The Five Specializations in Retail Education

Trade education with specializations is governed by a common education decree that describes five specializations you can choose between when you reach the main course. Common to all five is that you become skilled in trade between companies — but they differ markedly in which part of the trade cycle you will work with in daily life. Knowing the difference is crucial, both when you choose a training company and when you have to sign an education agreement.

§Trade assistant, sales

If you choose a speciality in sales, you are trained to plan and carry out the sale and marketing of goods and services to other companies — i.e. classic B2B sales. You learn to seek out customers, prepare quotations, negotiate prices and follow up on the relationship after the deal is closed. Everyday life typically involves telephone sales, customer meetings, quotation calculations and a lot of administrative work around orders and agreements. If you are outgoing, patient and good at building relationships over time, this path is often the most obvious.

§Purchasing assistant

As a purchasing assistant you work with the other end of trade: ensuring the company gets the right goods home at the right price at the right time. You plan and carry out purchases of goods for production or resale negotiate with suppliers evaluate offers against each other and keep a continuous eye on inventory levels so the company neither runs out of goods nor ties up unnecessary money in inventory.

§Logistics assistant

The Logistics Assistant delivers the services that create value for customers when goods need to move from A to B. It's about planning transport, coordinating with freight forwarders and hauliers, keeping track of delivery times and solving the problems that arise when a shipment is delayed or goes wrong in transit. If you have a knack for planning and overview, and can stay calm when a delivery causes trouble in the middle of the day, logistics assistant is a good fit for you.

§Digital trade B2B and B2B Manager

The two newest specializations reflect how much digital development has changed retail. Digital commerce B2B equips you to work with webshops digital sales channels and data analysis aimed at business customers — for example how a B2B webshop should be labeled with prices discounts and delivery terms to be both clear and legal. The B2B Manager track takes a broader approach and prepares you for a coordinating role across sales procurement and logistics often with a touch of project management and leadership closer at hand.

Regardless of which speciality you choose, you will in practice encounter several of these machine types during your career. Being able to navigate between them — and knowing when knowledge from one machine type can be transferred to another — is part of what makes an experienced mechanic valuable.