Resource: Retail Sales

Are you friendly? Patient? A jack-of-all trades? Consider a career in retail sales. Successful retail salespeople possess great interpersonal skills, a flexible attitude, and lots of self-motivation.

The products sold vary widely: from cosmetics to clothing, from consumer electronics to cars. As a salesperson, you will help customers find specific products; answer their questions or concerns; explain product benefits; and encourage them to purchase the product. You may also be required to process payments.

In some areas of retail, such as cars or electronics, you may need to have specialised knowledge about the products, so you can adequately answer questions about specs, features, uses, and related issues.


Retail Sales: Past & Future

People all over the world love to shop! In westernised countries, shopping is a popular pastime, and a frequent activity for evenings and weekends. Sales assistants are an important part of the shopping experience, providing helpful information and a friendly demeanour that encourages customers to feel at home.

In the past, it was more common for people to shop for necessary goods only, and customer service was not such a crucial part of the experience. Now, more and more people shop as a leisure activity, and have more cash to spend on non-necessary items. So friendly service has become a much more important element of the retail shopping experience. And with new stores opening all the time, there will always be more opportunities for good retail salespeople.

In retail sales, high staff turnover is commoplace, so there are always new opportunities available. It is fairly easy to enter the workforce part-time. But if you are serious about sales as a career, your best job strategy is to work full time, in a field or department that sells expensive, high value items.


Retail Sales: Do you have what it takes?

Successful candidates in retail sales positions possess a combination of the following traits and abilities.

• You should be well-mannered, courteous, and pleasant. You will have to deal with all kinds of customers throughout the course of the day, and not every person you meet will be pleasant. You must have the patience and people skills to interact graciously with difficult customers.
• You must be flexible. In retail sales, you will frequently work long and unsociable, including evenings and weekends, and even more shifts around public holidays.
• You should be comfortable with money-related tasks, such as processing credit card payments, opening and closing the cash register and giving the correct change.
• You should be able to remain on your feet for long periods of time.
• You should have several “O” levels, or the equivalent. Beyond that, there are no specific educational requirements for most retail sales jobs. However, a number of educational backgrounds could prove useful, including marketing, psychology, or communications.
• You must have a neat, attractive appearance, with personal presentation that corresponds to the environment of the store.

Retail Sales: The Payoff

In retail sales, you have your pick of various environments in which to work, from small speciality stores or boutiques, to mid-size retail chains, to large department stores. Since the work environment is open to the public, it will generally be comfortable, and well-lit.

As a retail salesperson, you will also have a greater range of hours and schedules available, since retail stores are often open during the evenings and at weekends, as well as during normal working hours.

In retail sales, rewards often come with seniority. You might be given better shifts, or be transferred to represent more expensive items. Because of the high staff turnover, it's often easier to achieve seniority as a salesperson than it is in many other professions. After just a couple years, you might find yourself to be the most senior member of your sales force.

As to financial remuneration, you will generally receive a basic hourly wage or salary, as well as small commissions on sales. Commissions provide an incentive to sell more. This can be accomplished by encouraging customers to either buy additional items, or a more expensive item. Your ability to do this will directly influence how much money you can earn, giving you some degree of control over your take home pay.