Soft Skills for the Retail Industry

Soft Skills- Need of the hour

Retail is one of those sectors where soft skills are need more attention than the hard skills (technical skills). In fact, according to research conducted by Harvard University, the Carnegie Foundation, and Stanford Research Center, soft skills are responsible for 85% of career successes, while only 15% is attributed to hard skills. A wonderful grade and amazing schooling will yield no good if you do not invest your time and energy into enhancing your soft skills.

I thought let me put my retail experience to good use and share some tips with you all. While my focus is on soft skills, I have also mentioned some business and technical skills.

1. A retail employee should be well informed and have a keen eye for detail, from keeping a customer satisfied to keep the store well-stocked, a retailer will need to know it all
2. A retail employee should be well aware of various business tactics and should have thorough knowledge of the brand they work for
3. He or she should be a master in communication as the essence of retailing lies in interacting with the customer and helping them as needed. A retailer is expected to always be patient and friendly to a customer
4. The trial room needs to clean and tidy always! Also, we need to inform our staff not to gossip or complain about the company while the customer is in the trial room. Remember, the customer can hear everything even if he or she is busy trying on clothes
5. A retailer should be positive, energetic and should always be on their toes. They should be in a position to answer customer queries or grievance and should adopt a smile while doing so. Time and again, brands market about their discounts and offers but when you ask the staff for more details about the offer, they either mislead you or fumble
6. He or she should be a team player and the one who can be counted on. In retail, one person cannot achieve a task, a group is very important
7. A good retailer should be creative and should have the ability to think beyond the obvious. He or she should be able to come up with new ideas to deal with the numerous problems they face
8. He should not believe in SELLING. He should believe in bringing VALUE to the customer
9. The number game should be strong! Staff should know their KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) really well and be up to date with the facts and figures
10. All of the above can only be possible if the hiring process is well organised and regular training is provided to the staff

Please feel free to share your views in the comments section.

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