Bridging the retail skills gap: South Africa's strategic move
Long treated as an entry-level gateway rather than a professional career, the industry is now confronting the reality that its future competitiveness depends on a skilled, credentialed workforce capable of keeping pace with technological disruption and changing consumer behaviour.
From fallback to foundation
For decades, retail has been a fallback option rather than a destination. Yet this is the sector that employs almost one in five South Africans and contributes significantly to GDP.
Behind these impressive numbers, however, lies a stark gap: more than three-quarters of the customer-facing workforce have no formal or transferable retail qualifications.
The result has been chronic skills shortages, uneven service delivery, high staff turnover, and a growing vulnerability to disruption.
“Scale without skills is fragile”
Nazim Cassim, founding member of the Retail Institute of South Africa, says: “Retail has always been treated as something you fall into, not something you grow in. That’s a dangerous illusion for a sector this important. The scale of this industry is extraordinary, but scale without skills is fragile. We must build real ladders of professional progression, otherwise we will fall behind faster than we think.”
Building a professional pathway
The drive to professionalise the sector is anchored in a new collaborative framework with Regenesys Corporate Education that links accredited qualifications to verifiable professional designations and real workplace application.
The intention is not simply to train more workers but to create a structured pathway that allows someone starting on the shop floor to progress all the way to senior leadership.
This approach brings consistency, recognition and measurable standards to a sector that has grown rapidly but informally. It is a deliberate attempt to shift retail from a job into a profession.
Inclusion beyond big retail
This transformation is designed to reach deep into both the formal and informal economies. While major retail chains have training capacity, smaller and independent operators have often been excluded from structured upskilling.
That exclusion has widened the gap between those able to compete in a digital, data-driven economy and those left vulnerable to change.
By designing learning pathways that are modular, stackable, and affordable, the new framework aims to extend access to township traders, spaza shop owners and unemployed youth.
A planned bursary scheme will help create pathways into formal employment, bringing new entrants into the economy with portable skills and recognised qualifications.
Ladders for everyone
“We have to create ladders that work for everyone, not just the big players,” Cassim says. “If we don’t professionalise the full value chain, we entrench inequality and limit growth. Retail has the potential to be a powerful economic mobility engine, but only if we take skills seriously.”
Preparing for the future of retail
A key pillar of this shift is future readiness. Artificial intelligence, automation, robotics and data analytics are already reshaping the retail landscape, from smart trolleys to predictive logistics.
The pace of change is relentless, and those without digital fluency will be left behind.
Nishen Munnisunker, CEO of Corporate Education at Regenesys, says: “Retail is changing fast, and we cannot afford to leave people behind. This is about relevance and resilience. We need to give people the tools to thrive in a future where technology and human capability work together. That’s how we protect jobs and grow the sector.”
A sector-wide call to action
The call now is for the entire ecosystem to act. Large retailers are being urged to integrate professional designations into their talent strategies. Informal traders must be supported to plug into the same pathways.
Government and funders are needed to help scale the bursary and outreach programmes that will make the transformation meaningful.
And retail workers themselves must seize the opportunity to claim their place in a recognised profession.
From fallback to profession
This is a strategic bet on the future of one of South Africa’s most important industries.
“If we get this right, ‘Certified Retail Professional’ will become a respected credential in this country,” says Munnisunker.
“That single shift — from fallback to profession — could change the trajectory of an entire sector.”