Opportunities in retail
The retail industry offers diverse and unique career paths where you could work for some of the world’s most recognisable brands. Many of the main goals of retail— be it sales and profitability, product innovation, or customer relationships—intersect with other career fields like marketing, finance, technology, loss prevention, merchandising and management.
Whether in stores or corporate headquarters, many key roles in retail include internal coordination, planning and logistics, store operations, human resources / training, finance and administration, buying, marketing, logistics, and information technology.
Values & attributes
Depending on the role, you don’t always need qualifications or previous work experience in the sector to get a job in retail. What’s really important is having the right values, behaviours and attitudes to work effectively with people who need care and support.
Here are some examples of the values and behaviours you might need to work in retail:
- Treat people with respect and dignity
- Customer focused
- Be reliable
- Be able to follow instructions and procedures
- Pay attention to detail
Types of potential roles
As well as frontline roles such as retail assistant, cashier and store manager, there are many other non-customer facing roles within the retail sector suitable for the people with the right values, work ethic and cultural fit. These include:
- Human resources
- Administration / customer service
- Finance
- Delivery drivers
- Warehousing