VCSE Retail and Customer Service
VCSE Retail and Customer Service asks learners to research a real retail business online, use customer service data such as online reviews, live chat transcripts and response times, and produce a report, staff guidance, customer replies for digital platforms, a brand mood board, mock-up digital adverts and pitch slides. Unit 1 tests knowledge of retail technology such as AI chatbots, RFID and self-checkout in a one-hour sector test taken on paper or on screen, while Units 2 and 3 (80% together) are NEA tasks that need IT and software and are submitted digitally. The single biggest thing KS3 should build is confidence turning research and customer data into clear, branded documents, adverts and slides for a real audience using everyday Office tools.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Level 1 and Level 2
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of digital work
- Medium
- Specification
- Open the specification
- Step before
- Foundation Retail and Customer Service, Entry Level and Level 1
How this qualification is assessed
- Unit 1: Introduction to the Retail and Customer Service Sector: External assessment (sector test) 1 hour, 20%, 50 marks, set and marked by WJEC, available on paper or on screen
- Unit 2: Developing Customer Service Skills: External non-examination assessment 6 hours 30 minutes, 20%, 60 marks, set and marked by WJEC, tasks based on a case study released on the WJEC Portal and changed every year
- Unit 3: Retail Marketing and Promotion: Non-examination assessment 19 hours, 60%, 90 marks, set by WJEC, marked by the centre and externally moderated by WJEC, five tasks based on an assignment brief
Skills that use Health and well-being
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Understanding retail technology and its impact
Unit 1 requires learners to know how technologies are used in retail, including AI and chatbots, contactless payment, data analytics, RFID and smart shelves, loyalty schemes, mobile apps, CCTV, self-checkout, sentiment analysis tools, social media and virtual and augmented reality, with the advantages and disadvantages for businesses and customers. E-commerce, m-commerce, delivery apps, customer data analytics and real-time delivery tracking are also studied as drivers of change, all tested in the Unit 1 sector test.
DCF: Health and well-being, Identity, image and reputation, Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils sort photos of self-checkouts, contactless card readers, CCTV and delivery apps by who benefits most, the shop or the customer.
- Year 8
- Pupils investigate how a supermarket loyalty app uses shopping data to offer deals and list one benefit and one risk for the customer.
- Year 9
- Pupils research one retail technology, such as chatbots or RFID tags, and write a balanced paragraph on its advantages and disadvantages for a Welsh retailer and its customers.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 1, Section 1.4.1, page 20; Unit 1, Section 1.1.3, page 15; Unit 1, Section 1.2.2, page 16
“Learners should know how technology and its features are used in retail”
Progression step 3
I can identify the wider positive and negative influences of technology, e.g. on my life, on society, on the environment.
I can identify the benefits and risks of giving personal information and device access to different software.
Progression step 4
I can make informed choices while making online choices, including making in-app purchases and clicking on adverts.
I can understand that I have a digital footprint and that this information can be searched, copied and passed on.
Progression step 5
I can recognise the risks and the uses of data/services on personal devices, within the terms and conditions of a range of software and web services, and identify how organisations become data compliant when using multi-national products.
I can consider the benefits and limitations of digital tools and information sources and of the results I produce and use these results to inform future judgements about the quality of my digital work.
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Judging digital advertising, influencers and green claims
In Unit 3 learners must understand digital advertising media, including websites, emails, banner and pop-up adverts, social media influencers and product reels, and SMS texts, alongside public relations techniques such as celebrity endorsement, and weigh their advantages and disadvantages. Unit 1 adds greenwashing, such as exaggerated claims and the use of colour in advertising, and its consequences.
DCF: Health and well-being, Identity, image and reputation
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils annotate screenshots of a pop-up advert and a social media product reel to show the features designed to grab their attention.
- Year 8
- Pupils compare a printed leaflet with an influencer post for the same product, check for an '#ad' label and decide which suits a teenage audience better.
- Year 9
- Pupils check an online advert's green claims for a product against the facts on the retailer's website and decide whether it could be greenwashing.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 3, Section 3.1.5, pages 36 and 37; Unit 1, Section 1.4.3, page 21
“social media, for example the use of influencers and product reels or clips”
Progression step 3
I can identify marketing elements designed to draw my attention.
I can think critically about information shared online, e.g. the impact of sharing images and videos, metadata of images and videos.
Progression step 4
I can make informed choices while making online choices, including making in-app purchases and clicking on adverts.
I can identify stereotypes and their impact in a range of media.
Progression step 5
I can think critically about the different purposes and contexts of digital image editing, e.g. explore the benefits and negative points of photograph manipulation, evaluate digitally edited images in terms of context and purpose.
I can recognise the risks and the uses of data/services on personal devices, within the terms and conditions of a range of software and web services, and identify how organisations become data compliant when using multi-national products.
Good to know
- Unit 2 needs a computer but bans AI: 'Learners must have access to IT and appropriate software. The use of AI is not permitted.' (page 24).
- Unit 3 learners must have access to 'suitable hardware and software to produce the non-examination assessment evidence' and 'the internet to produce research materials and specified section of the assessment where the internet is permitted' (page 34). No software is named anywhere.
- The Unit 1 sector test is 'Available in two formats: paper or onscreen' (pages 5 and 12), with objective question types such as 'drag-and-drop, hot spot questions' (page 42). The centre chooses the format, so on-screen testing is not required.
- Typing is optional but submission is digital: Unit 2 'must be submitted digitally, either as scanned handwritten responses or completed electronically', and Unit 3 evidence for moderation follows the same rule (page 43).
- Appendix A (page 51) maps Digital Competence to Units 2 and 3 only, with Citizenship mapped just to '2.1.1' and nothing mapped to Unit 1, even though Unit 1 teaches retail technology.
- The front cover warns that 'The UK Government has announced plans to restrict social media use by children under 16', which may affect content on social media marketing and digital customer service.
Links with other qualifications
Researching a local business, writing a report from data and the digital marketing content overlap closely with GCSE Business, and the customer service content is shared with the VCSE in Hospitality and Catering. The mood board, mock-up adverts and pitch slides use the same groundwork as GCSE Digital Media and Film and the VCSE in Creative and Media Production, and Technology.
Source: WJEC Level 1/Level 2 VCSE Retail and Customer Service specification, approved by Qualifications Wales, teaching from September 2027, for award from 2029 (© WJEC CBAC Ltd 2026).