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The differences between retail sales representatives and sales support representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a sales support representative has an average salary of $38,310, which is higher than the $37,907 average annual salary of a retail sales representative.
The top three skills for a retail sales representative include retail sales, retail store and POS. The most important skills for a sales support representative are sales support, phone calls, and POS.
| Retail Sales Representative | Sales Support Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $37,907 | $38,310 |
| Hourly rate | $18.22 | $18.42 |
| Growth rate | - | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 391,763 | 319,292 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 58% | Bachelor's Degree, 55% |
| Average age | 41 | 47 |
| Years of experience | - | 4 |
A retail salesperson's responsibility is to sell products and provide necessary information to the consumers to convince them of availing items. Retail salesperson's duties include coordinating with promotional programs, recommending strategies to increase sales, answering customer's inquiries, and escalating any concerns to the management that might affect the company's sales performance. A retail salesperson must have excellent communication skills to build a good rapport with the customers and assist them with their needs. A retail salesperson also helps with inventories and documenting a customer's suggestion for service improvement.
A sales support representative is responsible for assisting the complex operations of sales departments, performing administrative duties under the supervision of a direct manager. Sales support representatives' tasks include acknowledging and encoding customers' orders in the system, processing payments, responding to the customers' inquiries and concerns about the products, writing sales reports, and updating the customer of the shipment details. They also support the sales representatives on selling goods and services to potential customers by creating marketing materials and communicating with customers over the phone and e-mail to generate revenues and increase profits.
Retail sales representatives and sales support representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Retail Sales Representative | Sales Support Representative | |
| Average salary | $37,907 | $38,310 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $50,000 | Between $30,000 And $48,000 |
| Highest paying City | Portland, ME | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | Maine | Washington |
| Best paying company | Pella | NetApp |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Finance |
There are a few differences between a retail sales representative and a sales support representative in terms of educational background:
| Retail Sales Representative | Sales Support Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 58% | Bachelor's Degree, 55% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred |
Here are the differences between retail sales representatives' and sales support representatives' demographics:
| Retail Sales Representative | Sales Support Representative | |
| Average age | 41 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 54.6% Female, 45.4% | Male, 39.9% Female, 60.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.2% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 20.9% Asian, 6.9% White, 56.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% | Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.0% Asian, 5.1% White, 73.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 6% |