At Style Nine To Five, we help fashion lovers find their dream careers in their chosen field. And if you’ve been thinking about starting a career in the fashion world, a great place to start is in retail. What most people don’t know is that there are so many jobs within retail to pursue. In this post, we break down some of the retail careers that we feature on our job board and some salary ranges to go with them. With so many different positions in the retail sector, it can sometimes get confusing of who does what, and what path you want to take in your career, use this as your guide!

Sales Associate
Sales associates are the face of every company. These are your cashiers, salespeople and all-around customer service personnel. As a sales associate, you are a ‘jack of all trades’ and you’ll learn many different skills, such as merchandising, business acumen, customer service skills, and much more. While some people work as a sales associate for a part-time job, many use this position as a stepping stone to higher level roles. Typically, this position would start at minimum wage.

Store Manager
Many people who love working as a sales associate, work their way up to a store manager position. As a store manager, you are responsible for managing your employees as well as coaching and training them so that they can further their careers in addition to staffing and scheduling the business needs. A store manager must ensure the store is stocked, neat, clean and organized so that customers are able to come in and find exactly what they are looking for. Salaries for this position average around $45,000 Canadian.

Visual Merchandiser
Visual merchandisers are the employees who plan where the merchandise will be going onto the shelves, how the store will be set up in order to optimize sales and create the floorplans. Visual merchandisers place products together that can be sold as a complete outfit, so that the customer feels they need everything. Colour schemes and similar products stay together so that the floorplan makes sense to the customer. Not only do you need retail experience to understand product flow, fits, and overall visual techniques, but a Bachelor’s degree is also usually required. The salary for a visual merchandiser on average is around $40,000 Canadian.

Stylist
First and foremost, a fashion stylist needs a flair for style. Not only do you need to see things as a whole, you need to show that you are a fashionable individual. A stylist needs to pay extreme attention to detail and needs to think quickly on their feet. If a customer doesn’t have the same fashion sense as you, you need to be able to adapt to their style. As a stylist, you need experience in the industry and be able to merchandise the product seamlessly. The average salary for a fashion stylist is $40,000 Canadian.

Merchandise Manager
A merchandise manager runs product development and delivers the product vision. They can also be known as buyers. This role has a big focus on pre-planning. A merchandise manager needs to envision products a few seasons ahead. They need to fully understand the brand they are working with so that the product that is brought in fits within the brand’s vision. Not only do you need a background in retail, and a full understanding of the business, but you also need post-secondary education. A Bachelor’s degree in business, merchandising or something similar is preferred. The salary for this position can average $55,000 CAD, and extend upwards depending on the company and your experience.

Inspirational Image
Image courtesy of The Every Girl

By: Megan Renaud, Vancouver, @meganbrigette

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