Retail Salary Surveys

Pay and Benefits Benchmarking Information for the Retail Sector

The Alan Jones Retail pay and benefits surveys have been providing the sector with up-to-date information on pay and benefits for over 20 years. The surveys cover jobs ranging from Head of Buying to Sales Assistant at entry level. This is a UK-wide survey with an analysis tailored to the industry and also to the jobs (Head Office/Area Management/Stores) in order to provide subscribers with invaluable insight into the retail pay market.

Click to download the survey documents:
Input Questionnaire
Job Descriptions

Retail Salary Surveys Surveys feature:

  • Large & stable sample
  • Retail Head Office - over 300 benchmark roles in 41 functions
  • Retail Pay Data - Store Management, Area & Regional Managers, Sales Assistants& Team Leaders
  • Online and individually tailored analysis results

The Retail Salary & Benefits Survey covers a very wide range of benchmark jobs in head office functions and in retail stores, all of which have been selected and audited by HR professionals in the Retail Industry. There are over 300 jobs in a large number of functions including:

  • Buying
  • Merchandising
  • Technologists
  • Finance
  • Payroll
  • HR
  • Learning & Development
  • Legal
  • Property
  • Projects
  • Creative
  • PR/Communications/CSR
  • Customer Insight
  • Advertising
  • Marketing
  • Design
  • Facilities Management
  • Loss Protection
  • Risk & Insurance
  • Internal Audit
  • Procurement
  • Supply Chain
  • Depot/Stores
  • Secretarial
  • Occupational Health
  • Health & Safety
  • Customer Service
  • Retail Operational Support
  • Pensions
  • Studio
  • Business to Business
  • Technology/Data & Analytics
  • Cyber Security
  • IT
  • Franchise
  • eCommerce
  • Trainees (Apprentices, Graduates)

The Retail section of the survey has its own analysis (varying by job) and covers:

  • Area & Regional Management
  • Store Managers, Assistant Managers, Department Managers, Team Leaders, Sales Assistants
  • Delivery Drivers

The survey shows data on basic pay, bonus and company cars/cash allowances for all job matches made by all of the all retailers in the survey. The data is then broken down into subsets to enable participants to be sure they are comparing like with like. The subset analysis shows jobs grouped according to:

  • Turnover with tailored analysis of turnover vs salary for Store Manager, Assistant Manager, Department Manager, Area Manager, Regional Manager
  • Location
  • Sector, i.e. sector within Retail, e.g. Supermarket, High St Fashion.
  • Job level analysis

The Retail Salary Survey is run continuously and is for participants only. Any retailer/e-tailer with UK job matches is eligible to join. The survey is paid for by participant subscription which covers:

  • Customised annual Excel/PDF copy of the survey analysis supplied to suit participant's own review schedule
  • Online survey results updated monthly
  • Pay review survey free to survey participants: statistical analysis of past and anticipated pay movements, geographical analysis plus sector specific analysis
  • Access to Alan Jones HR Policy Surveys free of charge

Further details on this survey (participating companies, job descriptions, questionnaires, price, etc.) are available on application to Alan Jones & Associates.


Retail Benefits Survey features:

The Retail Benefits Survey is a detailed, sector-specific and wide-ranging review of benefits in the industry. With an analysis broken down between Retail staff and Head Office it gives a unique and invaluable insight into what is being offered currently in the industry. The Retail Benefits Survey covers:

  • Education/training support
  • NVQ, professional, post-graduate support
  • Career counselling
  • Professional subscription fees
  • Flexible benefits
  • Insurance: death in service, permanent disability, personal accident, critical illness, etc.
  • Medical insurance, dental insurance, optical insurance
  • Employee Assistance Schemes
  • Health screening
  • Pension
  • Relocation
  • Profit sharing, share option schemes, sharesave schemes, share incentive plans, etc.
  • Staff discount
  • Maternity/adoption/paternity/shared parental/parental bereavement leave & pay, parental leave
  • Bereavement leave
  • Career breaks, sabbaticals
  • Other leave: TA, jury service, religious, etc.
  • Contracts
  • Flexible working
  • Salary sacrifice
  • Voluntary schemes
  • Loans
  • Bonus & incentive payments
  • Sick pay
  • Recognition awards
  • Long service awards
  • Other awards
  • Recruitment/Introductory bonus
  • Retention payments
  • Company cars/car allowances; choice of cars, fuel re-imbursement, own car use, duty of care
  • Holidays
  • Sunday working, Bank Holiday working
  • Overtime
  • Unsociable hours
  • Other allowances
  • Clothing allowances
  • Uniform provision; footwear
  • Staff facilities
  • Total reward statements
  • Redundancy policies
  • Notice periods
  • Exit interviews
  • Home/hybrid working

The information is presented in detail, but there is also a summary giving statistical analysis and showing trends in retail benefits since the start of the survey. Participants must submit their own information to receive the survey results.

Further details on all of our Retail surveys are available on application to Alan Jones & Associates.