Hiring

Retail manufacturing is booming as we head into the critical holiday shopping season, primarily because of factors driving robust consumer sales — low unemployment, low inflation, and more disposable income due to rising house prices and a strong stock market. As retail companies evolve their e-commerce operations, they're focusing more on last-minute delivery, reducing delivery…

With unemployment at a record low, employers in the retail industry face new challenges as the demand for customer service representatives is projected to grow 10 percent by 2024, faster than the average for all occupations. As business leaders realize that customers have far more choices than ever before — and that concentrating their efforts…

In episode 169 of Total Retail Talks, Matt Lyda, head of business development at Nine Line Apparel, talks about how a commitment to hiring military veterans throughout its organization has been core to the online apparel brand's growth.

Not to be confused with gig economy jobs like driving for Uber or picking up groceries for Instacart, a seasonal job is classified as temporary employment that's available part of the year. Retailers hire extra workers to cope with seasonal demands, and the part-time structure makes it ideal for college students seeking extra money during…

Amazon.com said it would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for all of its United States workers. The retail giant said the pay increase would include part-time workers and those hired through temporary agencies. Amazon said it would also lobby Washington to raise the federal minimum wage. The new wages will apply to more…

Employees are quitting at record rates, according to a recent U.S. Labor Department report, but Lamps Plus employees are staying the longest in its product category. Employees of the designer, manufacturer and retailer of portable lighting, fixture lighting and home décor products have an average tenure of eight years, based on LinkedIn data. So how…

Macy's plans to hire 80,000 seasonal workers for positions at its Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores, call centers, distribution centers and online fulfillment centers nationwide for the 2018 holiday season, according to a company press release. Macy’s, which is forecasting a strong holiday shopping season, will staff 23,500 positions at its fulfillment centers to help with…

In recent years, we've seen retail splurging on new technology and digitizing stores in order to go head-to-head with the looming threat of online shopping. AR mirrors fill fitting rooms, IoT checkouts replace cashiers and voice bot assistants are being introduced to enhance store service, entice customers and boost sales. However, many retailers are failing…

Hiring in the retail industry may only be up 0.5 percent from last August, but employer demand for retail workers is surging, belying the “retail apocalypse” narrative that’s dominated in recent years. Since January 2018, the national surplus of people with retail sales skills has decreased from a massive 115,155 people down to 11,632 people as of August 2018.

The rate of turnover in the retail industry (13 percent) is among the highest in the country — second only to the tech sector (software) at 13.2 percent. While the digitization of retail and advent of e-commerce is inevitably taking more workers off the sales floor and into back-channel positions (e.g., telecom sales reps), the…