What does a Sales Associate do?
Sales associates are responsible for selling products or services while providing excellent customer service. Sales associates perform an important role in the overall customer experience by helping with sales, customer inquiries, merchandising, and store maintenance. Sales associates work in a wide variety of environments selling anything from shoes to electronics.
Most sales associates have a high school diploma or equivalent. Training for these roles usually take place on-the-job. Many sales associates advance into supervisory roles within the sales department. The best sales associate are truly dedicated to providing a high-quality experience for customers.
What responsibilities are common for Sales Associate jobs?
- Assist customers with requests in store and on the phone
- Demonstrate knowledge of products and services to customers
- Greet customers in a friendly and polite manner
- Keep an eye on inventory levels and restock shelves as needed
- Educate customers about current promotions and advertisements
- Ring up customers at the cash register, take payments, and issue receipts
- Stamp, mark, and tag prices on merchandise
- Contribute to team's daily sales goals
What are the typical qualifications for Sales Associate jobs?
- High school diploma or general education degree (GED) required
- 1-2 years of sales experience or customer service experience
- Willing to work nights, weekends, and holidays
- Excellent verbal communication skills
- Strong orientation towards providing excellent customer service
- Basic math skills
- High attention to detail
- Demonstrated selling skills
- Ability to maintain a professional appearance
Education--
Work/Life Balance
3.3 ★
Total Pay--
Career Opportunity
3.1 ★
Avg. Experience--
How much does a Sales Associate make near United States?
Confident
$51,720 /yr
Total Pay$38,662
+ /yr
Base Pay
$13,058
/yr
Additional Pay
$51,720
/ yr$35K$78K
Most Likely Range
Possible Range
Sales Associate Insights
Read what Sales Associate professionals have to say about their job experiences and view top companies for this career.

Sales AssociateOct 28, 2021
“The product is amazing and I’m proud that we get to offer this to our clientele”

Sales AssociateJun 21, 2021
“Not the best pay and could end up spending all money on clothes since discount was so good”

Sales AssociateJul 26, 2021
“The job was really easy and got to work with people around my age.The discount was also really good.”

Sales Associate/CashierJan 24, 2023
“When you have a good team to work with it’s amazing and delegation and workload is good.”

Apparel Sales AssociateMay 2, 2023
“Everyone was really nice and it was a great job to have as a college student.”

Sales AssociateFeb 7, 2022
“It was good money and the extra discount on expensive items that don't normally have a discount is nice.”

Sales AssociateMar 23, 2023
“It is very culturally diverse and a great way to learn something from one another.”

Sales AssociateJun 4, 2021