What does a store sales associate do?
A store sales associate is responsible for assisting store customers, directing them to the correct area of their needs, and responding to their inquiries and concerns regarding a product. Store sales associates also support the store's promotional campaigns, selling goods and services to the customers by demonstrating the product and its benefits. They keep the store premises clean and tidy to avoid any potential hazards during operations. A store sales associate must have excellent communication skills, especially on resolving customer complaints, processing replacements, and issuing refunds.
Store sales associate responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real store sales associate resumes:
- Manage to sales KPI's (including sales and expense budget numbers), assuring efficient and effective use of resources.
- Earn management trust by serving as keyholder, responsibly opening and closing the store.
- Audit all jewelry counts daily, banking deposit log, cashier logs, sales logs.
- Utilize the company's POS system to cash customers out or administer returns to the store.
- Work as a sales associate and keyholder throughout the summer and a bit of the school year.
- Help customers choose jewelry, pierce ears, open and close out register, set up displays.
- Compute sales prices, total purchases and receive and process cash or credit payment using a POS system.
- Maintain store organization and cleanliness.
- Organize assigned departments and maintain cleanliness.
- Exhibit rudimentary math skills and advance communication skills when efficiently cashiering in a fast pace environment.
- Establish CRM database to capture demographics and provide interactive communication tools.
- Modify existing CRM system to optimize customer data base for marketing /sales initiatives
- Promote to leadership role with accountability for training and motivating team members.
- Demonstrate strong leadership, communication and supervisory skills by providing coaching and feedback to maximize individual and store performance.
Store sales associate skills and personality traits
We calculated that 20% of Store Sales Associates are proficient in Sales Floor, POS, and Product Knowledge. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Interpersonal skills, and Math skills.
We break down the percentage of Store Sales Associates that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Sales Floor, 20%
Provided diverse customer service, Accurately and efficiently operated registers and maintained all receipts, Maintained an inviting sales floor.
- POS, 10%
Computed sales prices, total purchases and received and processed cash or credit payment using a POS system.
- Product Knowledge, 10%
Trained employees on permission marketing and product knowledge to increase positive customer interactions.
- Store Sales, 8%
Drive store sales by positively influencing associate behaviors.
- Customer Service, 6%
Position required professional customer service and knowledgeable sales ability, enabling the development and continuation of positive relationships with customers.
- Stock Room, 5%
Stock room holder made sure the stock room was kept in order and shipped and received freight.
Most store sales associates use their skills in "sales floor," "pos," and "product knowledge" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential store sales associate responsibilities here:
Customer-service skills. One of the key soft skills for a store sales associate to have is customer-service skills. You can see how this relates to what store sales associates do because "retail sales workers must be responsive to the wants and needs of customers." Additionally, a store sales associate resume shows how store sales associates use customer-service skills: "worked directly with loss prevention to implement procedures to maintain inventory and customer/employee safety. "
Interpersonal skills. Another essential skill to perform store sales associate duties is interpersonal skills. Store sales associates responsibilities require that "a friendly and outgoing personality is important for these workers because the job requires almost constant interaction with people." Store sales associates also use interpersonal skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "trained sales team in product knowledge, interpersonal skills and merchandising. "
Math skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of store sales associates is math skills. This skill is critical to many everyday store sales associate duties, as "retail sales workers must have the ability to calculate price totals, discounts, and change owed to customers." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "support general office duties such as monthly payroll, participate in weekly meetings, and oversee performance statistics. "
Selling skills. A big part of what store sales associates do relies on "selling skills." You can see how essential it is to store sales associate 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 store sales associate tasks: "assisted the store manager and develop and manages the store operations to increase the sales. "
The three companies that hire the most store sales associates are:
- Citi Trends470 store sales associates jobs
- Conn's198 store sales associates jobs
- Country Fair Store 79140 store sales associates jobs
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Compare different store sales associates
Store sales associate vs. Associate sales representative
The duties of an associate sales representative depend on one's line of work or industry of employment. Their responsibilities typically revolve around reaching out to clients through calls or door-to-door visits, offering products and services, collecting payments, addressing issues and concerns, and performing corrective measures when necessary. An associate sales representative often has a quota and deadline to reach; therefore, it is essential to be sales driven and goal-oriented. Furthermore, one must adhere to the policies and regulations of the company.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between store sales associates and associate sales representative. For instance, store sales associate responsibilities require skills such as "store sales," "floor stock," "facebook," and "store management." Whereas a associate sales representative is skilled in "work ethic," "patients," "excellent interpersonal," and "excellent organizational." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Associate sales representatives earn the highest salaries when working in the health care industry, with an average yearly salary of $56,246. On the other hand, store sales associates are paid more in the hospitality industry with an average salary of $32,458.On average, associate sales representatives reach similar levels of education than store sales associates. Associate sales representatives are 2.0% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.7% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Store sales associate vs. Sales associate and customer service
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 store sales associate resumes. While store sales associate responsibilities can utilize skills like "store sales," "floor stock," "facebook," and "store management," sales associate and customer services use skills like "plumbing," "booking," "cross-referencing," and "inbound calls."
Sales associate and customer services may earn a lower salary than store sales associates, but sales associate and customer services earn the most pay in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $30,394. On the other hand, store sales associates receive higher pay in the hospitality industry, where they earn an average salary of $32,458.sales associate and customer services earn similar levels of education than store sales associates in general. They're 1.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.7% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for store sales associates in the next 3-5 years?
Travis Kurowski Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Creative Writing, Writing Program Lead, York College of Pennsylvania
Store sales associate vs. Sales associate sporting goods
A sales associate and cashier is an employee who takes on the dual role of helping customers with their product inquiries and facilitating the purchase of the customer. As a sales associate, the employee must be familiar with the different products offered by the company and should be able to direct customers to the product that best suits their needs. As a cashier, the employee must be familiar with the cash register and the system that the company uses to manage sales and facilitate payment. He/She or she must be able to work the equipment needed for a smooth checkout process.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a store sales associate is likely to be skilled in "store sales," "stock room," "facebook," and "store management," while a typical sales associate sporting goods is skilled in "background checks," "pallets," "goods sales," and "ammo."
Most sales associates sporting goods achieve a similar degree level compared to store sales associates. For example, they're 1.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Store sales associate vs. Sales associate and cashier
Even though a few skill sets overlap between store sales associates and sales associate and cashiers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a store sales associate might have more use for skills like "store sales," "facebook," "store management," and "retail store." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of sales associate and cashiers require skills like "basic math," "mathematics," "front end," and "credit card payments. "
Sales associate and cashiers enjoy the best pay in the retail industry, with an average salary of $27,492. For comparison, store sales associates earn the highest salary in the hospitality industry.In general, sales associate and cashiers hold similar degree levels compared to store sales associates. Sales associate and cashiers are 2.2% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Updated January 8, 2025
