If you have ever worked a retail job, you know it can be a special kind of crazy. This job gets particularly challenging if you are working in retail with no experience. Between demanding customers and even more demanding bosses, the job can run you thin pretty quickly. But the fact of the matter is that everyone shops and so, there will always be a need for retail workers, at least until the robots take our jobs!
There are certain useful tips for working in retail, which will keeping your customers and employers happy. When everyone around you is happy, these tips will keep your sanity intact as you serve on the front lines between the shelves!
Here are the six best tips for working in retail with no experience:
Tip #1: Keep your workspace organized
This tip may seem like a no-brainer, but if you’ve worked retail, you know just how quickly things can fall apart if your space is cluttered and messy. Not only does it look bad to bosses and customers alike, but it can add seconds or minutes to simple tasks and sometimes those precious seconds are the difference between a successful transaction and a disaster.
It may feel impossible to keep organized in the middle of a rush, but if you stay dedicated it can be done. The most important tip for working in retail is to communicate. Make sure your co-workers know just how things are supposed to look, and how they are supposed to be left. If everyone is on board, the whole job gets much easier.
And who knows? Maybe the people in charge will be paying attention to your initiative. It looks good to care!
Tip #2: When stocking shelves, make sure to put smaller items higher and larger items lower
Nothing is worse than being in the deep throes of an assigned task and having to break away to deal with a needy customer who just can’t find what they’re looking for.
To make things easier on them (and yourself), put the smaller, less recognizable items on the higher display shelves. No one is going to get into a crouch and search a low shelf for their ear cream, they’re going to come bother you for it!
By putting the smaller and more frequently sought-after items at eye level, you’re reducing your odds of being interrupted. The lower shelves should be reserved for larger boxes and products.
Tip #3: If you’re in charge of setting up display cases… be mindful!
This one may be a little above your pay grade, but in the instance you’re made responsible for setting up a display case be mindful that you will probably also be made responsible for cleaning that display case.
Situating panes of glass in narrow cases with no thought for cleaning is a nightmare in the making. Make sure you are able to remove the glass to give it a thorough clean, or make sure there is enough space to get your hand in and windex away!
Tip #4:Don’t cover important information when tagging
This tip is just a quickie, and another no-duh moment. When you’re busy applying those pesky, sticky, residue-leaving barcodes to your inventory… pay attention to where you are applying them! This piece of advice comes from being a consumer just as much as a retail worker.
If you’re covering the instructions for use or the name of a product with the barcode, you or your customer are going to run into issues.
Tip #5: Don’t base a sales pitch on what you like, base it on the customers’ needs
Working in retail is a little like being a chameleon. You have no solid personality, and no solid likes or dislikes. You must become whatever the consumer needs, and just like this you must predict whatever the customer needs.
Let’s be real here. When a customer is asking for advice, they’re not really asking what you like or use, they want something that will suit them. They want you to read their minds and figure out what is best for their needs. This means setting aside your personal bias (for or against) a product, and getting to the bottom of the customer’s desire.
It takes work to pick up the unspoken human language of consumership, but if you’re in the industry for even a little while you will begin to pick it up!
Tip #6: Don’t interpret a customer’s attitude as a review of your work ethic
This is, without a doubt, the most important piece of tip for working in retail with no experience. Know that, at some point in your career, a customer is going to be rude to you. They may yell. They may call you stupid. They may ask for your manager. As long as you are doing your job, and doing it well, let this energy flow away from you like water from a beaver’s back.
Humans are very complex creatures, with very complex ways of showing their emotions. If a customer is being downright terrible to you, it does not mean that you have done a bad job. More times than not, it just means this particular human has had a rough afternoon, day, or lifetime. Remember that this has nothing to do with you!
Treat every customer with level-headed respect, and trust that you will get it in return. If not…. Keep your chin up, and leave them with their problems!