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The differences between shop clerks and sales clerks can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a shop clerk has an average salary of $34,468, which is higher than the $25,739 average annual salary of a sales clerk.
The top three skills for a shop clerk include basic math, math and top quality. The most important skills for a sales clerk are customer service, stock shelves, and sales floor.
| Shop Clerk | Sales Clerk | |
| Yearly salary | $34,468 | $25,739 |
| Hourly rate | $16.57 | $12.37 |
| Growth rate | -5% | - |
| Number of jobs | 106,275 | 372,651 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 36% | Bachelor's Degree, 34% |
| Average age | 47 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 2 | - |
A shop clerk is primarily in charge of assisting clients in a retail store, ensuring efficient service for client satisfaction. Their responsibilities include greeting and identifying the clients' needs, answering inquiries, locating products, offering promotions, and recommending alternatives as needed. They must also maintain the cleanliness of the sales floor, clearing the obstructions and disposing of expired or defective products. Furthermore, a shop clerk must manage the product displays, devising strategies to make them more presentable to the customers.
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.
Shop clerks and sales clerks have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Shop Clerk | Sales Clerk | |
| Average salary | $34,468 | $25,739 |
| Salary range | Between $26,000 And $44,000 | Between $16,000 And $39,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | New York |
| Best paying company | University of California, Berkeley | Hawaii Pacific Health |
| Best paying industry | Transportation | Energy |
There are a few differences between a shop clerk and a sales clerk in terms of educational background:
| Shop Clerk | Sales Clerk | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 36% | Bachelor's Degree, 34% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Western Carolina University | - |
Here are the differences between shop clerks' and sales clerks' demographics:
| Shop Clerk | Sales Clerk | |
| Average age | 47 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 34.6% Female, 65.4% | Male, 35.3% Female, 64.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 19.8% Asian, 6.9% White, 58.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% | Black or African American, 10.2% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 19.7% Asian, 6.8% White, 57.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 7% |