Retail representative vs expert

The differences between retail representatives and experts can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an expert has an average salary of $94,068, which is higher than the $31,790 average annual salary of a retail representative.

The top three skills for a retail representative include flexibility, store management and certification programs. The most important skills for an expert are sales floor, strong customer service, and product knowledge.

Retail representative vs expert overview

	Retail Representative	Expert
Yearly salary	$31,790	$94,068
Hourly rate	$15.28	$45.23
Growth rate	-	-
Number of jobs	402,132	11,893
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	-	-

What does a retail representative do?

A retail representative is in charge of assisting customers with their shopping needs in retail stores, ensuring customer satisfaction. Their responsibilities include greeting customers and identifying their needs, answering inquiries, locating products, offering promotions and recommendations, and conducting demonstrations when possible. There are also instances where they must process payments or refunds. Furthermore, as a retail representative, it is essential to arrange products on shelves to make it look attractive to customers, all while maintaining the cleanliness of the sales floor.

What does an expert do?

An expert has extensive knowledge on a subject gained from a significant amount of experience. Although the tasks will vary on the line of work or organization, an expert's role will often revolve around sharing expertise through discussion, evaluation, and influencing. There's also an opportunity for teaching, training, selling, and even promoting. Being an expert requires a great deal of communication and coordination; the duties will always involve engaging with other people and building rapport.

Retail representative vs expert salary

Retail representatives and experts have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Retail Representative	Expert
Average salary	$31,790	$94,068
Salary range	Between $26,000 And $38,000	Between $54,000 And $161,000
Highest paying City	-	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	California
Best paying company	-	McKinsey & Company Inc
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between retail representative and expert education

There are a few differences between a retail representative and an expert in terms of educational background:

	Retail Representative	Expert
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Retail representative vs expert demographics

Here are the differences between retail representatives' and experts' demographics:

	Retail Representative	Expert
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 43.6% Female, 56.4%	Male, 55.6% Female, 44.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.7% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 18.5% Asian, 6.8% White, 58.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 10.2% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 19.2% Asian, 8.3% White, 56.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between retail representative and expert duties and responsibilities

Retail representative example responsibilities.

Manage Nintendo's promotional programs; secure and maintain point-of-purchase displays that alert customers to brand availability.
Execute the proper POS in accounts, particularly with products on sale.
Befriend category managers and backroom personnel to positively impact on OSA, POS placement, and other sell-in tactics.
Educate consumers about products and services and troubleshoot any existing customer concerns relate to service or equipment.
Collaborate with board members to prepare PowerPoint presentations and other written reports and present concepts to management.

Expert example responsibilities.

Manage full life cycle development / deployment of focuse business intelligence solutions (SDLC).
Manage 20 Lean/Six sigma projects in 2005 enabling annualize savings of $1.42 MM vs. goal of 1.2 MM.
Develop talent management plans, set goals, and provide motivation to achieve client and program objectives (KPI's).
Manage back-end operations to ensure quality and timely delivery of product.
Manage transition logistics for a global vehicle financing company downsizing operations in Colorado.
Manipulate or correct color in scan images using Photoshop for the purpose of digitalprinting or platemaking.

Retail representative vs expert skills

Common retail representative skills

Flexibility, 36%
Store Management, 36%
Certification Programs, 11%
PET, 7%
Customer Service, 2%
Product Knowledge, 1%

Common expert skills

Sales Floor, 16%
Strong Customer Service, 11%
Product Knowledge, 8%
Customer Service, 6%
POS, 5%
Customer Loyalty, 4%

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Retail Representative
Retail Representative vs Expert

Updated January 8, 2025

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