What can shopping teach us about the consumer duty?

We have all been there, as I was recently. As the pointed stares and sighs of frustration mounted around me, I noticed that something interesting and consumer duty-related was unfolding, literally in front of me. The “problem” was an elderly lady who was trying to use the supermarket app on her phone and was becoming increasingly flustered and upset.

The checkout person was wonderful, both to the queue and the elderly lady; polite, calm and keeping all parties informed about what was happening.

They were unable to resolve the problem, and called a manager, who arrived quickly and took control of the situation, smilingly competent. The elderly lady was moved to “your personal checkout,” reassured “we’ll get this sorted out for you” and the queue thanked for their patience.

So how does this link to the Consumer Duty?

Let us think about outcomes for a moment, specifically communication, support, and the treatment of customers with characteristics of vulnerability.

In my view the supermarket staff delivered good outcomes here for both the queue and the elderly lady by: –

• Communicating clearly and regularly about what was happening and what they were going to do next in a calm and positive way.
• Supporting the queue by getting it moving again as quickly as they could and the elderly lady by removing her from the pressure of holding it up and providing her with expert one to one support to resolve her issues.
• Treatment of customers with characteristics of vulnerability – the elderly ladies’ issue was quickly identified, and the right support was rapidly provided in a calm, supportive and courteous way.

So, the outcome was that one of FCA’s key Consumer Duty objectives was achieved – the customer was enabled to use the product (the supermarket app) in the way intended by the provider and expected by the customer.  

Pity the supermarket is not FCA regulated; it would be a great example of good practice to share with them!

Written by: Allison Belben