Advertisement

One third of customers face discrimination

Author thumbnail
One third of customers face discrimination
Photo: DPA

Whether on the basis of age, appearance or sex - one in three customers are discriminated against in Germany over the course of a year, according to a report due to be published on Monday.

Advertisement

“You're not coming in here!” or “that's probably not in your price range,” are comments heard surprisingly often by customers in Germany, wrote Der Spiegel magazine in a report out on Monday.

Thirty percent of customers are subject to discriminatory remarks at some point in an average year - most often based on their sex, age or socio-economic status, according to a study by Augsburg University, Bavaria.

Often, 64 percent of the time, the hurtful remarks come from staff members, rather than management or fellow customers, said the study authors.

Turkish customers have a particularly hard time, with 81 percent discriminated against an average of 5.7 times a year compared with just 27.5 percent of German customers who experience discrimination on average 1.3 times a year.

But discrimination of this kind is not without detriment to the company in question, with the majority of customers reacting to negative experiences, wrote Der Spiegel.

Twenty percent complain directly to the company and half will switch to the competition. Nearly 80 percent tell their friends about it, spreading “negative word-of-mouth,” according to the study.

Companies should be aware of the damaging effect of such experiences and the “considerable risk discrimination poses to economic success,” wrote the authors.

The Local/jlb

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also