Retail Management is a business degree that involves the aspect of finance, accounting, marketing, buying and merchandising. This will enable graduates to eventually work in various fields of business such as in merchandising, sales management, store management, marketing, e-commerce and supply chain management. Basically, retail refers to the distribution of goods from the manufacturer to the consumers through the use of short channels.

An associate degree in retail management at Penn Foster College covers different courses to include marketing, public relations, inventory management, management principles, internet marketing and e-commerce, business statistics, retail management, consumer behavior, merchandising planning and buying among others. Students should be able to learn the ways to reach store sales quota and earn profits, process merchandise shipments, communicate effectively with clients and manage stores.

A career in retail management is in high demand today owing to the continued growth of the retail industry both online and offline such as in shopping malls and department stores. Graduates can work as sales supervisor or manager in grocery, general merchandise stores, books and publishing industry, music stores, processed foods industry, building supplies and clothing shops and garment industry.

Based on the latest U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Outlook Handbook, some 88,000 new jobs are expected to be available for retail managers until 2018 with the chance to be promoted to executive positions. The U.S. continues to be the leader in the retail industry. Worldwide, nine of the top 20 and 19 of the top 50 retail companies are located in the U.S. The Global List 1000 of Fortune Magazine 2010 also revealed that 54 of the biggest companies in the world are in the U.S.