Retail Salespersons
Sell merchandise, such as furniture, motor vehicles, appliances, or apparel to consumers.
Most important skills
- Persuasion
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Service Orientation
- Social Perceptiveness
- Negotiation
- Critical Thinking
- Reading Comprehension
Key knowledge
- Sales and Marketing
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Administration and Management
- Mathematics
- Administrative
- Psychology
- Computers and Electronics
What the work involves
- Greet customers and ascertain what each customer wants or needs.
- Maintain knowledge of current sales and promotions, policies regarding payment and exchanges, and security practices.
- Compute sales prices, total purchases, and receive and process cash or credit payment.
- Watch for and recognize security risks and thefts and know how to prevent or handle these situations.
- Recommend, select, and help locate or obtain merchandise based on customer needs and desires.
- Answer questions regarding the store and its merchandise.
- Describe merchandise and explain use, operation, and care of merchandise to customers.
- Ticket, arrange, and display merchandise to promote sales.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Enterprising, Conventional, Realistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (63.5% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (39.8%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (32.3%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Retail Salespersons is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 92% of occupations compared | 89% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 93% of occupations compared | 64% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Moderate | Higher on teamwork than 56% of occupations compared | 50% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 90% of occupations compared | 29% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 81% of occupations compared | 50% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 66% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 91% of occupations compared | 59% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 79% of occupations compared | 34% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 11.21%
- Constant contact with others: 88.79%
n = 30, Incumbent 08/2018
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 4.68%
- Very important: 30.97%
- Extremely important: 64.35%
n = 30, Incumbent 08/2018
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 4.05%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 3.21%
- Very important: 42.81%
- Extremely important: 49.92%
n = 30, Incumbent 08/2018
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 10.4%
- Very little freedom: 17.11%
- Limited freedom: 20.79%
- Some freedom: 22.48%
- A lot of freedom: 29.21%
n = 30, Incumbent 08/2018
Time pressure
- Never: 3.4%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 9.13%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 49.55%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 17.6%
- Every day: 20.32%
n = 29, Incumbent 08/2018
Conflict situations
- Never: 15.13%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 17.42%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 20.55%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 38.49%
- Every day: 8.4%
n = 30, Incumbent 08/2018
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 1.36%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 11.48%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 6.99%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 58.5%
- Every day: 21.67%
n = 30, Incumbent 08/2018
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 33.55%
- Fairly serious: 29.8%
- Serious: 15.16%
- Very serious: 10.24%
- Extremely serious: 11.25%
n = 29, Incumbent 08/2018
Is this career right for me? Find jobs with conditions you prefer
Where people with this background could move
- Analyze
Demonstrators and Product Promoters
Closeness 93/100
- Analyze
Gambling and Sports Book Writers and Runners
Closeness 93/100
- Analyze
Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks
Closeness 92/100
- Analyze
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products
Closeness 92/100 · job zone +2
- Analyze
Postal Service Clerks
Closeness 92/100
- Analyze
Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers
Closeness 92/100
Find more alternativesCompare skills with another job
O*NET-SOC 41-2031.00 · SOC 41-2031 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8