First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers
Marketing, Sales and ServiceO*NET 41-1011.00United States
Directly supervise and coordinate activities of retail sales workers in an establishment or department. Duties may include management functions, such as purchasing, budgeting, accounting, and personnel work, in addition to supervisory duties.
- Median annual earnings
- $46,177
- Projected change
- +0.5%
- Typical education
- High school diploma or less
- Employment
- 1.36M jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
65.8% of the workforce
Growing to 1.37M by 2035
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ASU learning related to this career
These courses and certificates are connected through catalog career relationships and Lightcast skill tags.
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The work
What first-line supervisors of retail sales workers do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Provide customer service by greeting and assisting customers and responding to customer inquiries and complaints.
- Direct and supervise employees engaged in sales, inventory-taking, reconciling cash receipts, or in performing services for customers.
- Examine merchandise to ensure that it is correctly priced and displayed and that it functions as advertised.
- Monitor sales activities to ensure that customers receive satisfactory service and quality goods.
- Instruct staff on how to handle difficult and complicated sales.
- Assign employees to specific duties.
- Keep records of purchases, sales, and requisitions.
- Perform work activities of subordinates, such as cleaning and organizing shelves and displays and selling merchandise.
- Inventory stock and reorder when inventory drops to a specified level.
- Plan and prepare work schedules and keep records of employees' work schedules and time cards.
- Review inventory and sales records to prepare reports for management and budget departments.
- Establish and implement policies, goals, objectives, and procedures for the department.
- Enforce safety, health, and security rules.
- Examine products purchased for resale or received for storage to assess the condition of each product or item.
- Estimate consumer demand and determine the types and amounts of goods to be sold.
- Confer with company officials to develop methods and procedures to increase sales, expand markets, and promote business.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $28,260
- 25th percentile
- $34,641
- 50th percentile
- $46,177
- 75th percentile
- $63,220
- 90th percentile
- $88,431
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $46,177 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+0.5%average or slower
20251,360,844 jobs
2035 projected1,367,965 jobs
7,121 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- High school diploma or less
- 65.8%
- Associate degree
- 18.9%
- Certificate
- 8.9%
- Some college
- 6.1%
- Bachelor's degree
- 0.4%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Assistant Store Managers64,665 postings
- 02Store Managers62,448 postings
- 03Assistant Managers53,756 postings
- 04Shift Supervisors38,031 postings
- 05Key Holders10,406 postings
- 06Shift Leaders10,166 postings
- 07Retail Store Managers9,887 postings
- 08Store Managers In Training6,994 postings
- 09Store Manager Candidates6,557 postings
- 10Retail Store Assistant Managers6,086 postings
- 11Retail Key Holders5,852 postings
- 12Store Supervisors5,002 postings
- 13Retail Supervisors4,783 postings
- 14Managers-in-Training4,328 postings
- 15Managers4,275 postings
- 16Assistant Retail Managers4,176 postings
- 17Department Managers3,828 postings
- 18Retail Store Key Holders3,329 postings
- 19Assistant Managers of Merchandising3,102 postings
- 20Supervisors2,803 postings
Top employers
- 01Dollar General38,307 postings
- 02Starbucks31,363 postings
- 03Domino's Pizza17,323 postings
- 04Walmart12,161 postings
- 05Dollar Tree11,161 postings
- 06CVS Health10,824 postings
- 07Panda Express8,568 postings
- 08TJX7,951 postings
- 09Walgreens Boots Alliance7,447 postings
- 10Family Dollar5,783 postings
- 11Circle K4,371 postings
- 12Abercrombie & Fitch4,216 postings
- 13Goodwill4,208 postings
- 14GameStop3,960 postings
- 15Bath & Body Works3,901 postings
- 16Kroger3,472 postings
- 17Sheetz2,976 postings
- 18Dunkin' Donuts2,975 postings
- 19Harbor Freight Tools2,727 postings
- 20Spencer Gifts2,719 postings
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