses in this transition?
- How do algorithms and personal data shape the way we shop, and where is the line between helpful personalization and a loss of genuine consumer choice? What are the long-term consequences for how people discover new products and ideas?
- How has the demand for fast and free delivery changed the lives of the workers, cities, and environments that make it possible? What hidden trade-offs does the convenience economy create?