Jobs / Sales and marketing / 41-2031.00
Retail Salespersons
Sell merchandise, such as furniture, motor vehicles, appliances, or apparel to consumers.
- US jobs
- 3,897,860
- Median wage
- $35,410 a year
- Job family
- Sales and marketing
Can agents do the work of retail salespersons?
We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Sales and marketing:
- Task levelPartialOne benchmark, from 2025. On Salesforce's CRMArena-Pro, which tests sales, service, and configure-price-quote requests inside a CRM, the best recorded agent succeeds on 58.3% of single-turn tasks and on fewer multi-turn tasks (Gemini 2.5 Pro, May 2025). No newer results are published.
- Project levelPartialOnly adjacent evidence. GDPval includes sales managers among its 44 occupations. OpenAI reports that GPT-5.5's deliverables won or tied against professionals' work in 84.9% of comparisons across all occupations. No benchmark in our collection tests running a campaign or a sales pipeline over weeks.
Benchmarks for the job family
These cover work in sales and marketing, not always this occupation's tasks.
- 1846 EloClaude Opus 5.5 (Adaptive Reasoning, Max Effort, Default Fallback) · 23 Sep 2026Unrated
Typical tasks
From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.
- Greet customers and ascertain what each customer wants or needs.
- Recommend, select, and help locate or obtain merchandise based on customer needs and desires.
- Compute sales prices, total purchases, and receive and process cash or credit payment.
- Prepare merchandise for purchase or rental.
- Answer questions regarding the store and its merchandise.
- Maintain knowledge of current sales and promotions, policies regarding payment and exchanges, and security practices.
- Demonstrate use or operation of merchandise.
- Describe merchandise and explain use, operation, and care of merchandise to customers.
- Ticket, arrange, and display merchandise to promote sales.
- Inventory stock and requisition new stock.
- Exchange merchandise for customers and accept returns.
- Watch for and recognize security risks and thefts and know how to prevent or handle these situations.
Other job titles for this occupation (80)
Car Salesman · Customer Assistant · Retail Salesperson · Sales Associate · Sales Clerk · Sales Consultant · Sales Person · Sales Representative · Salesman · Art Dealer · Art Objects Salesperson · Auto Dealer · Automobile Accessories Salesperson · Automobile Salesman · Automobiles Salesperson · Automotive Salesperson · Bakery Clerk · Bargain Table Clerk · Beauty Advisor · Beauty Consultant · Beauty Counselor · Boats and Marine Supplies Sales Representative · Books Salesperson · Car Dealer · Car Salesperson · China and Silverware Salesperson · Cigarette Seller · Clothier · Clothing Consultant · Commission Sales Associate · Corsets Salesperson · Cosmetic Consultant · Cosmetic Counselor · Cosmetics and Toiletries Salesperson · Coupon Redemption Clerk · Curtains and Draperies Salesperson · Dairy Clerk · Department Store Salesperson · Design Consultant · Drapery Counselor · Drapery Estimator · Dry Goods Clerk · Electric Motors Salesperson · Fashion Consultant · Fitting Room Associate · Floor Clerk · Floor Coverings Salesperson · Flowers Salesperson · Flying Squad Salesperson · Food Sales Clerk · Furniture Salesperson · Furs Salesperson · Garden Consultant · General Hardware Salesperson · General Merchandise Salesperson · Haberdasher · Home Planning Consultant Salesperson · Horticultural and Nursery Products Salesperson · Hourly Sales Staffperson · Household Appliances Salesperson · Infants' and Children's Wear Salesperson · Jewelry Salesperson · Layaway Clerk · Leather and Suede Apparel and Accessories Salesperson · Meat Clerk · Meat Hostess · Men's and Boys' Clothing Salesperson · Men's Furnishings Salesperson · Menswear Salesperson · Merchandise Coordinator · Merchandising Assistant · Merchandising Service Associate · Millinery Salesperson · Musical Instruments and Accessories Salesperson · New Car Salesperson · Orthopedic Shoe Fitter · Orthopedic Shoes Salesperson · Pet Supplies Salesperson · Pets and Pet Supplies Salesperson · Pets Salesperson