A retail specialist is also known as a retail salesperson or sales associate. Regardless of what name they are called, they help customers find services and products they want to buy. To do this, they explain the essential features of an offering and often demonstrate its uses to potential buyers.
Besides telling customers about products and services, they may also process orders, wrap purchases, collect customer data, or handle coupons. However, this job description varies from one retail store to another.
Since a retail specialist's job is flexible and entails a more hands-on approach, potential candidates may not need an educational background to qualify as a retail specialist. However, most stores restrict qualification to those with high-school diplomas to ensure the availability of basic skill sets. Retail specialists are front line workers and often collaborate with customer service to ensure a positive shopping experience for all customers.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a Retail Specialist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.79 an hour? That's $32,839 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -2% and produce -105,200 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many Retail Specialists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed Interpersonal skills, Math skills and Persistence.
If you're interested in becoming a Retail Specialist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 49.8% of Retail Specialists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 3.2% of Retail Specialists have master's degrees. Even though most Retail Specialists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a Retail Specialist. When we researched the most common majors for a Retail Specialist, we found that they most commonly earn Bachelor's Degree degrees or High School Diploma degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Retail Specialist resumes include Associate Degree degrees or Diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a Retail Specialist. In fact, many Retail Specialist jobs require experience in a role such as Sales Associate. Meanwhile, many Retail Specialists also have previous career experience in roles such as Cashier or Customer Service Representative.