ZIMSEC O Level · Commerce · Form 4
Communication passes information between businesses, customers and governments. It helps buying and selling, ordering, advertising and banking.
Methods
- Oral: face to face, telephone, mobile calls, meetings, video conferencing.
- Written: letters, memos, reports, emails, SMS, notices.
- Visual: charts, posters, signs.
- Electronic: email, websites, social media, WhatsApp Business, online forms.
Postal and courier services
Zimpost provides letters, parcels, registered mail and post office boxes. Courier companies deliver documents and parcels quickly door to door.
Choosing a method
Consider speed, cost, need for a written record, confidentiality, distance and the urgency of the message.
Benefits of modern communication
Faster transactions, wider markets (e-commerce), lower costs, easy advertising, and mobile banking.
Problems
Network failures, high data costs, cyber fraud and hacking, and information overload.
Exam tip: Give a reason with every method you recommend – “email, because it is fast and gives a written record”.
Check yourself
- Give two advantages of email over a posted letter.
- Why might a business choose a courier service?
- State one disadvantage of relying on social media for business communication.
Show answers
- Any two: faster, cheaper, can attach documents, reaches many people at once.
- For fast, secure, door-to-door delivery of urgent documents or parcels.
- Any one: fraud/scams, network failures, data costs, negative public comments spread fast.
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