Why Hiring for Retail is Getting More Competitive (and Retailers Need to Focus on Employer Brand)
retail store

Why Hiring for Retail is Getting More Competitive (and Retailers Need to Focus on Employer Brand)

If your business is involved at all with retail, you know how important branding is. The brand of your store, the brands of the products you sell, even the brands of your delivery services all make a difference to your customers. Your employer brand is just as important. The efforts you make to train, retain and compensate your retail employees can make the difference between someone working for your store or the one down the street.

This year, pay in retail is becoming increasingly important. According to Glassdoor Local Pay Reports, in June 2017 U.S. median base pay was up 1.7% YOY to $51,324, while pay for cashiers, store managers saw higher wage growth: Cashier wages grew 4.1% YOY in June to $27,375, and store manager pay rose 2.8% to $48,199. High YOY wage growth was also seen in jobs associated with the growing trend of consumers shopping online, such as warehouse associates (up 4.9 percent to $41,442) and delivery drivers (up 4.3 percent to $38,660).

The business of selling goods has extended far beyond the retail store with the growth of online shopping and food delivery. “The growth of the Amazon supply chain, including the recent acquisition of Whole Foods, is no doubt contributing to the increase in demand for warehouse jobs and delivery drivers, leading to the growth in pay for these roles,” said Glassdoor Chief Economist, Andrew Chamberlain.

With 658,000 open jobs in retail today, these employers are already competing for good hires by offering benefits and paid holidays--key factors in creating a strong employer brand. Companies in retail and delivery are also attracting workers by giving them the opportunity to be part of the e-commerce technology revolution with the use of state of the art point of sale and product tracking systems.

A look at year over year changes in wage growth wouldn’t be complete without a regional filter, and our Local Pay Reports give you just that: a window into pay trends in 10 US cities.

Among the ten metros we track, average pay growth was fastest in tech-heavy San Francisco in June (up 2.6 percent year-over-year, to $68,119 per year), followed by Seattle (up 1.9 percent, to $59,812 per year) and New York City (up 1.8 percent, to $60,606 per year).   Access the site to drill down on wage increases for particular jobs in your area, including cashier, store manager, delivery driver and warehouse associate.

us metro wage growth

This month’s report also showed that pay growth remains strong for recruiters , who saw an average YOY increase of 8.4%, to $51,585 in June 2017.  “Companies rely more on recruiters to attract coveted talent as the U.S. reaches full employment, and this puts their skills in high demand,” said Chamberlain.

Whether you’re in retail or not, it’s essential to become an employer branding pro in today’s competitive environment. Download our eBook Employer Branding for Dummies for a refresher on employer branding best practices.