What does a product associate do?
Product Associates are employees who help in different activities related to the company's products. They are usually junior-level employees who assist Senior Product Officers in their tasks. They may help in the development of new products or the improvement of existing ones. They may also assist in quality control and record any problems with the products. Product Associates help out in coordinating between departments involved in the production of company goods.
Product associate responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real product associate resumes:
- Manage third party warehouse inventory including WIP's and finish goods for finance and inventory reporting.
- Help merchandise products to increase sales, achieve sales goals during events, and maintain beauty insider goals.
- Manage all facets of product consultation while continually outperforming departmental goals and objectives in relation to sales profitability and revenue growth.
- Set up and operate CNC lathe, VTL and manual lathe.
- Work on a fully integrate ERP system.
- Operate, clean and troubleshoot basic problems that occur in slitter.
- Review ISO procedures in an effort to lean the department of waste.
- Collaborate with outside agencies to create buyer premiums and design POS materials.
- Maintain attendance and punctuality as required by assign work schedule and within company standards.
- Input product contracts into POS system featuring description, supplier, pricing, and margins.
- Extend commodities experience into the coal, emissions, renewable resource, and weather derivative markets.
- Be knowledgeable of special events/animations within SEPHORA; assist in the maintenance of animations and events.
- Perform data testing coordinate UAT testing with business and reverting back to development team for bug fixes.
- Participate in replenishment, inventory control, and assist in the maintenance of SEPHORA's animation and events.
- Train internal teams on how to troubleshoot the product; partner with account team to support client across products.
Product associate skills and personality traits
We calculated that 10% of Product Associates are proficient in PowerPoint, Treasury, and Product Knowledge. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Math skills, and Selling skills.
We break down the percentage of Product Associates that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- PowerPoint, 10%
Worked on developing, researching and proofreading technical reports, statistical summary write-ups, and client PowerPoint presentations.
- Treasury, 7%
Implemented new and maintained existing Treasury Management products and services for Commercial Banking customers.
- Product Knowledge, 6%
Assist customer service with fit and product knowledge to educate them on how to up-sell product and minimize return rates.
- Product Development, 5%
Develop and maintain testing strategies consistent with aggressive product development.
- Customer Service, 5%
Delivered strong customer service to help established customer base.
- SQL, 5%
Created a reporting data warehouse framework using Microsoft Access for upgrade to SQL Server.
Common skills that a product associate uses to do their job include "powerpoint," "treasury," and "product knowledge." You can find details on the most important product associate responsibilities below.
Customer-service skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a product associate to have is customer-service skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "retail sales workers must be responsive to the wants and needs of customers." Product associates often use customer-service skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "assist customers, organize and stock merchandise and maintain store cleanliness. "
Math skills. Many product associate duties rely on math skills. "retail sales workers must have the ability to calculate price totals, discounts, and change owed to customers.," so a product associate will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways product associate responsibilities rely on math skills: "performed in-depth portfolio research and quantitative analysis to update internal and external clients and to promote the asset class. "
Selling skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of product associates is selling skills. This skill is critical to many everyday product associate duties, as "retail sales workers must be persuasive when interacting with customers." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "managed regular communications among product development, marketing and sales teams 7. "
Interpersonal skills. A big part of what product associates do relies on "interpersonal skills." You can see how essential it is to product associate responsibilities because "a friendly and outgoing personality is important for these workers because the job requires almost constant interaction with people." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical product associate tasks: "maintain a clean work environment accomplishments organization and cleanliness of brands and product certified sephora make-up artist skills used strong interpersonal skills"
The three companies that hire the most product associates are:
- JPMorgan Chase & Co.108 product associates jobs
- Bank of America27 product associates jobs
- UST Global19 product associates jobs
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Compare different product associates
Product associate vs. Commissioned sales associate
Commissioned sales associates are professionals who conduct sale transactions that can generate additional compensation by increasing selling operations. These associates are must collaborate successfully with fellow associates in regard to sales and commission distribution. They must provide excellent customer service so that they can establish long term relationships with customers and ensure high satisfaction. Commissioned sales associates must also assist the department managers with visual merchandising to arrange racks so that they can place and stock new merchandise.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a product associate are more likely to require skills like "powerpoint," "treasury," "risk management," and "product development." On the other hand, a job as a commissioned sales associate requires skills like "excellent organizational," "excellent interpersonal," "customer relationships," and "commission sales." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Commissioned sales associates tend to reach similar levels of education than product associates. In fact, commissioned sales associates are 4.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.3% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Product associate vs. Fitting room associate
Sales associates are responsible for promoting the company's goods or services. They are expected to provide exceptional customer service to prospective buyers. They should be familiar with all features of the company's products or services so that they can answer the customers' inquiries. Sales associates also assist customers in processing their checkouts, refunds, returns, and other needs. They should be customer-oriented, and they should have great communication skills. They should know how to sell their products or services to customers. They are considered the company's representatives on the ground.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real product associate resumes. While product associate responsibilities can utilize skills like "powerpoint," "treasury," "product knowledge," and "risk management," fitting room associates use skills like "strong customer service," "back room," "math," and "mail room."
In general, fitting room associates achieve lower levels of education than product associates. They're 5.6% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 2.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Product associate vs. Sales associate
A product consultant is an individual who collaborates with client managers and project managers to analyze client requirements and provide optimal products. Product consultants are required to leverage industry and product knowledge to answer customer inquiries and provide customer consultations. To maintain excellent customer service, product consultants should maintain courtesy and professionalism as well as attentive to product details. They must also train new consultants on product knowledge and communicate sales strategies to the field agents of the company across the region.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from product associate resumes include skills like "treasury," "risk management," "product development," and "sql," whereas a sales associate is more likely to list skills in "cash handling," "retail sales," "loss prevention," and "basic math. "
When it comes to education, sales associates tend to earn lower degree levels compared to product associates. In fact, they're 5.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 2.5% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Product associate vs. Product consultant
Types of product associate
Updated January 8, 2025
