How much does a clothing store associate/sales make?

[ChrisIsBored]

At lets say a place like Burberry, or Neiman Marcus?

I went shopping and the associate was telling me how he has this item, and that in a different color.. and the price tags are pretty far up there.

Is there a higher commission or pay for a simple sales job at places like these? I would think a job like stacking clothes doesn't exceed the $15/hour range.

 

[krunchykrome]

not much i'd assume

 

[Farang]

1) Probably likes clothes and is willing to spend a higher percentage of their income than the average person on them.
2) Probably has a discount.
3) May or may not have another job, a spouse with another job, an inheritance, or a successful gambling addiction

 

[uclaLabrat]

Originally posted by: Farang

3) May or may not have another job, a spouse with another job, an inheritance, or a successful gambling addiction

I think it's only an addiction if you lose. Otherwise, you're just a professional gambler.

 

[Strk]

Some people also have shitloads of debt.

 

[krunchykrome]

Originally posted by: Farang
1) Probably likes clothes and is willing to spend a higher percentage of their income than the average person on them.
2) Probably has a discount.
3) May or may not have another job, a spouse with another job, an inheritance, or a successful gambling addiction

Yup....people who work in retail, specifically clothing, probably like to go shopping. They probably spend a great deal on clothing using their discount. I'd bet that if you took a peak into their personal lives, you'd notice some areas were lacking (financially, college education, etc....).

 

[Strk]

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

Originally posted by: Farang
1) Probably likes clothes and is willing to spend a higher percentage of their income than the average person on them.
2) Probably has a discount.
3) May or may not have another job, a spouse with another job, an inheritance, or a successful gambling addiction

Yup....people who work in retail, specifically clothing, probably like to go shopping. They probably spend a great deal on clothing using their discount. I'd bet that if you took a peak into their personal lives, you'd notice some areas were lacking (financially, college education, etc....).

So just like so many other people?

A friend of mine used to work at Macy's and she made a little over $8 an hour. She hated it, but that's also why she went to school and is now making a good living.

Some people are just stupid with money.

 

[Greenman]

I knew a young lady several years back that sold shoes at a high end store in San Francisco, she claimed to make 90k a year. Based on her life style and material possessions, I believed her.

 

[EGGO]

A guy I became good friends with in the Versace boutique store before it left the King of Prussia Mall made about 60k, the salesman who sold me shoes in Barney's makes 65k, the lady I talked to in the Versace store in NYC makes 80k, if memory serves me right. Rachael sorta knows of the first guy I'm talking about.

Dunno about Neiman Marcus, I only ever bought from there once and had terrible experience with it.

[edit] These are base salaries, not including commission.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

When I was in college my GF worked at a middle-tier clothing retailer. The salary wasn't great, but the employee discount was huge and she spent a lot on clothes, so it was worth it for her. From what I've heard very good sales people can make a really nice living if they're in the right locations. The base salary can be poor, but the commissions *can* make up for it in some areas. Beverly Hills Neiman Marcus workers will do a whole hell of a lot better than Elizabeth NJ workers.

 

[L1FE]

My girlfriend works at Nordstrom and depending on the department, you get different discounts and commission rates. A normal salesperson's discount is around 20%, highest discount is 33%. Commission can be as low as 6% to as high as 10%. Top sellers at the company easily make over 100k (the top seller does 1.5M+ [!!] in sales). Overall, you can make an ok living, but pay isn't steady, hours suck, and it's just really tiring work.

 

[Proprioceptive]

I've had many instances where I've been shopping for items... particularly at mid-range retail stores... when the salesperson will claim to own several of the items and rave about them just to get a sale. They don't own it. There's now way they can spend that kind of cash. They're doing it for the sale. Just today I went to a local AT&T store and the salesperson, at different times, claimed to own at least 7 of the phones he showed me. Most of the phones were at least $200. 7 upscale smart phones all at once? BS.

 

[nageov3t]

depends if we're talking like a random sales girl or a personal shopper or anything along those lines.

I'd imagine they all get substantial discounts, since the clothing chain likely: a) wants its employees to show off its clothing, and b) doesn't pay its employees enough to shop there on their salary.

 

[sindows]

So how does commission work at a retail store? Do they judge by who rang up the sale or is there some other metric that I'm not aware of?

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: sindows
So how does commission work at a retail store? Do they judge by who rang up the sale or is there some other metric that I'm not aware of?

Depends on the store. I have a friend who used to work in a Nordstrom - she said something like high end customers would generally have one sales person they would go to when they were looking for something and for other people, it would be stake customers out and go on a shopping journey with them in your department.

 

[BrownShoes]

I have a friend retail selling men's suits - he makes about $60k or $65k with his commission.
That's not bad but if the store is slow then so is his pay.