1. Award in Occupational Studies
600/2853/1

2. This award is made up of:
A range of optional units across 14 occupational areas.
This scheme focuses on the retail industry and includes the following 3 units:
understanding the business of retail.
developing Customer Service Skills.
problem solving at work.

3. Understanding the business of retail

4. What you will cover in this unit
 understand how retail outlets differ in size and
type
 understand the range of retail occupations
 understand the retail supply chain
 understand the contribution that the retail sector
makes to the economy of the United Kingdom
 understand how customers’ concerns influence
the products and services offered by retailers.

5. The retail sector

6. Retail channels resale, but for use and consumption by the purchaser
 retail is the sale of goods to end users, not for
resale, but for use and consumption by the
purchaser
 there are 3 main ways for goods to get to
customers:
purchased in a store
bought via a catalogue – mail order, party plan
internet.

7. Types of retail organisations
 national chains, eg Boots, Marks & Spencer
 specialist shops which sell a limited range of products,
eg Mothercare, Waterstones, Halford
 department stores, eg Debenhams, House of Fraser
 independents, eg family-owned businesses, local
shops
 convenience stores
 discount/clearance/factory outlets, eg Poundland
 internet-based organisations, eg Amazon, ebay
market traders

8. Retail locations  high street  shopping centres
 superstores/hypermarkets
 retail parks
 local community shops
 street markets
 online stores.

9. The importance of Retail
 retail is the largest private sector employing
almost 3 million people
 over 50% of staff are employed part time
 40% are employed full time
 10% are self employed
 many young people are employed in retail
 source: Working Futures (Wilson & Homenidou, 2011)

10. Working in Retail
 shop assistant  customer services  merchandiser  stock controller  HR  finance  head office.

11. Researching retail jobs

12. Retail supply chain
Raw ingredients
Manufacture
Warehouse
Retail
Customer
The Retail supply chain looks at the process of how products are made and get to the customer. How do apples get to the end customer?

13. Retail and ethics
 customers have concerns over ethical issues on wellbeing and environment  retailers aim to sell products and services produced in a way that minimises social and/or environmental damage, while avoiding products and services deemed to have a negative impact on society or the environment  eg, Fairtrade suppliers, campaigns against clothing sweatshops.

14. Retail and the environment
 making goods  transporting goods  packaging and waste management  recycling, reusing, reducing  store energy  ethical and Fairtrade  traffic to stores.

15. Marks & Spencer – Plan A

16. Developing customer service skills

17. What you will cover in this unit
 understand the benefits to the organisation of good
customer service
 understand the possible consequences of poor
 understand the value of first impressions
 understand positive verbal and non-verbal interaction
with customers
 understand that respect for the individual is at the
heart of good customer service
 understand his/her role in dealing with complaints
from customers.

18. Your experience of receiving customer service
 in pairs, think about and
discuss your experiences as a
shopper
 think about a time when you
had a very positive shopping
experience
 what made it so good?
 now think about a time when
you had a disappointing
shopping experience
 what was bad about it?

19. What is Customer Service?
 good customer service is the lifeblood of any retail
business
 promotions and discounted prices may bring in
customers but unless you can get some of those
customers to come back again, your business won’t be
profitable for long
 good customer service is all about bringing customers
back
 customer service is about sending them away happy –
happy enough to pass positive feedback on to their
friends and family and to become repeat customers.

20. What is customer service?
 customer service is more than serving customers - it includes trying
your best to make sure that the customer is satisfied
 customer service is being friendly and helpful to customers
 customer service is helping customers satisfy the need that brought
them into the store
 customer service is offering that little something to make the
customer feel that they are special and welcome
 customer service means having thorough knowledge of your stock
range, experience with your products, and being able to help
customers
make the best choices for them
 good customer service maintains current customers and helps
attract new ones.
What else can you add to this list?

21. The Customer Experience
 what are customers looking for when they buy
products and services?
a solution to meet their needs
a product/service which will do the job properly
a quality product which will last for as long as needed
a guarantee
a pleasant experience when purchasing.
 what else can you think of that a shopper will be
looking for?

22. Customers will expect  to feel welcomed into the shop
 staff to listen to their requirements
 staff to be helpful
 staff to be knowledgeable
 staff to be polite
 staff to be patient
 staff to be able to resolve any problems
 to pay a price which meets their budget
 to buy a product or service which meets their needs
 a positive experience.

23. Poor customer service experiences of receiving
 thinking about your
experiences of receiving
poor customer service, what
did you do about it?
 what would the impact be
on an organisation if
customers were to receive
poor service?
 why do retailers ensure staff
are trained in customer
service?

24. First impressions says everything second chance to make a good first
 a first impression
says
everything
 you never get a
second chance to
make a good first
impression.

25. Skills needed to ensure good customer service
know your products and services
listen to your customers
have good communication skills:
verbal
non-verbal
have empathy with your customers
be able to solve problems.

26. Verbal communication
The way we speak is made up of a number of different elements:
the words we use
the type of language we use in different situations (chatty, jargon)
tone of voice (angry, upset, nervous, serious, happy)
Pace (slow, moderate or fast)
Medium (face to face, on the telephone).

27. What makes a good listener?
 we all listen don’t we?
 in pairs can you come up
with 10 points on what
makes a poor listener
 now looking at each
point, how can you
change it so you can be a
good listener.

28. How can you show you are listening actively?
 stop what you are doing to listen to the speaker
 make sure your mind is focused
 make eye contact with the speaker
 be quiet
 nod your head and accept what they say
 use expressions like “I see”, “Yes” , “ah ha” and “Hmmm”
 check your understanding by asking questions
 use open body language
 try to hear what the speaker is attempting to say – don’t let
your own views or emotions affect your listening
 do not judge the speaker based on appearance.

29. Activity: listening triads
 you will be allocated into
groups of 3:
one person will be the speaker
one person will be the listener
one person will be the observer
 the speaker has to select a
subject to talk about from the list
 the listener must listen actively
to the speaker
 the observer should watch and
listen, make notes on how they
showed listening and
questioning skills and feedback.
Topics to talk about
a favourite hobby or leisure activity
the best holiday you have ever had
your favourite film/TV programme
the 3 things you would take to a desert island
your favourite book.

30. Non–verbal communication:
Non-verbal communication is how we send out messages and signals without talking, including:
 eye contact
 touch
 physical gestures
 body language
 behaviour
 facial expression
 posture
 closeness to other people, eg ‘invading personal space’

31. Body language & active listening
Good body language
Bad body language
 nodding  leaning forward  eye contact  making notes discreetly  tilting head towards speaker  mirroring body language.
 slouching
 yawning
 tapping your fingers
 rolling your eyes
 looking away from the
speaker
 crossing arms/legs.

32. Customer confidentiality
 why is it important for
certain information to
be kept confidential?
 why is this important to
the customer?
 why is it important to
the organisation?

33. Treating customers with respect
 Equality is ensuring customers or groups of
customers are treated fairly and equally and
no less favourably, specific to their needs,
including areas of race, gender, disability,
religion or belief, sexual orientation and age
 Diversity aims to recognise, respect and value
people’s differences in culture and
background.

34. Dealing with complaints
 we cannot satisfy
customers all the
time
 customer service
involves dealing with
customer complaints
effectively.

35. Main types of complaints
Complaints can generally be categorised into one of the following 3 types:
product quality or faulty
complaints about the
service received
3. individual personnel
such as a complaint against a member of staff.

36. Dealing with customer complaints
Step 1
listen carefully to what the customer has to say, and let them finish
Step 2
ask questions in a caring and concerned manner
Step 3
try to see the issue from the customer’s point of view
Step 4
apologise without blaming
Step 5
ask the customer, “What would be an acceptable solution to you?”
Step 6
solve the problem, or find someone who can solve it - quickly!

37. Record keeping complaints as this will help you to
 keep details of the problems or
complaints as this will help you to
come up with solutions or
improvements.
date
details of the problem or complaint For example: ‘Cheese mouldy before use-by date’
action taken such as: ‘Provided two replacement packs of cheese’
costs involved in resolving the problem. For example: ‘We supplied two replacement packs at a cost of £5.20.’

38. Complaints are opportunities
“A customer with a return is a returning customer.”

39. Problem solving at work

40. What you will cover in this unit
 understand the different types of problems they might encounter in a place of work
 understand how problems can be solved
 know how to recognise possible solutions to a specific problem.

41. What kind of problems might you encounter at work?
Are they to do with:
 people?
 tasks?
 resources?

42. What kinds of problems? on the cards provided - people? - tasks?
 work with your group and read the problems
on the cards provided
 are the problems to do with:
- people?
- tasks?
- resources?
Produce a mind-map showing the types of problems and which group they belong to.

43. How do you solve the problem?
 look at the problem your group has been
given
- why has the problem happened?
- could it have been prevented?
 match up a ‘possible solution’ card with your
‘problem’ card
 do you think this is the best approach to
solving the problem?

44. How do you solve the problem?
 can you think of other ways to solve the
problem?
 agree in your group which method / solution
is the best
 work individually to prepare a flip chart sheet
or PowerPoint slide describing your problem
and the way your group agreed to solve it.

45. Colleague being bullied
 Natalie, a work colleague was upset at work
and when you asked if she was ok she said she
was being bullied by another team member
 how would you advise Natalie to deal with the
problem?
 working in groups of 5 - discuss and try to
solve the problem.

46. Colleague being bullied
 how would you solve the problem?
 would you deal it:
- informally?
- formally?
- could it be a simple mistake or a misunderstanding?
 agree the best option for approaching and
solving the problem
 why did you choose that option?

47. Problems at work? with your class.
 have you experienced any problems at work?
 how did you/or others deal with them?
 compare examples of dealing with problems
with your class.