What does a sales clerk do?
A sales clerk is responsible for assisting customers in purchasing products, responding to customer inquiries, and providing product recommendations. Sales clerks require excellent customer service and communication skills to offer the best services to the customers and maintain good customer feedback for the business. They also check inventories, request supplies as needed, and organize product displays on the appropriate shelves. A sales clerk must have strong verbal communication skills to manage customer concerns and excellent time-management skills to perform tasks within the fast-paced work environment.
Sales clerk responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real sales clerk resumes:
- Supervise women's department, manage jewelry department, assist customers on finalizing purchases
- Process monetary transactions POS system.
- Follow POS procedures daily and complete appropriate paperwork.
- Prepare quality food products, process accurate register transactions, maintain general appearance and cleanliness of store premises.
- Improve customer solicitation pitch to increase Kohl's credit card application solicitations.
Sales clerk skills and personality traits
We calculated that 26% of Sales Clerks are proficient in Customer Service, Stock Shelves, and Sales Floor. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Interpersonal skills, and Math skills.
We break down the percentage of Sales Clerks that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 26%
Provided professional customer service, performed sales transactions, and displayed ability to communicate with a variety of people
- Stock Shelves, 9%
Stock shelves, racks, cases, bins, and tales with new or transferred merchandise as well as keeping inventory.
- Sales Floor, 8%
Increased customer satisfaction by delivering helpful and insightful suggestions on sales floor.
- Retail Sales, 6%
Performed retail sales activities and made transactions involving money accurately and quickly.
- Product Knowledge, 5%
Developed a loyal following of customers by providing exceptional product knowledge, combined with top-quality customer service.
- POS, 5%
Followed POS procedures daily and completed appropriate paperwork.
"customer service," "stock shelves," and "sales floor" are among the most common skills that sales clerks use at work. You can find even more sales clerk responsibilities below, including:
Customer-service skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a sales clerk to have is customer-service skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "retail sales workers must be responsive to the wants and needs of customers." Sales clerks often use customer-service skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "assisted customers with purchase selections* managed inventory and loss prevention* maintained sales floor and assured customer satisfaction"
Interpersonal skills. Another essential skill to perform sales clerk duties is interpersonal skills. Sales clerks responsibilities require that "a friendly and outgoing personality is important for these workers because the job requires almost constant interaction with people." Sales clerks also use interpersonal skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "backed by excellent interpersonal skills and a commitment to customer service that has been described as "second-to-none" by customers. "
Math skills. sales clerks are also known for math skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to sales clerk responsibilities, because "retail sales workers must have the ability to calculate price totals, discounts, and change owed to customers." A sales clerk resume example shows how math skills is used in the workplace: "placed special merchandise customer orders for shipping in accordance with safe production practices skills used *good reading and math skills. "
Selling skills. A big part of what sales clerks do relies on "selling skills." You can see how essential it is to sales clerk responsibilities because "retail sales workers must be persuasive when interacting with customers." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical sales clerk tasks: "provided person-to-person sales and loss prevention. "
The three companies that hire the most sales clerks are:
- Cracker Barrel108 sales clerks jobs
- Balls Food Stores66 sales clerks jobs
- Lowe's Companies48 sales clerks jobs
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Compare different sales clerks
Sales clerk vs. Fine jewelry sales associate
Commissioned sales associates are professionals who conduct sale transactions that can generate additional compensation by increasing selling operations. These associates are must collaborate successfully with fellow associates in regard to sales and commission distribution. They must provide excellent customer service so that they can establish long term relationships with customers and ensure high satisfaction. Commissioned sales associates must also assist the department managers with visual merchandising to arrange racks so that they can place and stock new merchandise.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, sales clerk responsibilities require skills like "stock shelves," "store displays," "professional selling," and "customer orders." Meanwhile a typical fine jewelry sales associate has skills in areas such as "provide customer assistance," "cleanliness," "excellent organizational," and "customer profile." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
On average, fine jewelry sales associates reach similar levels of education than sales clerks. Fine jewelry sales associates are 1.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Sales clerk vs. Commissioned sales associate
Sales and customer service associates are employees who are responsible for closing out sales deals and attending to customer needs. They are in charge of selling company goods and services to potential clients, often citing the common needs of prospective clients to ensure sales. They also handle customer inquiries and complaints and try their best to mitigate any problems that would arise. They are expected to be experts on company products to ensure that they can provide the best service to customers. Sales and customer service associates should have strong interpersonal skills, customer service skills, and communication skills.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real sales clerk resumes. While sales clerk responsibilities can utilize skills like "stock shelves," "store policies," "store displays," and "exceptional guest," commissioned sales associates use skills like "excellent organizational," "excellent interpersonal," "customer relationships," and "commission sales."
On average, commissioned sales associates earn a higher salary than sales clerks. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, commissioned sales associates earn the most pay in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $38,946. Whereas sales clerks have higher pay in the energy industry, with an average salary of $28,784.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Commissioned sales associates tend to reach similar levels of education than sales clerks. In fact, they're 1.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Sales clerk vs. Sales associate and customer service
A furniture sales associate is, basically, responsible for selling furniture. They have to keep their sales pitch polished, because they are required to make customers buy products, even if they are unwilling. Selling is not their only responsibility, however. They also do the job of an advertiser to promote the products of the business and attract new customers. Good communication and interpersonal skills will be a strong asset in this role, since it involves face-to-face or phone communication with potential customers.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a sales clerk is likely to be skilled in "store displays," "professional selling," "exceptional guest," and "engraving," while a typical sales associate and customer service is skilled in "plumbing," "sales associates," "phone calls," and "booking."
Sales associate and customer services make a very good living in the manufacturing industry with an average annual salary of $30,394. On the other hand, sales clerks are paid the highest salary in the energy industry, with average annual pay of $28,784.Most sales associate and customer services achieve a similar degree level compared to sales clerks. For example, they're 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Sales clerk vs. Furniture sales associate
Even though a few skill sets overlap between sales clerks and furniture sales associates, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a sales clerk might have more use for skills like "sales transactions," "professional selling," "exceptional guest," and "engraving." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of furniture sales associates require skills like "sales associates," "furniture sales," "basic math," and "good communication. "
In general, furniture sales associates earn the most working in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $42,717. The highest-paying industry for a sales clerk is the energy industry.furniture sales associates reach similar levels of education compared to sales clerks, in general. The difference is that they're 0.2% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of sales clerk
Updated January 8, 2025
