Sales Assistants work in a retail environment with the purpose of assisting customers with their shopping needs. They also do tasks that relate to maintaining the sales floor, arranging stock and doing promotion activities. Assistants may work a 40 hour week and qualify for overtime. Salary and benefit packages are determined by the industry, the company size or the level of responsibility of the Sales Assistant.
A Sales Assistant usually performs many of the following tasks:
• Assisting customers
• Conducting stock taking
• Restocking items
• Meeting sales goals
• Attending training sessions
• Learning about product details

• Being responsible and trustworthy
• Being confident and articulate
• Being able to handle stress
• Communication, both written and oral
• Using computer applications
• Using initiative
• Being a team player
• Amicable, getting along with everyone
• Being professional
• Being persuasive
• Networking, with clients and other sales professionals

When they are working as Sales Assistants, employers will require their employees to have excellent sales skills. They should have retail management or visual merchandising knowledge. To get a Sales position, job seekers can have a variety of qualifications. These may include Bachelors or Masters Degrees, High School Diplomas or Associate Degree, NVQ, ABC Awards, City & Guilds, Edexcel or an OCR.