In the third year of your training as a retail specialist with a Federal Diploma of Vocational Education and Training (Federal VET Diploma), you decide whether you want to work mainly in an advisory or management capacity and choose your focus.

You should have the following personal requirements for a retail apprenticeship:

• outgoing
• communicative
• good manners
• Verbal and written fluency
• quick comprehension
• Organizational skills
• Flair for numbers
• Foreign language skills
• service-oriented
• Interest in administrative tasks
• Enjoy computer work

You will spend three and a half days a week at your training company and one and a half days a week at vocational school during your training as a retail specialist Federal VET Diploma.

After completing the retail trade apprenticeship, you will carry out the following activities as a retailer:

• Looking after customers
• Present products
• Presenting solutions for customer requirements
• Process customer inquiries on various channels
• Presenting products and services in a customer-oriented way
• Processing of business-relevant key figures, customer data and information
• Helping to further develop products and services
• Recognize and integrate current developments
• Ensuring the flow of information
• Designing shopping experiences when choosing this focus
• Supervision of online stores if this focus is chosen

During your third year of training as a Federal VET Diploma retail specialist, you will choose one of the two specializations "Advice" or "Management". In consulting, you will be in direct contact with customers, advising and informing them about innovations and product ranges, materials, ingredients, applications and similar, giving tips and suggestions and fulfilling customer requests where possible. If you focus on management, you will have far less contact with customers and will be primarily responsible for the warehouse. You will manage the warehouse and ensure that fresh or the latest products are always available, check stock levels, order missing goods, check them when they arrive and store them properly. Retail management specialists are responsible for labeling and replenishing missing goods in the sales areas, as well as for the tasteful presentation of goods.

When choosing an apprenticeship, prospective apprentices usually consider several options. This is also the case with an apprenticeship in the retail trade. According to the survey conducted by Ausbildung-Weiterbildung.ch, 66% of participants check whether the "Retail Trade Specialist (EFZ)" apprenticeship suits them and meets their needs. For 21 %, job advertisements in the retail trade sector aroused their interest in this course. 13 % of respondents were interested in the course due to a recommendation.

Free text answers show further reasons for interest in the apprenticeship "Retail Trade Specialist (EFZ)":

• Because I like to sell.
• Because I have already completed EBA in retail trade.
• I have seen the training has been good for me, I love selling.
• I have been working in retail for 8 years.
• I have years of experience as a saleswoman.
• Lateral entry
• I am a trained retail assistant and would like to obtain a specialist certificate.
• I would like to move to Switzerland and have worked in retail for a long time without having a degree. I would like to improve my chances on the job market.
• I work in retail as a manager.

In Switzerland, a distinction is made between ten different sectors in which basic training to become a Federal VET Diploma retail specialist is possible. These are "Food" with four specializations, "Services", "Mobile", "Polynatura" with three specializations, "Lifestyle" with six specializations, "Electronics", "Building and "Living" with seven specializations, "Animals", as well as "Music" and "Stationery and Toys" with two specializations each.

As the results of a survey of prospective students conducted by the education platform Ausbildung-Weiterbildung.ch show, a good 64% enquire about schools on the basis of online assessment(s). 25 %, on the other hand, make inquiries based on a recommendation. 11 % send a training inquiry because they already know the school in question. Recommendations and online evaluations also play an important role in school inquiries for the retail specialist apprenticeship (EFZ). However, one respondent told us via the optional text response that he had made an inquiry because the school was nearby. This means that the easy accessibility of the school for training as a retail specialist EFZ is also relevant for school inquiries. Three other text responses point to Google as an important tool for searching for and enquiring about schools. One person simply felt addressed.

After completing their basic training (apprenticeship), Federal VET Diploma retail specialists can pursue various continuing education, which will further advance their professional career. This is possible, for example, with a Federal Professional Examination (FPE), such as purchasing specialist, marketing specialist, retail specialist or many more. In addition to a Federal VET Diploma, as a retail specialist you can also attend a College of Higher Education (Achtung: Engl. Dipl. Betriebswirt HF or Dipl. Marketingmanager HFP) and aim for a Federal Diploma, for example as a Dipl. Betriebswirt HF or Dipl. Marketingmanager HFP. With a Federal Vocational Baccalaureate, it is also possible for you to study at a University of Applied Sciences after completing your apprenticeship, for example business administration.