Retail Associate Training: Working Conditions in Retail

Full-time retail sales associates usually work a five / six day or about a 40/50 hour week. They may also work weekends or evenings depending on the store hours. Many sales staff work a variety of shifts and many work part-time.
Evening, weekend, and holiday work is normal. Full-time retail sales associates usually work set shifts, while part-time staff must agree to work different shifts, including evenings and weekends.
Retail associates stand and walk around for long periods of time. They meet a lot of different people. Sometimes they wear uniforms or nametags, or both. Sales associates in stores that sell make-up, jewellery, and clothes are often required to wear the store’s products. They are usually given a discount on purchases in the store.
Some sales associates specialize in a particular product. The working conditions remain the same, but they also need technical or product knowledge to a larger extent. For example, a computer salesperson needs to be able to answer technical questions about computers and accessories.
One of the key things to remember about working in retail is the selling process. In some companies, there is great pressure to meet sales quotas. If your job depends on commission as all or part of your income, you may feel you are competing with your co-workers for sales. Often co-workers are competing for the same customers. Many operations set a target for sales to be reached within a day, a week, a month, or a year. Retail job performance is usually measured in terms of sales.

Quota:
- share to be contributed
- number of goods sold or sales to be reached in a certain time period

Types of retail jobs

1. Customer service associate: 1. handles all customer returns and exchanges 2. responsible for maintaining customers satisfaction

2. Returns desk associate: Handles customer returns

3. Buyer: seeks out and purchases goods for retail operations
4. Sales associate: sells directly to the customer
5. Department manager: supervisory position, responsible for all areas of one department
6. Special services associates: responsible for all special orders
7. Cashier: handles money transactions
8. Promotion and marketing staff: thinks up ways of bringing the company to the attention of potential customers

Sales occur everywhere and anywhere. “The marketplace” is a term used to describe the commercial world. The following is a partial list of places where individuals buy goods.

- mom and pop corner store
- an outdoor lot
-  door-to-door
-  flea market
-  Internet
-  catalogue
-  telephone
-  markets
-  big box store
-  home party
-  re-sale
-  mail order
-  superstore
-  department store
-  mall or shopping centre
-  street corner
-  kiosk
-  office
-  wholesale club
-  specialty store
-  chain store
-  factory outlet

E-Commerce
E-commerce is a way to buy items on the Internet. E-commerce is a new way for businesses to reach their customers. We can look at products on the Internet, shop for a car, or order that special item. We can use this service 24 hours a day. We can take a virtual tour of retail items offered in our price range and we can do it while still in our pyjamas. We can even arrange for the delivery of a car with our choice of colour and extras.

Will the Internet mean the end of living, breathing salespeople? Does it mean increased opportunities for retailers in world markets? Many companies have an Internet website. They feel it will increase “brand recognition”, customers will appreciate the convenience, and their loyalty to a store in a real mall or on a main street will increase. The prediction is that world over consumers will continue to increase on-line purchases every year.

The Sales Relationship
The list of places where sales are made tells us that a transaction can happen anywhere. The relationship between buyer and seller is the important thing.
The potential sale is the reason why the sales professional and the customer are together. The physical workplace may be very different. The goods being sold can be cheap or expensive, a large or a small purchase, a practical item or something just for pleasure.

Some goods will need special product knowledge and some sales are more complicated because there are regulations or legal agreements involved in buying and selling. The relationship between a sales associate and the customer is one of the oldest relationships in history. How that relationship is built, what customers expect, the style of selling used by the salesperson…this is what defines sales occupations.