Retail – Jobs. Trends. Insight.

Are Retailers Being Cautious About Hiring?

By Ashley Rowe on April 21, 2013 in Retail.

According to the BLS's March jobs report, retail trade declined by 24,000 after averaging 32,000 jobs per month over the prior 6 months. Economists are concerned job growth is slowing, particularly in the retail sector. Reduced retail hiring may indicate that consumers are spending less in stores which demonstrates a weakening economy. Bloomberg suggests that retailers have been cautious about hiring because of the sequester in Washington and the increase in payroll taxes which may tighten consumers' budgets. Have retailers been cautious about hiring? The overall job ad volume in 2012 was 22% higher than 2011, with October 2012 marking a 4-year high. In March, the retail trade sector posted over 408,800 job ads online. Although hiring demand decreased over the past 6 months, partially due to a post holiday season decline, March job ad volume was still 1% higher than the same time last year.

Hiring Demand in the Retail Sector – 4 Year Hiring Trend

: SOURCE: WANTED Analytics

In March, the highest volume of job ads was posted by home centers and department stores. Automotive parts and accessories stores had the greatest increase in demand over the same time last year.

Industries with the Highest Demand and Their Year-Over-Year Growth

Home Centers +27%
Department Stores (except Discount Department Stores) -13.8%
Supermarkets and Other Grocery (except Convenience) Stores +26.3%
Pharmacies and Drug Stores +122.7%
Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores +166.8%
Hobby, Toy, and Games Stores +7.3%
All Other General Merchandise Stores +37.6%
Discount Department Stores -27.8%
Family Clothing Stores +24.9%
New Car Dealers +28.4%

First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers, Retail Salespersons, and Cashiers are the most commonly advertised job titles by these industries. Cashiers had the biggest increase in-demand over the past year, rising 38%. The largest volume of job ads appeared in New York (NY), Chicago (IL), and Los Angeles (CA). Each of these cities experienced a decline in demand when comparing March 2013 to March 2012. Below is a heat map of ad volume throughout the US. The cities with the highest job counts are shown below in dark blue.

Heat Map of Job Volume in the Retail Sector

SOURCE: WANTED Analytics

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Already an Analytics user? Log in here. The retail sector is already selected for you. Just add your occupation, location, and any other special requirement.

Springing Ahead Into Home Improvement

By Ashley Rowe on March 10, 2013 in Retail.

This weekend we turned our clocks ahead reminding us that spring is just around the corner and it's time for some home improvements. In anticipation of spring home improvement business and increasing sales, Home Depot expects to hire 80,000 seasonal and permanent employees nationwide and Lowe's plans to hire 45,000. Since the biggest home improvement chains are increasing hiring, we thought we'd look at overall building materials and supplies dealer hiring to see what industry-wide demand looks like.

The building materials and supplies dealer industry increased hiring 60% when comparing January 2013 to the same time last year. According to Dispatch.com, Home Depot and Lowe's say that "the uptick in hiring can be linked to the housing rebound and the resulting interest in remodeling and landscaping." In January 2013, there were more than 33,500 job ads posted online, marking a 4 year high. Nationwide, which metro areas have the most demand for home improvement workers?

Metros with the Most Building Materials and Supplies Dealer Job Ads

New York, NY
Atlanta, GA
Chicago, IL
Los Angeles, CA
Dallas, TX
Philadelphia, PA
Washington, DC
Detroit, MI
Houston, TX
Boston, MA

On average, Recruiters and hiring managers aren't likely find these jobs difficult-to-fill. Although hiring has increased, the supply of candidates in the workforce remains large enough to meet demand. The building materials and supplies dealer industry scores a 21 on our Hiring Scale, out of a possible 99, where 99 denotes hard-to-fill. The most difficult recruiting environment is likely to be in Rapid City, SD. However, conditions in this metro area are just moderately difficult, scoring a 53. The cities with the best recruiting conditions include:

Anderson, SC
Danville, VA
Rome, GA
Dalton, GA
Anniston, AL
Decatur, AL
Bay City, MI
Rocky Mount, NC
Palm Coast, FL
Muskegon, MI

Each of these cities score a 6 or 5 on our Hiring Scale. Find out what your city scores with a free trial of WANTED Analytics.

Already an Analytics user? Log in here. We've added the building materials and supplies dealer industry for you. Just add your location and any other requirements. Then, select 'Generate Report' to view hiring demand and talent supply data.

Checking Out Hiring Demand for Online Stores

By Ashley Rowe on March 2, 2013 in Retail.

A recent report by eMarketer claimed that worldwide B2C e-commerce sales grew 21% in 2012, surpassing $1 trillion for the first time. The United States alone reached $343.43 billion in e-commerce sales during 2012 and sales are expected to rise to $383.8 billion during 2013. Since 2013 online sales are expected to reach new highs, we thought we would revisit hiring demand for e-commerce skills in the retail industry. Are employers ramping up hiring to meet these expectations? After a slight decrease in December, hiring is beginning to pick back up again. However, hiring volume in January 2013 was only 4% higher than the same time last year. Will we see more hiring activity as the year goes on?

Hiring Demand for E-Commerce Skills in the Retail Industry

Hiring Demand for E-Commerce Professionals in the Retail Industry

SOURCE: WANTED Analytics

The most commonly advertised retail job titles that require e-commerce experience changed slightly since the last time we covered this topic. Web Designer and Java Developer ascended the list. Director Ecommerce and Senior Software Engineer were replaced with Business Analyst and Project Manager Ecommerce.

Most Commonly Advertised Retail Industry E-Commerce Job Titles

Web Developer
Web Designer
Ecommerce Business Analyst
Software Engineer
Project Manager
Ecommerce Marketing Manager
Java Developer
Ecommerce Manager
Project Manager Ecommerce
Business Analyst

Department stores led in demand followed by clothing stores and electronic shopping and mail-order houses. Amazon.com and eBay, Inc. had the most job ads posted online. Sears Holding, Staples, and Macy's weren't far behind.

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Retail Hiring Is in the Holiday Spirit

By Abby Lombardi on December 11, 2012 in Retail, Sales.

As we get further into the holiday season, we tend to watch retail sales and hiring numbers more closely – especially hiring demand for sales jobs. With only a few weeks until the end of the year, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at the number of jobs posted online for retail sales positions over the past few months. Will the 2012 holiday season be more jolly than last year?

Between August 1 and November 30 of this year, more than 548,000 job ads were seen online for retail sales professionals. This marks a new high in demand since the recession began. The number of retail sales ads posted online during this 4-month period rose 32% compared to 2011 and 40% versus 2010.

Hiring Demand for Retail Sales Workers – 4 Year Hiring Trend

Hiring Demand for Retail Sales Workers in the US

Source: WANTED Analytics

Despite rising demand, the current talent pool of retail sales professionals remains high. However, many Recruiters and hiring managers are still likely to see challenges with finding candidates that meet all their skill requirements. For example, inventory management is becoming an increasingly important skill for potential candidates. In the past 4 months, there have been more than 18,000 retail sales positions that require this skill set, a 141% year-over-year increase. Sales professionals need to effectively account for all merchandise, especially during this busy holiday season when the right inventory needs to be in the store. According to the Hiring Scale, inventory management is one of the harder skills to recruit in potential candidates. The most difficult places to currently sourcing this talent are Midland (Texas), Albany (New York), and Washington (DC). These areas are likely to spend a longer time sourcing candidates than the rest of the United States. Online job ads in these areas are posted for as long as 6 weeks.

Hiring Scale for Retail Sales Jobs requiring Inventory Management

Source: WANTED Analytics

Are you recruiting for retail sales jobs? What skills do you require in candidates that are hard-to-find?

Find out how difficult to fill your open positions will be with a free trial of the Hiring Scale!

Already an Analytics user? Log in and copy/paste your retail job reqs into the Search Wizard to get hiring demand and talent supply data in moments! Don't forget to generate a Talent Sourcing Report to share with hiring managers about the conditions in your local area and around the US.

Will Hiring Demand for E-Commerce Follow Growing Online Sales?

By Abby Lombardi on November 14, 2012 in Retail.

Recent studies have projected that this year's online holiday sales could grow again, making this year's "Cyber Monday" even more important to the retail sector. Forrester projects that online sales for this holiday season could reach $68.4 billion in the US – a 15% increase over 2011′s total. With more consumers turning to online and mobile shopping rather than going to physical stores, we wanted to see if there is an increase in e-commerce hiring by retailers. After all, their websites and platforms will need to support this increase in traffic and revenue. In October, there were just over 2,000 job ads posted online by retailers. This represents a 9% increase in hiring demand compared to 1 year ago and 40% growth compared to 2010.

Hiring demand for E-Commerce Professionals in the Retail Sector

Hiring demand for ecommerce professionals in retail industry

Source: WANTED Analytics

Much of the demand is concentrated in metropolitan areas like Seattle, Chicago, and New York. With the highest volumes of job ads occurring in these cities, they are among some of the areas that will experience more difficulties when recruiting talent. There are limited talent pools of e-commerce professionals with experience in the retail industry. Employers and recruiters should consider hiring e-commerce skilled candidates with experience in other industries to open their candidate pools.

Heat Map of Hiring Demand for E-Commerce Professionals

Source: WANTED Analytics

Here are some of the job titles that we see commonly requiring e-commerce experience or knowledge in the retail industry:

Web Developer
Ecommerce Business Analyst
Web Designer
Ecommerce Manager
Software Engineer
Ecommerce Marketing Manager
Project Manager
Director Ecommerce
Senior Software Engineer
Java Developer

Shopping for Retail Sales Workers

By Abby Lombardi on October 25, 2012 in Retail.

Last month, we began to look at retail hiring demand as we lead up to the holiday hiring season. At the time, a survey by the Hay Group showed that 36% of responding retailers were planning on hiring more seasonal help than they did last year, up from just 10% of the companies that responded last year. We thought it was a good time to revisit this area and see what jobs were in-demand. However, this time around we were a little surprised by the results.

In September, there were 130,000 available job postings. Despite dropping by about 30,000 ads from August to September, this still represents a 29% year over year increase in hiring demand. We see a large drop in demand from August to September by Office Supply and Stationary Stores, which may be seeing a seasonal affect now that schools have already started and everyone has their supplies for the year. Store Managers are the most commonly advertised job title within the retail sector, followed by Sales Associate, Assistant Manager, and Cashier.

Hiring Demand in the Retail Sector – 4 Year Hiring Trend

Source: WANTED Analytics

Cities that currently the highest volume of job ads are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, and Boston. Despite the higher demand, job ads in these areas stay online for about 6 weeks. This is in line with national averages, likely because these cities also have some of the largest available candidate pools. This means that, although there are many job ads, there are also enough candidates to fill those jobs. In comparison, retail sales jobs in Bay City, Michigan remain online for the longest time period in the US. Here, the average posting period for a retail sales position averages 7.5 weeks – 1.5 weeks longer than the national average. Other cities with higher than average posting periods include Duluth, Minnesota and Fargo, North Dakota.

Heat Map of Average Posting Periods across the US

Source: WANTED Analytics

Despite a growing volume of job ads across the US, overall recruiting conditions are still likely to be relatively easy. Nationwide, there is a large talent pool.

Cities with the best overall recruiting conditions for retail sales positions are:

Decatur (Alabama)
Elkhart-Goshen (Indiana)
Gainesville (Georgia)

Cities with the most difficult conditions:

Hinesville-Fort Stewart (Georgia)
Manchester-Nashua (New Hampshire)
Springfield (Ohio)

We'll continue to report on the number of job ads in the retail industry throughout the holiday season, so be sure to subscribe to our blog to get the latest data delivered right to your inbox!

Are Retailers Beginning Their Holiday Hiring?

By Abby Lombardi on September 24, 2012 in Retail.

Every year, retailers begin to hire workers in the Fall to prepare for and get through the holiday season. This year, reports are already coming in of plans to hire. In fact, a recent survey by the Hay Group showed that 36% of responding retailers are planning on hiring more seasonal help than they did last year, up from only 10% last year. We wanted to see what hiring demand looks like in the retail sector now.

Currently, there are approximately 2,500 retailers with online job ads for sales workers. 822 of these companies are advertising either temporary or contract-based jobs. Overall, the number of sales jobs at retail companies was up about 50% in August versus August 2011. Other than a slight decline in June, the number of online ads for retail sales workers has grown in 2012.

Hiring Demand for Retail Sales Workers in the US – Volume of Job Ads Past 4 Years

Source: WANTED Analytics

We found that sales positions in the retail industry are advertised online for 41 days – or about 6 weeks. This means that on average, Recruiters at retailers spend 6 weeks collecting resumes or applications and preparing to interview candidates. Despite a growing volume of job ads across the US, overall recruiting conditions are still likely to be relatively easy. When looking at the below heat map displaying the overall difficulty-to-fill (or ease in filling) for sales positions in the retail sector. Most areas are bright green, depicting that Recruiters are likely to experience little difficulty in filling these jobs.

Hiring Scale – Difficulty to Fill Retail Sales Jobs in the US

Hiring Scale heat map - Retail Sales Jobs

Source: WANTED Analytics

Cities with the best recruiting conditions for retail sales workers:

Cumberland (Maryland)
Gainesville (Florida)
Kankakee-Bradley (Illinois)
Elkart-Goshen (Indiana)
Decatur (Illinois)

Cities with the most difficult conditions:

Hinesville-Fort Stewart (Georgia)
Manchester-Nashua (New Hampshire)
Midland (Texas)
Springfield (Ohio)
Coeur d'Alene (Idaho)

We'll continue to report on the number of job ads in the retail industry throughout the holiday season, so be sure to subscribe to our blog to get the latest data delivered right to your inbox!

Shopping for Talent

By Ashley Rowe on July 15, 2012 in Retail.

Retail Metrics recently reported same-store retail sales increased .03% in June from a year earlier. So we decided to see what June online job ads for retail positions were like.

Online Job Ad Growth Chart for Retail

Online job ads peaked in May 2012, 128% higher than a year ago. In June online job ads dipped down 21% from May. Prior to June, there had been steady growth in job ads since December 2012.

Top 10 Companies Posting Online Job Ads in June

Top 10 Occupations In-Demand

Each of the occupations listed above have seen an increase year-over-year in online job ads. Cashiers saw the biggest growth in terms of percentage at 330%. Retail salespersons saw the highest growth in quantity, with 20,215 more online listings than last year.

Cities with the Highest Demand

Our Hiring Scale™ indicates that filling this position is likely to be on the relatively easy side. Out of the cities with the highest demand, the best conditions for Recruiters are in Houston, TX. In comparison, it would be most difficult to fill retail positions in Seattle, WA.

If you’re recruiting for positions in retail, you can view available candidates for this position with WANTED Analytics™.

Slowing Sales Doesn't Stop Retailers from Hiring

By Abby Lombardi on June 13, 2012 in Retail.

This morning, the US Census and the Monthly Retail Trade Survey noted that retail sales are declining – down 0.2% in April and May. Despite the recent slowing, retail hiring is reaching new highs. During May 2012, more than 153,000 job ads were seen online for retail sales professionals. The volume of available job ads not only increased 54% compared to May of 2011 and 95% versus 2010, but also marks a new high in demand for retail sales positions.

Hiring Demand for Retail Sales Professionals – 4 Year Hiring Trend

Source: WANTED Analytics

Below are the 10 retail industries with the most online job listings during May. Office Supplies and Stationary Stores saw the highest volume of job ads with more than 25,000 and more than doubling in demand between May 2011 and May 2012. Only one of the below 10 industries saw a decline – hiring by Men's Clothing Stores was down about 3% compared to May 2011.

Retail Industries with Most Job Ads for Sales Professionals – May 2012 vs. May 2011

Retail industries with most job ads in May

Source: WANTED Analytics

The five metropolitan areas with the highest volume of online job ads for retail sales professionals were New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington (DC), and Philadelphia. While retailers in New York placed the greatest volume of online job ads, with more than 7,000 during May and growing 54% versus last year, employers in Chicago experienced the highest year-over-year growth in hiring demand of these five cities at more than 55% during May.

Despite rising demand, the available pool of candidates remains large nationwide and retailers are likely to find sales professionals moderately easy-to-recruit. Degrees of ease (or difficulty) will vary by location depending on local talent pools and competition by employers. Of the 5 cities above with high demand, our Hiring Scale™ shows that retailers in Washington, DC are currently experiencing some of the heaviest competition to attract qualified sales professionals, Here, Recruiters at retail companies may experience a longer time-to-fill than their counterparts in other areas of the United States. The average posting period of a retail sales job ad in Washington, DC is more than 6 weeks.

Hiring Scale for Retail Sales Jobs in Washington, DC – Hard-to-Fill Locations

Source: WANTED Analytics

Just as the Hiring Scale shows difficult places to recruit retail sales professionals, we can see that some of the locations with the best conditions for sourcing are currently Dalton (Georgia), Decatur (Alabama), and Elkhart (Indiana). These areas are likely to fill job openings faster than the rest of the United States, with job ads staying online for as few as 5 weeks – more than one week shorter than in Washington, DC.

Are you recruiting in the retail trade sector? Learn about your competition for talent, see average salary data, and find potential candidates for any job with a free trial of WANTED Analytics!

Retailers See New High in Demand for Sales Professionals

By Abby Lombardi on April 30, 2012 in Retail, Sales.

Retail sales have been booming this year and, with more optimistic sales numbers, hiring demand has been growing as well. In March, more than 42,000 job ads for retail sales representatives were posted online. This is an incredible 93% increase in demand! Department stores posted the most job ads – about 7,400. Office supplies and stationary stores, men's clothing stores, electronics stores, and discount department stores were also among the retail industries with the highest volumes of ads. These retail industries match up with the employers with the most ads: Staples, Macy's, Jos A Bank, JC Penney, and PetCo.

Hiring Demand for Retail Sales Professionals – 4 Year Hiring Trend

Source: WANTED Analytics

Retailers in the New York metro area posted the most job ads during March and saw hiring demand more than double compared to March of 2011. Other high-demand areas included Chicago, Washington (DC), Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. These locations also saw year-over-year growth in demand.

10 Locations with Highest Volume of Retail Sales Job Ads

Locations with most job ads in retail trade industry

Source: WANTED Analytics

On average, job ads for retail sales professionals remain online for 6 weeks. However, employers in El Centro, California are experiencing one of the shortest posting periods in the US. Here, job ads remain online for about 32 days – or about 4.5 weeks. Recruiters in El Centro are able to fill jobs about 1.5 weeks faster than the national average.

Hiring Scale for Retail Sales Professionals in El Centro, California

Source: WANTED Analytics

Are retail jobs easy- or hard-to-fill in your city? Find out with the free, online Hiring Scale™! Just tell us what job you are filling and where it's located and we'll show you a Hiring Scale, average salary information, who you are competing with for talent, and where to find hidden pools of candidates.

« Older Entries

Are Retailers Being Cautious About Hiring?

Springing Ahead Into Home Improvement

Checking Out Hiring Demand for Online Stores

Retail Hiring Is in the Holiday Spirit

Will Hiring Demand for E-Commerce Follow Growing Online Sales?

Shopping for Retail Sales Workers

Are Retailers Beginning Their Holiday Hiring?

Shopping for Talent

Slowing Sales Doesn't Stop Retailers from Hiring

Retailers See New High in Demand for Sales Professionals

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