You've hired your seasonal staff, the holiday rush is approaching, and now you face a common retail challenge: getting your temporary team ready to handle transactions confidently before peak shopping begins.
Seasonal retail staff fill a different role than year-round employees. This year, US retailers are expected to add half a million seasonal retail staff, and this means training is of utmost importance. While permanent team members handle complex transactions and unusual scenarios, seasonal staff need to master the basics quickly to keep a store running smoothly during busy periods.
Smart retailers recognize this difference. They create focused training programs that get seasonal employees comfortable with common transactions fast, letting full-time staff step in for more complicated matters. This targeted approach serves two purposes - it prevents overwhelming new hires with too much information, and it builds their confidence by mastering essential skills first.
By investing time in proper POS training, you show seasonal staff they play a valuable role in your business success. This focused attention helps them feel like real team members rather than temporary help.
Let's look at the five most important areas to cover when training seasonal employees on Shopify POS. And check out our last article if you want more about common mistakes of training retail staff.
1. Master the Basics
New seasonal staff often get overwhelmed trying to handle standard sales during busy periods. Many try to memorize every POS feature instead of mastering the basics. The Shopify POS app offers straightforward sales processing, but seasonal staff need focused practice on the most common scenarios.
Start your seasonal staff with simplified transaction training. Have them practice basic sales flows - adding items to cart, processing single payment types, and sending receipts. Use Shopify's training mode to let them complete 15-20 test transactions before moving to the next skill. This builds confidence with core functions without overwhelming them with complex features.
Use this checklist of basic Shopify POS skills to teach your seasonal staff:
- Using the smart grid
- Using global search
- Switching between users
- Changing and updating settings
- Using apps
2. Find and Add Customers
Seasonal employees frequently struggle with customer management in Shopify POS. During peak shopping times, they might skip adding customer details or make duplicate profiles. This creates cleanup work later and misses valuable data collection opportunities.
Create a simple customer handling workflow for seasonal staff. Train them on the fastest way to search existing customers and add new ones. Practice scenarios should focus on speed - finding a customer by phone number, adding a basic profile, and attaching it to the sale. Keep the required fields minimal to maintain shopping momentum.
Use this checklist of customer-related Shopify POS skills to teach your seasonal staff:
- Searching for customers
- Adding customers to the cart
- Opening customer order history
3. Apply Basic Promotions
Seasonal staff need clear guidelines on handling common promotions through Shopify POS. Without proper training, they may apply incorrect discount amounts or miss promotional pricing entirely. This leads to price adjustments and customer satisfaction issues during the busiest shopping days.
Build a streamlined discount training program focused on your most common promotions. Create a simple reference sheet showing standard discount types and when to use them. Practice applying basic percentage and dollar-amount discounts in training mode until staff can process them quickly and accurately.
Use this checklist of discount-related Shopify POS skills to teach your seasonal staff:
- Applying discount codes
- Applying item-level discounts
- Applying cart-level discounts
- Applying multiple line item discounts with cart-level discounts
- Applying discounts for specific customers (loyalty programs)
4. Payment Options Made Simple
Processing payments causes anxiety for many seasonal employees, especially when handling store cards or gift certificates. The Shopify POS payment interface is straightforward, but seasonal staff need practice with your store's most common payment types.
Focus payment training on your top three payment methods. Have seasonal staff practice these specific transactions repeatedly until they build muscle memory. Save complex split payments and unusual tender types for your full-time staff to handle.
Use this checklist of payment-related Shopify POS skills to teach your seasonal staff:
- Switching between payment types (partial payments)
- Using external terminals
- Accepting gift cards
- Checking gift card balances
5. Find Products With Confidence
Finding products quickly in Shopify POS challenges many seasonal employees, particularly in stores with large inventories. Staff often waste time scrolling through categories or typing full product names instead of using quick search features.
Teach seasonal staff the fastest ways to locate products in your system. Practice using the search bar, scanning barcodes, and navigating your most popular categories. Create shortcut guides for frequently sold items to speed up product selection during rushes.
Use this checklist of product-related Shopify POS skills to teach your seasonal staff:
- Checking product inventory
- Checking inventory in other locations
- Selling products when there is no inventory
Simplify Seasonal Staff Management with EasyTeam
Having extra trained seasonal staff ready to step in can save your busy season. But managing a larger temporary team brings its own challenges - from scheduling and time tracking and more.
EasyTeam removes these headaches by putting all your staff management tools in one place. Add new seasonal hires in seconds, create schedules that match your peak hours, and track time cards automatically - all within your familiar Shopify interface.
Ready to build and manage a solid seasonal team? Start your free EasyTeam trial today and turn staff management from a challenge into a competitive advantage.
