Highly competitive environment - Sales Associate Nordstrom Employee Review

1.0
Jul 13, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- No hard physical labor - Lots of time for talking with colleges - The salary can be good, around certain times a year (Christmas etc) - The store looks nice and clean, always - 1 Hour lunch break - Great benefits -Open door policy

Cons

- The job is commission based, if you don't make more then 9.00 an hour after commission the 9.00 an hour is what you'll get ( you'll get fired if that happens a few times) - Commission based working can make some woman VERY sharky, they steal sales and there's a lot of gossiping going on. - In my department there were 30-40% returns this gets TAKEN OUT of your pay check up to a year. - This makes the salary average very low, paychecks of 600 per 2 weeks aren't abnormal. - A lot of pressure from up top to sell, but hey, you try selling $2.000 items in this economy. - A lot of pressure from customers who are spoiled with the Nordstrom 'Return Policy' (As in: There is NONE) and have attitudes. - Getting returns from people who've obviously worn something for the whole summer, just because they can, without receipt, without tags etc. - Standing around being bored if it's not busy, which it usually isn't. - Constantly having to compete with other employee's because they often plan in 3 people on a boring monday morning. - The whole 'nordy nordy nordy' culture at Nordstrom is very preppy: The 'higher up' girls are ALL very pretty, well spoken and 'confident', which says a lot about their promotion system. - If you want to get promoted you have to fit within this culture, which also means you will have to buy the (very) expensive clothing that Nordstrom sells, wear certain brands, etc. - Promotion to Department Manager is based on how well you sell (Sales Per Hour, have to fit in category 4, the highest category, which means you have to sell at least around 300 an hour, depending on the month) not on skills like communication, leadership skills etc. If you sell well, and are friends with the store manager you're good to go.

Explore other reviews about Nordstrom

5.0
Nov 17, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Overall great retail experience. No major complaints.

Cons

No cons to think of at this time.

2.0
Jun 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Decent base pay, somewhat autonomous, great tip potential.

Cons

The company has changed for the worse since COVID. When I came back the mood of the entire store had shifted. Gone were the days of comradery, customer focus, and taking pride in a job well done. In its place there is a new culture of cutthroat sales, a severe decline in customer focus, and worst of all a new focus on profit over customer satisfaction. When I was told that the amount the store charged for a shoe shine was not enough to do the best job I could for a customer I knew things had gone downhill for the company. Not to mention I watch a manager prey on a mentally disabled person in order to secure a sale, when the person could not understand what was being offered. Sad that such a once great company is now just another greed ridden corporation.

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