Choosing smart retail interview questions eases the pressure hiring managers face when trying to fill vacancies. The questions you ask during an interview should help to determine the candidate’s:
Attitude
Skill level
Experience
Given the high stakes involved in retail recruitment and the fact that retail managers have so much on their plate, we’ve decided to make things easier for you. We’ve compiled a list of 113 retail interview questions to give you plenty of options for crafting the perfect retail interview.
Why recruiting the right retail candidate is important
Retail is a dynamic industry, requiring adaptable employees who are able to handle high-stress situations. Not everyone can keep a level head while interacting with customers in a brand-approved way.
The interview process helps assess whether a candidate has those traits and could represent your retail store in a professional manner. To make a fast judgement about a candidate, you have to ask the right retail interview questions. Although retail job applicants may only want temporary and seasonal work, you’ll still need to ask the most appropriate questions to ensure the candidate is a right fit for your store.
Making your task even harder, shift-based businesses face up to a 90% chance of no-shows for job interviews, as well as the high rate of employee turnover in retail. Failing to identify suitable retail staff during interviews can be time-consuming now and a few months from now.
Retail interview questions to hire the right candidate
The questions below will help you to decide if the candidate is:
Invested in your brand
Understanding of your business
Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment
A quick learner, especially if they have no retail experience
Able to multi-task and make practical contributions to the team
Willing to improve their selling skills
Prepared to handle challenging situations
Generally aware of how things work on the shop floor
Basic retail industry interview questions
These are routine questions that candidates probably have answers to because they’ve likely heard them before. However, these questions are still useful for background information about your candidate.
What can you do for us that other candidates can’t?
What are your strengths and weaknesses when interacting with customers?
What qualities do you consider most important in this retail job?
Why are you applying to work here?
What attracted you to this company?
What is your greatest accomplishment?
Who was your best boss? Why?
When were you most satisfied with your previous job?
What did you like least about your last job?
What do you see as your greatest strength?
What makes you suitable for retail?
Why are you leaving your present job?
What interests you about selling to customers?
How do you handle stress?
Would you consider yourself a team player?
Do you have good customer service skills?
Behavioral retail interview questions
You should ask your retail job candidates behavioral questions to determine how they’ve handled situations in the past. Answers to these questions will give you an insight into the candidate’s skill level, personality, and how they approach different circumstances.
How do you handle working with people who annoy you?
How do you multi-task and prioritize multiple tasks that must be completed within a single shift?
Have you ever handled a tough situation with a manager? How?
What do you do if you disagree with your boss?
Have you been in a situation when the shop floor was quiet, and you didn’t have enough work to do? What did you do?
What do you do or say if a coworker is rude to customers?
You are scheduled to leave at 5 pm. Your replacement worker doesn’t show up. What do you do?
How would you respond if you were required to exchange an item for a customer but the item is no longer supplied?
How do you handle having to make decisions in high-pressure situations?
What would you do if you knew you would be late for your shift?
Questions about their retail experience
Not all candidates will have retail experience, but the following interview questions are for candidates who have already worked in a retail environment. By asking these questions, you’re identifying what they learned and if they have transferable skills to benefit your store.
Tell me about your previous retail work experience.
What do you enjoy about working in retail?
What type of retail sales systems have you used?
What was the management and team structure in your previous retail sales job(s)?
What were your working hours in your previous position?
Company-specific retail interview questions
Asking questions relating to your company indicates how invested the candidate is in your business. Since a significant number of retail vacancies are temporary, it may be unreasonable to expect the candidate to have a full and in-depth knowledge of your business.
However, the candidate should at least show their interest by demonstrating that they have done some research into your brand. The amount of research done should depend on the position. Those trying to get a higher position should do more in-depth research compared to those in entry-level positions.
What do you know about this company’s products and services?
Why will you fit in at our company?
How do you think our customer service is different from other retailers?
How do you see our brand?
Do you know which brands influence our company?
Have you shopped here before?
Can you recommend one of our products?
Who are our competitors?
What do you know about our history?
Suggest three things that you would improve in the store.
How would you make a positive contribution to our standard of customer service?
What was our last social media campaign, and how effective do you think it was?
Candidate availability retail interview questions
Even if the candidate displays all the right attributes and is enthusiastic about working with you, they will also need to be able to commit to the required shifts and your working style.
What type of schedule are you looking to work?
Are you willing to work nights, weekends, and the occasional overnight inventory shift if necessary?
Do you have any classes or other part-time jobs that may affect your work with us?
Would you be available to work extra shifts?
Can you commit to at least 6 months of employment with us?
Are you comfortable working in an environment with sales quotas?
Are you willing to work on a commission-based system?
Retail career development interview questions
During your interviews, you may come across candidates who want to pursue a retail career. These candidates can become trusted and valuable employees who will grow with your company. These questions should be saved for candidates interested in growing instead of having a temporary job.
How do you want to improve your retail career over the next year?
What training do you think you need to reach your career goals in this job?
What is your ultimate retail career goal?
What steps have you taken to become a better retail salesperson?
Bonus questions: what to ask when hiring for specific retail roles
Determining that a potential candidate can do the job is your ultimate goal in an interview. This is why asking questions specific to the open role is essential. Here are some questions to ask based on positions.
Cashier/point of sale associate interview questions
Have you ever been in a situation where a register was short? If so, how did you handle that situation?
Do you feel comfortable handling money? A large amount of money?
What do you do if a customer becomes upset with you and demands to speak to your manager?
Describe a time when you had to handle a difficult customer.
Tell me about when you felt you were at your best while helping a customer.
Please give an example of how you have gone the extra mile to help a customer or friend.
Have you ever made a mistake when dealing with a customer? How did you handle it?
The credit card machine is broken. What do you say to the customers?
This job is repetitive. How do you stay motivated?
Have you ever been accused of theft?
Do you feel comfortable trying to sell loyalty programs to customers?
Do you feel comfortable upselling to customers?
Sales associate interview questions
Give an example of a sales target you didn’t meet and how you handled it.
If a customer is hesitant about making a purchase, how do you convince them to take that last step?
Have you ever made a mistake when dealing with a customer? How did you handle it?
Give an example of a sales target you achieved and tell me how you achieved it.
What would you do if the changing rooms were full and a long queue of people were waiting to try clothes on?
A customer likes a shirt from the shop window, but it’s out of stock. What do you do?
A customer is in a rush and needs to try on a dress, but there’s a line for the changing room. What do you do?
What do you do if a customer becomes upset with you and demands to speak to your manager?
What type of merchandise do you most enjoy selling and why?
How do you familiarize yourself with the products you sell?
Can you describe a tough situation with a customer that you were able to successfully turn into a sale?
Do you think it is true that the customer is always right?
What is most important: a good product or friendly, fast customer service?
What have you done in your last retail job to increase sales?
What is the most important thing a retail sales assistant should do?
Do you have any favorite selling strategies?
What makes a good sales associate?
Retail manager interview questions
Have you ever been on a team where someone wasn’t doing their fair share of work? How did you handle it?
Have you handled a difficult situation with a team member? How?
How have you handled extreme customer complaints?
How do you motivate your team?
What does a successful retail team look like to you?
How do you handle shrinkage?
What’s the best way to train new employees?
How do you handle performance issues?
What does a successful retail store look like to you?
What was a difficult decision you made as a manager?
How do you handle last-minute callouts or no-call, no-shows?
Do you have experience with (specific retail management systems)?
How do you handle understaffed shifts?
How do you handle overstaffed shifts?
How do you ensure workers are acting safely?
Have you ever fired an employee? If so, can you talk about how you handled it?
Inventory worker interview questions
Do you have experience tracking and managing inventory?
How do you effectively organize items to go out on the floor?
What do you do if you notice something is missing from the shipment?
How do you safely move merchandise from one location to another?
How do you multitask when categorizing a variety of products?
Do you feel comfortable working with floor staff to ensure accurate inventory numbers?
Visual merchandiser interview questions
How do you stay up to date on current visual merchandising trends?
Can you explain your visual display design process from start to finish?
How do you make displays enticing to customers?
Can you tell us about a challenging visual merchandising project? How did you overcome that challenge?
Have you been in a situation where a customer had a problem with a display? If so, can you tell us about it?
What’s a common error visual displayers make?
Find and maintain the best employees
Asking the right questions could save you the stress and headache that result from a bad hire. If you want to hire and keep your quality hires, you need to make their retail work experience as smooth as possible.
This can include scheduling, clocking in and out, and even communication. These factors, when mishandled, can become daily annoyances that build up into significant frustration, even leading to staff leaving.
Deputy is designed to be your go-to software for all things shift work. We understand that running a shift-based business is complex, which is why we created software that assists with time tracking, compliance, and human resources.
Don’t believe us? See how we helped Ace Hardware improve its business.
Book a Deputy demo to see it in action.
