Answers to some of the most frequently asked questions on the UK retail sector are provided below.

Q. What is the average salary for roles in retail?

A.  Hourly rates for roles working in retail are detailed in the Incomes Data Services report Pay and Conditions in Retail 2010. Using the 39 hour average week for retail workers, the following average annual salary calculations can be made (excluding bonuses).

Customer service and sales staff  - £14,700
Managerial staff – £26,400
Graduate trainee stating salary - £24,000

Q. What is the average staff bonus in retail?

A. Average bonuses of around 3% of salary earning are given to retail staff according to the Incomes Data Services report Pay and Conditions in Retail 2010.

Q. What is the level of sickness in retail?

A. The CIPD Annual Survey Report 2008 on Absence Management indicates that on average an employee in retail and wholesale will be away from their workplace for 8.5 days per year.

Q. What is the amount of training spent on customer service and sales roles / managerial roles?

A. The English National Employer Skills Survey (NESS) 2007 found that across the whole of the retail sector, the average training spend per employee was £2,775.

Q. How much does the retail sector spend on training?

A.  Adjusted data from the National Employer Skills Survey (2007) for the UK shows that retail employers spent £3.34bn on training in total. The great majority (66%) was allocated to on-the-job training. This suggests that retailers are looking for hands-on practical training to develop skills needed for dealing with the public and this may be best achieved in the actual workplace environment. The mean training expenditure per retail establishment was just over £28,000 and the total average training spend per employee was £1440.             

Q. What is the churn level in retail?

A. In 2009, according to the CIPD Annual Survey 2009 of Recruitment, Retention and Turnover, retail and wholesale churn was 17%.

Q. What is the average length a person stays in their role in retail?

A. The Labour Force Survey (September 2008 – October 2009) shows that the average length of time a person working in retail spent with their current employers is between two and five years. 

Over half a million retail workers indicated that they had been with their current employer less than one year.