[closed] How much experience is needed in retail?

I am passionate about retail and there is not a specific amount of experience needed. It really depends on a company, sector and your learning curve and agility. For retail the kind of experience is usually acquired from being close do the final customers and the team. Learning by doing is a great way to get experience in retail. To develop left brain and right brain skills also make you a "whole mind professional" (Book: A whole new mind: Daniel H. Pink). When I am hiring or developing managers I will work on how candidates deal with the Me vs We and IQ vs EQ. Also a blend of technical and comportamental skills is very important to succeed as a manager.

As previously mentioned in the previous questions it varies from store to store. As a person who has worked in retail( Abercrombie and Fitch) I can provide you some insights because I'm friends with some of my managers from A&F and I have friends who are managers or assistant from different retail stores. It does help if you do have degree in a field such as business administration or management but also other degrees are considered! Having a degree will definitely help you get ahead. You can apply to be manager after you graduate. I know for a fact that if you want to be a manager at A&F you need a college degree.

Also another way you can get a manager position is working your way up the ladder. I have a friend who has worked at Hot Topic since she was 16 now she is 20 and she is an assistant manager! She got this position through hard work and showing she knows the brand what they do and she showed some leadership skills.

So there is not just one way of getting to a manager position but put in hard work and show that your an excellent associate and perhaps you can get a promotion to manager or assistant manager

It really does vary among companies. In many companies, it is easy to learn on the job and be promoted by being a dependable, hard-worker who can easily adapt and show leadership skills. However, the higher up you go, the more important education becomes. You may decide you have an aptitude for merchandising, planning, or logistics. I recommend taking a variety of business courses and finding a mentor at the regional or corporate level.
Retail Management is long hours and hard work, but can open many doors for you.

It depends on the company you would like to be on a management team with. I want to say 60% of the qualities they will look for in you are your personality. Are you a team player? Are you innovative to meeting company goals? When things are uncertain how well do you deal with ambiguity? Can you make a decision without having 100% of the information? Are you compassionate? Can you show empathy towards the customer and make them feel valued and validated?
With experience you gain more opportunities to come across that will help you have complete and compelling examples that speak to you as a person and how you would fit with their team and their companies vision.

It varies from company to company and how well you apply yourself. Every 2 years I got promoted. The great technical skills to acquire mobile and Web development, be able to analyze the company's data and operations and be able to articlate it.