Entering the retail industry requires specific skills that will help in the retail selling process. As part of the retail sector, you’ll be handling customers, inventory and retail operations on a daily basis. It’s ideal to work on your communication skills and organisational abilities to improve your performance at work. But how? Training can be expensive, time-consuming, and not always 100% relevant to what you need.
Don’t worry, our course library has a series of free online retail courses catered specifically for your requirements. Whether you’re an entry-level employee or an experienced retail worker looking to enhance your skills, we’ve got courses for you!
Here are 10 free online retail courses ideal for entry-level workers:
1. Complete Work Process Course
The retail business has its own industry standards in its daily work processes. Knowing and understanding daily workplace operations will help you streamline your work and improve your performance quickly. The complete work process for the food and beverage industry includes food safety and sanitation practices to ensure that the retail business maintains health standards. Our free course on the complete work process in the food and beverage industry will take you through a step by step guide on navigating workplace operations in the industry.
Scope:
- Introduction to the Course
- Restoring Work Area
- Identifying and Reporting Unsafe Equipment or Materials
- Storing Surplus Food Items
Best for: Kitchen staff, Restaurant workers, Waitstaff, Front-of-house staff, Cooking assistants, Cooks, Restaurant managers
Cost: Free
2. Complete Operational Tasks Course
Like the complete work process, understanding the operational tasks around the organisation will help you retain customer loyalty and streamline your services to consumers. You’ll be able to manage customer payments, identify customer needs and work on your communication skills to improve your work. At the same time, you’ll be able to maximise workplace efficiency while tracking health and safety responsibilities. Our free retail management course on complete operational tasks focuses on the food and beverage industry. In this course, you’ll learn the ins and outs of completing operational tasks on a day-to-day basis. Enhance your skills and streamline your work to improve your career growth!
Scope:
- Maximising Efficiency Through Work Schedules and Communication
- Safe and Hygienic Practices in Hospitality
- Cleanliness and Tidiness in Hospitality
- Utilising Organisational Procedures and Technology in Food and Beverage Operations
- Anticipating and Resolving Operational Challenges in Hospitality
Best for: Restaurant staff, Kitchen staff, Waitstaff, Store employees, Customer-facing personnel
Cost: Free
3. Communicate with the Retail Team Course
Learning how to communicate effectively with your team will help improve your overall performance in the workplace. Communication is an essential skill to work on when you’re entering the retail industry, whether you negotiate with difficult customers and suppliers or communicate with different members of your team. Our free retail management course will help you communicate better with the retail team. This course is suitable for entry-level retail business workers, but managers and supervisors can also hone their skills to work with their teams more effectively.
Scope:
- Organisational Vision and Responsibilities
- Setting Expectations for Work Standards and Behaviours
- Providing Information on Sales Targets and Team Goals
- Working on Communication Skills
Best for: Customer-facing roles, Retail workers, Store clerks, Team leads
Cost: Free
4. Cash Handling and Register Operations Course
Cash handling is part of the key roles in a restaurant, cafe or other types of storefronts. The cashier oversees transactions on a day-to-day basis, so it is important to learn how to properly handle cash flow for faster transactions and reduced losses. Most workers in the retail environment would handle the register at some point in their careers. Our course on cash handling and register operations will help you in providing the fastest and most accurate transactions to your retail customers. You’ll learn how to work the register in a retail outlet and how to turn over the daily cash flow to the appropriate representative.
Scope:
- Importance of Cash Handling
- Proper Cash Handling Techniques
Best for: Cashiers, Register supervisors, Entry-level retail workers, Retail operations employees, Retail manager roles
Cost: Free
5. Analyse Sales Targets Course
A major department in any retail business is the sales team. The sales team is in charge of earning revenue for the organisation, while the sales analytics team is responsible for researching the sales targets, customer behaviour and retail consumer law in relation to sales targets. Our course on analysing sales targets is ideal for both client-facing sales teams and business analytics teams. In this course, you’ll learn how to analyse personal sales targets, monitor the progress of the sales team and review consumer trends to predict your sales for the business period.
Scope:
- Understanding Sales Targets
- Analysing Personal Sales Targets
- Monitoring Progress and Analysing Customer Behaviour
Best for: Sales teams, Product specialists, Client-facing representatives, Retail data analytics teams, Managers
Cost: Free
6. Time Management Course
The retail sector is often fast-paced and evolving. The current trends today may no longer be the trend tomorrow, so it is important to keep a level head despite the stress. Managing your time is one of the ways you can create a stress-free environment for you at work. Our time management course will help you to do just that. In this course, you’ll learn how to properly prioritise and handle your daily tasks to stay productive without overworking yourself. Learn to track your time, arrange your tasks according to priority and create your own work schedule.
Scope:
- What is time management?
- What’s involved in time management?
- How to track your time
- How to analyze your time
- How to prioritize tasks
- How to create a schedule
Best for: Retail employees, Retail management, Operations managers, Restaurant workers, Kitchen staff
Cost: Free
7. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Awareness Course
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) awareness is essential to the retail sector as we interact with different people from various backgrounds and cultures. DEI will help you to be sensitive to others’ backgrounds while reducing biases in the workplace. DEI is not only helpful to customer-facing roles but to any role within the retail environment that requires interacting with others. Our DEI course will help you maintain allyship, understand biases, prevent workplace harassment, and create a more inclusive workplace for all. You’ll learn to challenge stereotypes to promote a workplace that values diversity and belonging.
Scope:
- Introduction to DEI
- Understanding Bias
- Intersectionality
- Allyship
Best for: Customer-facing roles, Retail marketing teams, Retail management, Team members and associates
Cost: Free
8. Whistleblowing Course
A whistleblower is an individual who maintains the integrity of the retail sector by properly reporting organisations that engage in illegal, immoral or otherwise unsafe practices. Whistleblowing does not only protect the individual from committing fraudulent or hazardous practices but also ensures that other organisations stay aligned with industry standards. This free course on whistleblowing will present the importance of whistleblowing. You can become a whistleblower and reveal any unethical practices in your organisation by understanding retail consumer law, taking note of unfair trading practices and communicating with proper authorities in the interest of the general public.
Scope:
- What Is Whistleblowing?
- How To Become A Whistleblower
Best for: All retail workers
Cost: Free
9. Loss Prevention Course
In a retail business, you cannot avoid minor losses. Each business will go through losses during its operations as losses may occur due to improper stock management, theft, faulty products, workplace accidents and more. Learning how to reduce and prevent these will help in keeping the organisation in business. Our loss prevention course will present the ways you can assess risks of losses in your organisation to minimise losses from improper inventory management, theft and more. You’ll learn to investigate incidents, make reports and train employees to respond to losses in-store.
Scope:
- Introduction to Loss Prevention
- Risk Assessment and Analysis
- Security Measures
- Employee Training and Awareness
- Incident Response and Investigations
Best for: Store clerks, Cashiers, Inventory management personnel, Stock workers, Security workers.
Cost: Free
10. Customer Experience Management Course
Customer Experience Management, or CEM, is most useful in the retail environment as it enables teams to effectively communicate with consumers to maintain customer loyalty and satisfaction. By analysing consumer behaviour and purchasing journey, you can create detailed plans to increase sales and engagement for your organisation. This course on CEM will take you through the process of elevating the customer experience for your retail business. You’ll learn to rectify important aspects of your business according to customer feedback, deliver seamless purchasing experiences and manage complaints.
Scope:
- Introduction to Customer Experience Management
- Understanding Customer Journey Mapping
- Collecting and Analysing Customer Feedback
- Leveraging Data Analytics in CEM
- Designing and Delivering a Seamless Customer Experience
- Building a Customer-Centric Culture
- Managing Customer Complaints and Service Recovery
- Implementing Customer Experience Management in Your Organisation
Best for: Sales teams, Store workers, Front-of-house staff, Retail analytics teams, Brand management teams, Digital marketing teams.
Cost: Free
Other Retail & Customer Courses
If you’re looking for more courses related to the Retail industry, check out more of our curated lists:
- 10 Best Retail Workers Training Courses
- Top 10 Free Customer Focus Courses for Retail
- 10 Free Operations Management Courses
You can also browse our complete Course Library to find many more free training and assessment opportunities.
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