Retail is one of the largest job sectors with over 2.9 million employees in the UK alone.
This article will focus on the job interview questions for a retail worker which incldues:
- Shelf-stacker
- Till operator
- Customer service
Retail supervisors and managers attend a more structured job interview where they are asked leadership questions.
A third of retail staff are under the age of 25 and over half are part-time employees. This role attracts both students, looking for a part-time income and full-time retail staff looking for a career in retail.
In the main, the larger retail organizations have an ongoing recruitment campaign and like to hire a diverse workforce.
Due to the time spend on recruitment, many employers deliver short informal interviews that are designed to check a applicants work-ethic, attitude and personal skills.
This article will list the commonly asked interview questions for a retail position, and explain the best way to answer each question.
How competitive is a Retail job interview?
Interview Specifics:
Can you demonstrate the relevant knowledge and experience to pass a Retail job interview?
- Customer service skills
- Communication skills
- Numeracy and literacy
- Reliability
- Flexibility
- Teamwork
- Till/handling cash experience
- Stock rotation knowledge
- Sales techniques (for some roles)
Check the average pay for a Retail job role.
Retail job interview questions will vary from one retailer to the next. As an example a food retailer will ask about stock rotation and food hygiene awareness, whereas a clothing company will focus their interview questions on personal skills – being helpful, smart in appearance and communication skills.
All retailers will ask a variation of the common retail questions listed below, but it is important to follow the three rules of a successful job interview:
One – identify the skills and experiences each retailer requires you to possess
Two – be a self-promoter by highlighting customer service skills, reliability and your work ethic
Three – communicate confidently. In retail communication and customer service is a key skill. The whole of the job interview is an assessment of how you come across to a potential customer.
Job Interview Questions and Answers for a Retail Position.
To pass a job interview for a retail position is relatively easy.
Employers don’t ask tricky interview questions, they are rarely ‘scary’ and in the main try to create a relaxed environment to help the interviewee to open up.
At the bottom line, the interviewers want to get to know the potential employee.
The barrier here then is the number of applications each employer receives, which is much higher then the number of job vacancies.
To pass a retail job interview, it is important to predict the interview questions and practice the delivery of the interview answers.
- Mock interviews help to practice an interview in full
- Re-writing interview answers helps with memory
- Talking in slower pace (as interviewees then to speed up due to nervousness) helps the employer to record your experiences and skills
Below is a list of retail questions and an explanation of how to answer each question.
Retail Interview Question 1. Tell me a little bit about yourself?
In all retail job interviews, the hiring manager will ask a generic opening question:
- “Tell me about yourself?”
- “Do you have any retail experience?”
- “Give me an overview of your relative experience?”
The idea with asking a generic interview question is for the interview panel to get to know the job applicant, while at the same time getting them to open up.
By talking about oneself often gives confidence to the candidate, which helps later in the recruitment process when the hiring manager will ask more specific questions.
Employers will make a hiring decision based on the interview answers each candidates give. For a retail job role, the employer using a applicants retail/customer service experience as well as their personality/confidence to create an opinion.
We call the the interviewees Interview Identity.
Interview Answer Template.
“I have worked in (retail/customer service) roles for ‘X’ number of years. I really enjoy the (state a positive challenge) aspect of the role.
One of my key skills is (add retail related skilled IE customer service, sales, problem-solving) an example of this is when I was working as a (job role) at (company). A customer (describe action) to help get a positive result I (describe actions). The outcome was (positive outcome)
People describe as (list qualities). In my last role I was known as the employee who would (add quality; arrive on time, help customers, go above and beyond).
I am currently (studying full-time/looking for a career in retail) and I applied for this position because of (reference a positive aspect about the company)”
Retail Interview Question 2. Why did you apply for a job with our company?
Retail managers know that there is a vast amount of retail job roles, all with varying pay and conditions, available for people to apply for.
With this in mind, a high number of hiring managers will ask the reason why a candidate is applying for their vacancy rather then another.
The reason for this interview question is due to staff retention. The longer a staff member/retail team work for one company the more skilled that team will become (as well as saving on recruitment cost).
Don’t answer the ‘why us’ question with any of the following reasons:
- Financial
- Near to my home
- I just need a job
- Don’t know
Instead create an interview answer that highlights how the company values, vision and culture appeal to you.
Interview Answer Template.
“When I started job searching I saw a high number of retail vacancies, but when I saw that your company was advertising I knew I had to apply.
What I like about your company is the fact that you (add a company value/vision). This is something I can relate to. I also am passionate about (add a passion that relates to the company value/vision).
I also like where the company is heading. When I was researching the organization I read how you are (add a recent quote from a media source) I think this is a great idea as more people are (give a future action related to the quote IE shopping online).
One of the main reasons I applied for the role, is because I shop at your company and I love (the products/the way customer are treated/the environment)”
Retail Interview Question 3. What does customer service mean to you?
Customer service is a fundamental part of any retail job role.
Retail employers always ask a customer service related interview question:
- “Tell me about your customer service experience?”
- “What would you do if a customer did X?”
- “Give me an example of going above and beyond for a customer?”
An article on Salesforce talked about the 8 principles of customer service:
- Teamwork
- Listen and share
- Friendly
- Honest
- Improved empathy
- Deep product knowledge
- Timeliness
- Improving processes
One way to answer the customer service interview question is by stating what makes good customer service and then giving an example of delivering excellent customer.
Interview Answer Template.
“For me, customer service is the key part of my job role. Good customer service includes being a great listener and communicator, while being able to build rapport. It is also about being a time-sensitive problem solver and looking at a customer problem from their viewpoint, and most importantly its about helping to create loyal customers.
I have always had a natural ability to give great customer service, as I am a natural peoples person. An example of this was when I was (describe a situation), to help the customer I (add 3 steps: Listened to the issue, discussed options and used my personal skills to get a positive outcome)”
Retail Interview Questions 4. How would you handle a rude customer?
Helping a pleasant customer is easy, they ask for help, help is given and everyone is happy.
On the other hand, having to deal with an angry, rude or disruptive customer is much more difficult.
In fact, the whole reason that customer service is the hot topic in retail job interviews is because of the fact the employers need to hire retail staff that can respond professionally to any customer service situation.
An article on MindTools explains 5 steps to dealing with a rude customer:
- Stay calm and don’t react
- Don’t take it personally
- Listen and apologise if needed
- Stand firm
- Solve the problem
Interview Answer Template.
“I have helped many rude customer in the past. I don’t get affected by a rude customer as I don’t take the rudeness personally. I know that many customer s act rude because they are frustrated and once they see that I am willing to help them resolve their issue, they will calm down, often applogise and become helpful.
An example of helping a rude customer is when I worked at (company name) and a customer was angry because of (state issue). First I stayed calm and listened to their complaint without interrupting. I then summarised their problem and asked what outcome they wanted. I then though about two options (describe options) and asked the customer a few questions to help them decide which option was best. By being calm, patient and by wanting to solve their problem I was able to get a customer, who initially was rude, to leave a positive comment on a store feedback card.”
Retail Interview Question 5. Do you work well within a team?
A retail store is a well oiled machine.
All the various cogs; shelf-stackers, cahiers, cleaners, security guards, customer service desk, buyers, warehouse staff, etc, etc work together to display products that customers want to buy.
The team collectively works well when all team members embrace being team.
Many retail company’s will create a team culture through teambuilding activities, team meetings and highlighting team achievements.
In a retail recruitment process, the hiring manager isn’t just looking for a skilled worker they are searching for a team player.
The best answer to give is to share an example of teamwork in action. When sharing a teamwork example it is important to explain the problem the team were facing before the candidates shares what actions they took to help the team achieves its goal.
Interview Answer Template.
“I really enjoy working within a team. I like that everyone helps and supports each other to achieve a common goal.
An example of me working within a team is when I worked at (organisation). The team had to (achieve an objective) but the problem was (describe a barrier the team faced).
The team didn’t know what we should do, so I suggested that everyone should share an idea. We all did, and that led to a natural discussion. I took the lead and asked my team mates for their opinions on the ideas and before long it was clear that we all wanted to try a particular suggestion. We the divided up the jobs, I was responsible for (task) and went to work. By the end of the (day/project/task) we had (positive outcome).”
Retail Interview Question 6. Do you have any questions for me?
Each hiring manager during all job interviews will ask each interviewee if they have any questions for the employer.
Knowing that the final ‘ask me’ question will be asked, a set of questions needs to be prepared.
- Can you talk me through the training that you offer new staff members?
- What are the busiest times of the year?
- How would you describe an average day?
- How would you describe the culture of the company?
- How many staff work full time and part time?
This site uses the ‘LMI for All’ online data portal to access official government ‘big data’ sources. This powers the labour market data provided on this site.
