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Retailing & Retail Operations Major

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Retailing & Retail Operations

481 Bachelor's Degrees Annually
1 Master's Degrees Annually
#52 in Popularity
$40,480 Median Salary

Types of Degrees Retailing & Retail Operations Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many retailing and retail operations graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree 481
Basic Certificate 320
Associate Degree 164
Undergraduate Certificate 59
Master’s Degree 1

What Retailing & Retail Operations Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, retailing and retail operations majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Retailing and Retail Operations Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

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  • Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
  • English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
  • Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
  • Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
  • Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

Skills for Retailing and Retail Operations Majors

A major in retailing and retail operations prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

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  • Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
  • Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
  • Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
  • Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
  • Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.

Abilities for Retailing and Retail Operations Majors

Retailing and Retail Operations majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

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  • Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

What Can You Do With a Retailing & Retail Operations Major?

People with a retailing and retail operations degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title Job Growth Rate Median Salary
Demonstrators and Product Promoters 6.5% $28,960
Energy Brokers 9.7% $54,550
First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers 3.8% $39,630
Sales and Related Workers 10.6% $33,220

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Retailing & Retail Operations?

481 Bachelor's Degrees Annually
70% Percent Women
20% Percent Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
This major is dominated by women with about 70% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of retailing and retail operations majors is as follows:

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Race/Ethnicity Number of Grads
Asian 19
Black or African American 29
Hispanic or Latino 31
White 348
International Students 29
Other Races/Ethnicities 25

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Retailing and Retail Operations, too. About 6.0% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Retailing & Retail Operations Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Retailing and Retail Operations majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $33,260 to $45,080 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes all degree levels, so you may expect those with a more advanced degree to make more while those with less advanced degrees will typically make less.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Median Salary for a Retailing & Retail Operations Major  ( 33260 to 45080 )
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250K
Median Salary for a High School Graduate  ( 30000 to 57900 )
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250K
Median Salary for a Bachelor's Degree Holder  ( 45600 to 99000 )
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250K
Median Salary for an Advanced Degree Holder  ( 55600 to 125400 )
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250K

Some degrees associated with retailing and retail operations may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to retailing and retail operations have obtained the following education levels.

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Education Level Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma 14.7%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED) 39.0%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production) 5.0%
Some College Courses 5.8%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree) 11.2%
Bachelor’s Degree 26.0%
Master’s Degree 0.2%

Online Retailing & Retail Operations Programs

In 2020-2021, 81 schools offered a retailing and retail operations program of some type. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level Colleges Offering Programs Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year) 0 0
Certificate (1-2 years) 27 2
Certificate (2-4 Years) 0 0
Associate’s Degree 28 3
Bachelor’s Degree 1 0
Post-Baccalaureate 0 0
Master’s Degree 1 0
Post-Master’s 0 0
Doctor’s Degree (Research) 0 0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice) 0 0
Doctor’s Degree (Other) 0 0

Is a Degree in Retailing & Retail Operations Worth It?

The median salary for a retailing and retail operations grad is $40,480 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 1% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $11,600 after 20 years!

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You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to retailing and retail operations.

Major Number of Grads
General Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations 3,440
Professional Sales 1,177
Other General Merchandising, Sales, and Related Marketing Operations 233
Merchandising and Buying Operations 48

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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