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Retail specialist education requirements

Updated January 8, 2025
2 min read
Usually, retail specialists don't need a college education. The most common degree for retail specialists is bachelor's degree with 50% graduates, with only 20% retail specialist graduates earning high school diploma. Retail specialists who decided to graduate from college often finish University of Phoenix or University of Utah. Some good skills to have in this position include store management, retail environment and store associates.

What education do you need to become a retail specialist?

What degree do you need to be a retail specialist?

The most common degree for retail specialists is bachelor's degree, with 50% of retail specialists earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are high school diploma degree at 20% and high school diploma degree at 19%.
  • Bachelor's, 50%
  • High School Diploma, 20%
  • Associate, 19%
  • Diploma, 4%
  • Other Degrees, 7%

What should I major in to become a retail specialist?

You should major in business to become a retail specialist. 29% of retail specialists major in business. Other common majors for a retail specialist include communication and marketing.

Best majors for retail specialists

RankMajorPercentages
1Business29.0%
2Communication7.3%
3Marketing6.9%
4Psychology6.0%
5Liberal Arts5.8%

20 best online courses for retail specialists

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1. Financial Accounting - Inventory Costs

udemy
4.3
(254)

Mastering Inventory Costs & Flows: An In-Depth Guide to Accounting for Inventory in Business Operations...

2. MBA: Retail business, Merchandising, and E-commerce

udemy
4.5
(307)

Build and grow your own retail business and e-commerce...

3. PHP for Beginners to Inventory POS Sales Project - AdminLTE

udemy
4.2
(392)

Create Inventory POS System Project With Billing by use of Bootstrap Responsive Admin LTE Dashboard With PHP PHP7 MYSQL...

4. Store Design: How to Design Successful Retail Stores

udemy
4.2
(358)

Everything you need to know to create effective brick & mortar retail stores: Image, Display, Storefront, and Lighting...

5. Create POS System - Inventory & sales with PHP 7 & adminLTE

udemy
4.5
(282)

Learn how to create a POS system with inventory management and billing using PHP 7 and Admin LTE...

6. SAP for Retail Essentials: Learn SAP Retail Introduction

udemy
4.6
(533)

Easy to Follow SAP Retail Introduction: Both Core and Advanced Retail overview in just 6 hours with 4 hours of demos...

7. Diploma Course in Retail Management

udemy
4.3
(397)

Enhance your skills (Operations/Sales/VM/HR/SCM) in the ever growing Retail industry - Cover latest trends, casestudies...

8. Fast Track Retail Buying and Merchandising

udemy
4.6
(3,982)

The essentials of merchandise management, buying, range planning, product development and many more...

9. Supply Chain Management A-Z: Operations & Logistics Basics

udemy
4.5
(2,394)

Supply Chain Management Basics: An MBA style course to boost your career as a business operations & logistics manager...

10. Visual Merchandising Course For Retailers and Students

udemy
4.2
(949)

Learn the key principles of great Visual Merchandising & Window Dressing...

11. SAP MM Materials Management (beginner to expert level)

udemy
4.3
(331)

Master SAP Materials Management module with practical implementation steps. Prepare and crack SAP MM Certification exam...

12. Open To buy- Retail Merchandising Planning

udemy
4.4
(1,470)

Merchandise Financial Planning...

13. Retail for Business Analysts and Management Consultants

udemy
4.6
(2,563)

A practical guide with cases studies how to analyze and improve a retail business during management consulting projects...

14. RA: Data Science and Supply chain analytics.(A-Z with R)

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4.5
(322)

Learn R,Supply-chain Data Science, Inventory Optimization,Big Data forecasting, Machine learning and Revenue Management...

15. Retail Management

udemy
4.3
(364)

Retailing includes all business activities involved in selling goods and services to end consumers...

16. Project Charter Specialist (Accredited) Project Management

udemy
4.6
(552)

What is Project Charter? Components? Template? Example? Document Project Charter? Project Charter Specialist Earn PDUs...

17. Financial Accounting & Excel-Comprehensive Accounting Course

udemy
4.3
(736)

Comprehensive accounting course to learn the accounting cycle in a practical way and pick up critical Excel fundamentals...

18. Marketing Analytics & Retail Business Management using Excel

udemy
4.4
(1,259)

Retail analytics using MS Excel - Covering Forecasting, Market Basket, RFM, Customer Valuation & Price Bundling...

19. Project Schedule: Monitor & Control Specialist (Accredited)

udemy
4.6
(515)

Schedule Management: Monitor & Control Schedule, Analyze Schedule, Solve Project Schedule Problems Earn CPDs & PDUs...

20. Financial Accounting-Debits & Credits-Accounting Transaction

udemy
4.5
(781)

Masterclass: Learn Accounting Principles, Financial Statements, Transactions & More in this Comprehensive Course...

Average retail specialist salary by education level

Retail specialists with a Master's degree earn more than those without, at $35,226 annually. With a Bachelor's degree, retail specialists earn a median annual income of $34,908 compared to $31,635 for retail specialists with an Associate degree.
Retail specialist education levelRetail specialist salary
Master's Degree$35,226
High School Diploma or Less$30,779
Bachelor's Degree$34,908
Some College/ Associate Degree$31,635

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.