Pros
Like with all retail, if you've got a good manager, life is swell. Also, like with all retail, anyone higher than your manager is a tool. I had a phenomenal boss (seriously, this guy actually came back to work, after having clocked out four hours previously, just to give me a ride home when my mom went to the hospital) who was astoundingly knowledgeable, and listening to him talk may as well have been a college lecture on the subject. If you know how to manipulate the commissions system, you can make quite a bit of money, that's really the only benefit compared to other retail positions. Well, that, and a 30% discount.
Cons
You have less rights than the customers. Don't like a product you purchased? Oh well! Returning it could mean a visit from Loss Prevention, just in case. Good job, you're selling 87% GNC products... but you're not selling any premium products and you know the company's goal is to make sure all of our customers get the PREMIUM products. Hey, it's not our fault you work in a mall and your "regulars" come in solely for energy shots, protein bars, and RTDs, nor is it our fault that your other regulars are lactose-intolerant and can't enjoy our PREMIUM whey protein without dying. When they're in the store, they're yours, Mister Associate. Absolutely no reward for doing well in the company's eyes. If you meet and exceed every sales goal set by even triple (as I've done many times), even if you're in the top 10% of the region as a salesman (as I've done many times), the other employee who's coasting by on minimum numbers, but selling commission items (yeah, you don't make commission on those premium items, only on third-party swag), makes more moolah than you.