The retail supervisor's main job responsibility is to oversee the work of retail staff in a physical store environment. They check and monitor employee activity, coordinate the receiving and shipping of merchandise, and assist customers in their purchases, ensuring smooth day-to-day overall operation. They work for any type of retail store, whether it is clothing, home goods, or an electronics store. In addition, they typically work in a mixed environment that consists of both an office and a sales floor.

Retail Supervisor Responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real retail supervisor resumes representing typical tasks they are likely to perform in their roles.

  • Assist store leadership in effectively leading, managing and developing store and/or department operations and associates to maximize sales and profitability.
  • Prepare food and ensure cleanliness of work area as well as served as a retail sales associate in the gift shop.
  • Prepare receipts for food using cash registers, computers, calculators, POS systems and other acceptable payment methods.
  • Maintain restaurant cleanliness, and delegate restaurant duties as necessary.
  • Monitor and submit weekly payroll and expense reports with modifications when need.
  • Perform management operations flawlessly and economically schedule employees, while maintaining weekly payroll.
  • Prepare sales and customer relations reports by analyzing and categorizing sales information; identifying and investigating customer complaints and service suggestions.
  • Gather and enter data into the computer system RMS.
  • Gain buy-in and trust with persuasive proposals, marketing collateral, and PowerPoint presentations.

Retail Supervisor Skills and Personality Traits

We calculated that 8% of Retail Supervisors are proficient in POS, Cash Handling, and Product Knowledge. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Leadership skills, and Management skills.

We break down the percentage of Retail Supervisors that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • POS, 8%

    Earned Six Sigma Certification at Yellow Belt, (POS, and Quality Control) to support top performance.

  • Cash Handling, 8%

    Inventory and sales tracking, cash handling, change order for cashiers, management of utility cleanliness and work prep area.

  • Product Knowledge, 7%

    Trained and managed 10+ associates and achieved significant improvements in their productivity and product knowledge.

  • Cleanliness, 6%

    Maintained restaurant cleanliness, and delegate restaurant duties as necessary.

  • Sales Floor, 5%

    Produce guest satisfaction with beneficial results through accurate and effective sales floor management.

  • Wine, 5%

    Managed 3 Supermarket & 1 C-store rep selling beer & wine, over 10 merchandisers and 1 merchandiser supervisor.

Some of the skills we found on retail supervisor resumes included "pos," "cash handling," and "product knowledge." We have detailed the most important retail supervisor responsibilities below.

  • The most important skills for a retail supervisor to have in this position are communication skills. In this excerpt that we gathered from a retail supervisor resume, you'll understand why: "top executives must be able to communicate clearly and persuasively" According to resumes we found, communication skills can be used by a retail supervisor in order to "develop and maintain a strong working relationship with store management and staff through daily communication of equipment needs and upcoming events. "
  • Another trait important for fulfilling retail supervisor duties is leadership skills. According to a retail supervisor resume, "top executives must be able to lead an organization successfully by coordinating policies, people, and resources." Here's an example of how retail supervisors are able to utilize leadership skills: "addressed and correctedsales staff communication issues in a tactful and effectivemanner.l customer servicel leadershipl cash handling"
  • Another skill that is quite popular among retail supervisors is management skills. This skill is very critical to fulfilling every day responsibilities as is shown in this example from a retail supervisor resume: "top executives must shape and direct the operations of an organization" This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "assisted upper management with maintaining store operations. "
  • A thorough review of lots of resumes revealed to us that "problem-solving skills" is important to completing retail supervisor responsibilities. This resume example shows just one way retail supervisors use this skill: "top executives need to identify and resolve issues within an organization" Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical retail supervisor tasks: "supervised and educated over 20 employees in retail operations balanced cash registers daily resolved customer issues"
  • Another common skill for a retail supervisor to be able to utilize is "time-management skills." Top executives do many tasks at the same time, typically under their own direction, to ensure that their work gets done and that they meet their goals. A retail supervisor demonstrated the need for this skill by putting this on their resume: "make sure all bank deposits are delivered on time. "
  • See the full list of retail supervisor skills.

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    What Floor Managers Do

    A floor manager is responsible for supervising the general operations of a specific department in an organization. Floor manager tasks include assisting customers, ensuring prompt resolution of clients' inquiries, distributing tasks to the staff, and monitoring the employees' performance. A floor manager will be in charge of checking inventories and report inadequate supplies, identifying business opportunities to increase the company's sales and profitability, developing strategic procedures to maintain customer satisfaction, and managing disputes from the customers and employees. A floor manager must have excellent leadership and communication skills to address specific concerns and process customers' requests as needed.

    In this section, we take a look at the annual salaries of other professions. Take floor manager for example. On average, the floor managers annual salary is $9,073 higher than what retail supervisors make on average every year.

    Even though retail supervisors and floor managers have vast differences in their careers, a few of the skills required to do both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require pos, product knowledge, and cleanliness in the day-to-day roles.

    There are some key differences in responsibilities as well. For example, a retail supervisor responsibilities require skills like "cash handling," "wine," "work ethic," and "retail store." Meanwhile a typical floor manager has skills in areas such as "pallets," "flyers," "safety standards," and "fine dining." This difference in skills reveals how truly different these two careers really are.

    Floor managers receive the highest salaries in the telecommunication industry coming in with an average yearly salary of $44,098. But retail supervisors are paid more in the hospitality industry with an average salary of $33,344.

    The education levels that floor managers earn is a bit different than that of retail supervisors. In particular, floor managers are 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a retail supervisor. Additionally, they're 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

    What Are The Duties Of a Part-Time Key Manager?

    A part-time key manager is a senior manager employed to work part-time. Key managers are hired for their expertise and experience for business development and growth to increase revenues, production, and profits. Part-time key managers are also responsible for recruiting the right talent to implement and attain the set targets. Part-time key managers may cover for full-time key managers or assist them in their roles.

    The next role we're going to look at is the part-time key manager profession. Typically, this position earns a higher pay. In fact, they earn a $38,010 higher salary than retail supervisors per year.

    Not everything about these jobs is different. Take their skills, for example. Retail supervisors and part-time key managers both include similar skills like "pos," "product knowledge," and "cleanliness" on their resumes.

    While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, several resumes showed us that retail supervisor responsibilities requires skills like "cash handling," "wine," "work ethic," and "retail sales." But a part-time key manager might use skills, such as, "quality customer service," "store associates," "necessary paperwork," and "store appearance."

    On the topic of education, part-time key managers earn similar levels of education than retail supervisors. In general, they're 0.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

    How a Co-Manager Compares

    A co-manager's role is to supervise business operations and perform administrative tasks as support to a manager. One of the primary functions of a co-manager is to delegate tasks of team members and arrange schedules. They also evaluate progress, produce the necessary documentation, maintain a record of data, identify issues and opportunities, and assist in coordinating with other employees. A co-manager may also have the task of hiring and training new workforce members, enforcing policies and regulations at all times.

    The co-manager profession generally makes a higher amount of money when compared to the average salary of retail supervisors. The difference in salaries is co-managers making $30,222 higher than retail supervisors.

    While looking through the resumes of several retail supervisors and co-managers we discovered that both professions have similar skills. These similarities include skills such as "pos," "cash handling," and "product knowledge," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

    There are many key differences between these two careers as shown by resumes from each profession. Some of those differences include the skills required to complete responsibilities within each role. As an example of this, a retail supervisor is likely to be skilled in "wine," "work ethic," "retail sales," and "store management," while a typical co-manager is skilled in "perform routine maintenance," "store sales," "excellent interpersonal," and "drive sales."

    Interestingly enough, co-managers earn the most pay in the retail industry, where they command an average salary of $64,497. As mentioned previously, retail supervisors highest annual salary comes from the hospitality industry with an average salary of $33,344.

    Co-managers typically study at similar levels compared with retail supervisors. For example, they're 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

    Description Of a Sales Associate/Manager

    As the name entails, sales associates or associate managers are responsible for helping the store manager organize and run the retail stores. Their roles and responsibilities include ensuring that the store's goals are met by the sales team, hiring and training sales staff, and monitoring inventory. They are also expected to analyze consumer behavior, look for competitive products in the market, and communicate and evaluate clients' needs. To be qualified for this position, you should have experience as an assistant manager, organizational and leadership skills, and proficiency in MS Office.

    The fourth career we look at typically earns higher pay than retail supervisors. On average, sales associate/managers earn a difference of $6,672 higher per year.

    While both retail supervisors and sales associate/managers complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like pos, product knowledge, and sales floor, the two careers also vary in other skills.

    Even though a few skill sets overlap, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a retail supervisor might have more use for skills like "cash handling," "cleanliness," "wine," and "work ethic." Meanwhile, some sales associate/managers might include skills like "strong customer service," "store sales," "stock room," and "sales transactions" on their resume.

    In general, sales associate/managers make a higher salary in the manufacturing industry with an average of $41,297. The highest retail supervisor annual salary stems from the hospitality industry.

    In general, sales associate/managers reach similar levels of education when compared to retail supervisors resumes. Sales associate/managers are 0.9% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.