“Sell your skills” is what you may have heard quite a few times when going for an interview in the retail industry. But what exactly does it mean! Getting ready for the retail position is equally tough as the job description. There is cut-throat competition and if you do not exercise the right traits you will simply perish in the pressure.

With the ecommerce shops breathing on their neck, the high street retailers have a lot to think about, these days. One of the assets that can help the brick and mortar shops to thrive in the long run happens to be amazing customer service and that can be provided only by the quality staff.

Here are some of the essential traits of great retail employees that you should develop if you want to make it big in the world of retail. Just read on.

Must be Willing to Make Others Happy – This happens to be one of the biggest and most important qualities that anyone working in the retail must possess. The entire industry in this case exists by bringing joy and making the consumers smile with the right products that they want. This is particularly important for the store employees as they directly deal with the customers. The employees who do not care for customers, what they need and whether they are having good experience in their store or not should not be in the retail industry no matter what other traits they have.

Have Great Communication Skills and Empathy - Great retail employees must have both. The right employees should be able to be in their customers’ shoes all the time. They should be skilled communicators, excellent listeners and they should master the art of thinking to provide a solution. Suppose a person wants to return a product after the expiry of the free return period. In that case, you have to be empathic in telling the person about the fact but in a way that the customer feels understood although you have given an unfavourable response.

Ability to Work in a Team – Collaboration happens to the source of working together and the foundation for innovation. Without it no retail can survive in the long run. That is why retail employees must know how to be team players and hard workers. They should assert how you will come forward to assist your team go through a busy day. It is this cooperation that can help retails stand out and succeed in the long run.

Being Self-Motivated – The right candidate should be able to say how he or she have made a difference. Did they change a process to improve sells? Did they succeed? Moreover, the employees should be self-motivated and make queries beyond the pay-check like how they can get promoted and whether there are investment opportunities and much more.

Must be Reliable –Retail associate have to work through extensive and diversified hours. There has to be coverage through each and every hour that the store is open and that means a different schedule each week. Added to that, high absenteeism is something that retails cannot accept and over 70 percent of their discharges are because of that. That is why reliability has to be one of the major traits for any retail employee.

The above are some of the essential qualities of good retail employees as suggested by the successful and ace retail chains like Store 99 India that will ensure you sustain and succeed in the retail world in the long run.

Author's Bio: 

Mohd Rashid has extensive knowledge on retail business and shares his knowledge through a plethora of write-ups to help the newbies in this domain. He has massive experience in this field as he has been associated since many years with reputed retails like Store 99 in India that has been able to create its own niche in the world of retail for its quality products and excellent customer service.