Community Pharmacy Sales Assistant

A Community Pharmacy Sales Assistant works in a retail community pharmacy setting, assisting customers to locate and purchase over-the-counter medications, health supplements, and pharmacy-related products. Under the supervision of a registered pharmacist, they process sales transactions, manage stock, and provide basic health product information to customers while adhering to therapeutic goods and pharmacy legislation.

Locate and retrieve over-the-counter medications, supplements, and health products from shelves and storage areas in response to customer requests. Process customer purchases using point-of-sale systems and accept payment by cash, card, or other methods. Stock shelves with pharmaceutical and health products, rotating inventory to manage expiry dates in compliance with therapeutic goods storage standards. Provide customers with basic product information such as uses, dosage guidance, and ingredient lists for non-prescription items. Refer customers with complex health questions or requests for prescription medicines to the supervising pharmacist. Maintain compliance with Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) requirements for storage and labelling of over-the-counter medicines. Operate inventory management systems to track stock levels and identify low-stock items for reordering. Clean and tidy the pharmacy retail area, dispensary workspace, and customer service counter according to health and safety standards.

The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate II or III (ABS skill level 4). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.

The pay stays low because you're doing routine shelf-stocking and till work, not dispensing or advising like a pharmacist. You'll hit a ceiling quickly without moving into pharmacy technician training or management. Retail hours mean Saturdays, school holidays, and sometimes early starts. Customer complaints about health issues you can't solve get emotionally draining.

Regional and rural areas have fewer positions. Reality is that suburban and regional towns usually have only 1-3 pharmacies compared to dozens in a city. Remote work is not an option.

Published for ANZSCO unit group 6214, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.

This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.

Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

• Active Listeningcore
• Attention to Detailcore
• Carry out active sellingcore
• Carry out order intakecore
• Characteristics of productscore
• Characteristics of servicescore
• Communicate with customerscore
• Complaint Handlingcore
• Confidentiality and Privacy Compliancecore
• Customer Needs Assessmentcore
• Data Entry and Accuracycore
• Demonstrate products' featurescore
• Empathy and Emotional Intelligencecore
• Ensure compliance with legal requirementscore
• Examine merchandisecore
• Guarantee customer satisfactioncore
• Health Terminology Literacycore
• HICAPS and Medicare Claiming Systemscore
• Identify customer's needscore
• Inventory Trackingcore
• Multitaskingcore
• Organise storage facilitiescore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Process paymentscore
• Regulatory and Legislative Awarenesscore
• Upselling and Cross-Sellingcore
• Verbal Communicationcore
• Adaptability and Flexibility
• Apply numeracy skills
• Basic Arithmetic and Numerical Accuracy
• Continuous Learning and Upskilling
• Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity
• Have computer literacy
• Provide customer follow-up services
• Service Navigation and Referral
• Stock Counting and Stocktake
• Team Collaboration
• Teamwork principles
• Telephone Etiquette
• Use different communication channels

• ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
• ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
• ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.

Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.

Where our numbers come from.

What Community Pharmacy Sales Assistant workers move into, from ten years of tax records.

Last updated: 30 October 2026