How to hire a retail consultant

How to hire a retail consultant, step by step

Here's a step-by-step retail consultant hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a retail consultant job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new retail consultant
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a retail consultant do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your retail consultant job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a retail consultant for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

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   Hiring the perfect retail consultant also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   The following list breaks down different types of retail consultants and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Retail Consultant	Description	Hourly rate
   Retail Consultant	Retail sales workers include both those who sell retail merchandise, such as clothing, furniture, and automobiles, (called retail salespersons) and those who sell spare and replacement parts and equipment, especially car parts (called parts salespersons). Both types of workers help customers find the products they want and process customers’ payments.	$15-37
   Sales Person	A salesperson is in charge of ensuring that the products, goods, or services of the company get sold to customers. They are trained to market the products well, understand what the customer needs, and find the product that best fits the customer's needs... Show more	$6-58
   Sales Clerk	A sales clerk is responsible for assisting customers in purchasing products, responding to customer inquiries, and providing product recommendations. Sales clerks require excellent customer service and communication skills to offer the best services to the customers and maintain good customer feedback for the business... Show more	$7-18

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Sales Floor
   • Retail Sales
   • Account Issues
   • Operational Policies
   • Customer Satisfaction
   • Customer Billing
   • POS
   • Customer Inquiries
   • Customer Support
   • Customer Issues
   • Customer Connections
   • Product Knowledge
   • Customer Orders
   • Cross-Selling

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage teams for C++, Java, JavaScript mobile applications, testing and deployments.
   • Maintain organized and cleanliness of stock room and production floor.
   • Meet customer needs and troubleshoot concerns with the goal of increasing both the strength and duration of customer relationships.
   • Assist in maintain cleanliness throughout the store while in charge of documenting all files in an organize systematic manner.
   • Provide expertise on POS and inventory tracking software setup and implementation.
   • Conduct presentations highlighting advantages while applying closing and cross-selling techniques'.

   More retail consultant duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your retail consultant job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A retail consultant salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, retail consultants' average salary in mississippi is 40% less than in district of columbia.
   • Seniority. Entry-level retail consultants earn 58% less than senior-level retail consultants.
   • Certifications. A retail consultant with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a retail consultant's salary.

   Average retail consultant salary

   $51,833yearly

   $24.92 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level retail consultant salary

   $33,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 23, 2026

   Average retail consultant salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	New York	$68,607	$33
   2	Massachusetts	$67,559	$32
   3	California	$61,126	$29
   4	Pennsylvania	$59,749	$29
   5	Washington	$59,481	$29
   6	Maryland	$58,017	$28
   7	Oregon	$56,983	$27
   8	Michigan	$54,641	$26
   9	Virginia	$52,638	$25
   10	Nevada	$52,501	$25
   11	Wisconsin	$52,496	$25
   12	Minnesota	$52,044	$25
   13	Illinois	$51,852	$25
   14	Colorado	$51,109	$25
   15	Ohio	$49,940	$24
   16	Missouri	$48,756	$23
   17	Indiana	$48,577	$23
   18	Kansas	$48,426	$23
   19	Arizona	$47,773	$23
   20	New Mexico	$47,281	$23

   Average retail consultant salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	SAP	$136,907	$65.82
   2	IBM	$97,789	$47.01	2
   3	Capgemini	$93,018	$44.72
   4	AbbVie	$92,438	$44.44
   5	PTC	$92,423	$44.43
   6	Infosys Public Service	$92,020	$44.24	1
   7	VEDICSOFT	$89,611	$43.08
   8	Harley-Davidson	$85,779	$41.24
   9	Accenture	$84,055	$40.41	555
   10	Predictix	$78,029	$37.51
   11	Oracle	$77,791	$37.40	178
   12	Deloitte	$66,080	$31.77
   13	UCS	$65,080	$31.29
   14	Schumacher Auto Group	$59,849	$28.77	2
   15	Windstream	$58,726	$28.23
   16	UPS	$57,097	$27.45	6
   17	Wells Fargo	$55,630	$26.75	103
   18	MyEyeDr	$54,817	$26.35
   19	Performance Food Group	$54,393	$26.15
   20	Big Frog Custom T-Shirts & More	$53,808	$25.87

4. Writing a retail consultant job description

   A retail consultant job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a retail consultant job description:

   Retail consultant job description example

   The Retail Paint Consultant has the responsibility for increasing paint sales within the True Value and GPM organizations, specifically with their applicable key accounts. This role includes cold calling, prospecting, and developing new accounts. The Retail Paint Consultant and TV internal contacts will work together to increase the number of retailers with a viable paint department. They will aid retailers with increasing paint department profitability by actively promoting sales and marketing initiatives. They will encourage periodic price-checking, timely inventory evaluations and refreshed merchandising implementation to help combat competitive pressures.
   
   Applicants must reside in any of the following cities/ states: Colorado Springs, CO / Denver, CO/ Albuquerque, NM / Flagstaff, AZ / Phoenix, AZ / Wyoming *
   Annual Salary Range: $57,800.00 to 85,000.00 * based on experience and qualifications
   
   Incentive: This position is eligible to participate in the Company's Incentive Plan. Incentive target will be 15% of your incentive eligible earnings.
   
   Benefits: True Value Company offers a competitive, total benefits package that acknowledges and rewards your contribution and performance. That's why we provide so many ways to help you be your healthiest self, physically, emotionally and financially. The benefits package include: medical, prescription drug, dental care, 401K (4% matching), holiday and paid time off, life insurance, short-term and long-term disability insurance, employee assistance program and employee discounts.
   
   Responsibilities (May perform other duties and responsibilities, as assigned).
   
   1. Works closely with predetermined group of retailers and internal partners interested and willing to develop additional paint department sales by supporting more aggressive in-store exposure as well as participating in external sales development. This will encompass supporting training and empowering dedicated personnel to be effective in outside sales calls to end-users. In order to participate, the retailers must make competitive wholesale pricing available, have sufficient and correct inventory and have competent in-store personnel for follow-up.
   
   2. Works with specified retailers and provides training to staff, offers guidance on inventory levels, assists when requested in making outside sales calls. The Consultants will play a key role in developing prospect target lists.
   
   3. Drives new sales by the development of in-store demonstrations, comprehensive training programs, in-store seminars, optimizing merchandising opportunities and creating enthusiasm with store staff.
   
   4. Maintains relationships with key paint retailers by providing guidance on promotional programs and providing training to personnel on paint selling and merchandising, including being a liaison between Marketing and the member.
   
   5. Increase organic sales by increasing the number of participating paint outlets.
   
   6. Maintains a list of targeted key retailers, which includes earning potential, enthusiasm for developing paint sales, and quality of personnel for follow-up activities. This list will be prepared by National Sales Manager and Retail Consultants.
   
   7. Coordinate and align activities (including specific sales targets) with Tele-marketing support representatives.
   
   Education & Experience
   
   * Bachelor's Degree or equivalent work experience.
   * 5-7 years of experience, preferably in Manufacturing Marketing, Merchandising, Retail, Sales, Supply Chain, Wholesale, preferably within paint sales, sundry products, or paint technicalities.
   * Intermediate knowledge of MS Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).
   
   Licenses & Certifications: N/A
   
   Physical Requirements
   
   * Balancing, Climbing, Crouching, Hearing, Kneeling, Lifting, Pulling, Pushing, Reaching, Repetitive Motion, Seeing, Sitting, Standing, Stooping, Talking, Typing, Visual Acuity, Walking
   * The person should be able to move 5-gallon pails of paint, set paint departments and drive for long distances.
   
   Work Environment: (Indoor/Outdoor/Heat/Cold) Generally, works in climate-controlled office environment.
   
   Travel: Travel may vary in length and duration. Role requires incumbent to travel from store to store and at times to markets and headquarters. Travel is typically by car and plane. Much of work takes place in store environment.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right retail consultant for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with retail consultants they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit retail consultants who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   To find retail consultant candidates, you can consider the following options:

   • Post your job opening on Zippia or other job search websites.
   • Use niche websites that focus on engineering and technology jobs, such as salesjobs, salesheads, allretailjobs.com, sales trax.
   • Post your job on free job posting websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting retail consultants requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new retail consultant

   Once you have selected a candidate for the retail consultant position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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