How To Become A Retail Sales Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a retail sales specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Peter Weiss Ph.D., P.E.,

Joseph Hancock

The retail sales specialist supports customers by answering product and service questions, responding to general inquiries, and noting customer feedback. He/She helps prepare the store by maintaining and stocking work areas, ensuring all items are priced correctly. He/She works with other store personnel to maintain visual standards. Furthermore, he/she promotes the sales of goods and services, processes purchase, service, and return transactions at the register. Similarly, he/she collects payments for goods, makes changes, and distributes receipts. Additionally, he/she identifies, reviews, and resolves customer issues.

For this role, you need at least a high school diploma or its equivalent. You must have previous experience with retail sales or customer service. Employers may provide on-the-job training. Applicants must possess sales, customer service, communication, and time management skills. Retail sales specialists earn an average salary of $32,757 annually or $15.75 an hour. This ranges between $30,000 to $35,000.

What general advice would you give to a retail sales specialist?

Peter Weiss Ph.D., P.E.

Professor, Website

Interpersonal skills and communication will become more important, but they have been very important for a very long time. Additionally, computer skills will also become more important. For example, learning CAD software or software specific to your area of work will become more important. In a combination of interpersonal skills and computer skills, learning how to stay connected with colleagues, your employer, and your superiors in this post-Covid time period will become more important. While it rarely occurred prior to Covid, it is common now for people to work remotely for at least some of the work week. It used to be that if you had a question you could walk down the hallway and ask a colleague but, with remote work occurring more frequently, this is becoming more difficult. So, it will be more important, especially for new graduates, to be able to maintain these lines of communication, build relationships, and communicate clearly while they and/or their colleagues are working remotely.

ScoreRetail Sales SpecialistUS Average

Salary

3.6

Avg. Salary $45,756

Avg. Salary $59,228

Diversity

7.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.74%

Asian 6.66%

Black or African American 10.24%

Hispanic or Latino 19.97%

Unknown 5.69%

White 56.69%

Gender

female 43.29%

male 56.71%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

6.2

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.5

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.5

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a retail sales specialist

Explore retail sales specialist education requirements

Most common retail sales specialist degrees

Bachelor's

50.7 %

Associate

21.2 %

High School Diploma

16.2 %

Start to develop specific retail sales specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Retail Sales	18.59%
POS	10.63%
Store Management	8.69%
Retail Store	7.38%
Inventory Management	6.19%

Complete relevant retail sales specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New retail sales specialists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a retail sales specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real retail sales specialist resumes.

Research retail sales specialist duties and responsibilities

Master delivering technical product information to doctors on training and teaching proper injection technique to achieve optimal results for patients.
Store inventories and cataloging of auto parts.
Maintain cleanliness and presentation of stock room and retail floor.
Assist customers in finding products, while cross-selling other products.

Get retail sales specialist experience

Prepare your retail sales specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your retail sales specialist resume.

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Choose from 10+ customizable retail sales specialist resume templates

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