Skip to content Skip to main navigation Report an accessibility issue
Rocky top students sitting at bleachers

Retail and Consumer Sciences

The major in retail and consumer sciences provides you with a thorough knowledge of the retailing industry, complemented by business principles and theories related to providing goods and services to consumers.

Through a combination of classroom instruction and field-based experience, students prepare for entry-level positions in diverse occupations and for advanced education. You could begin your career as a retail manager, assistant buyer, planner, allocator, product development manager, or sales representative for a manufacturer or service company. Your options are plentiful with good starting salaries and rapid advancement.

The Retail and Consumer Science program is one of the largest of its type in the Southeast. Retailing is one of the fastest-growing segments of our economy, and opportunities for employment will continue to be excellent through the twenty-first century.

Why should you join our major in Retail and Consumer Sciences?

To view the classes offered in the Retail and Consumer Science, please visit this link: RCS Course Descriptions


In addition to the required coursework, the retail and consumer sciences major focuses on learning through industry-related work experience and a required internship. A student must complete 300 hours of postsecondary-work experience in retailing before their junior year. In the summer between the junior and senior year, a required internship is completed along with a 6-hour-credit online course. The purpose of which is to gain valuable skills to help the graduate be more marketable to employers. Some students are offered permanent positions with their internship companies.

The department offers international and domestic study tours that combine industry and cultural visits. A New York fashion market trip is scheduled each spring and a biannual trip overseas is taken during miniterm.

Another opportunity for study abroad is an exchange program with Stenden University in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. Students can fulfill degree requirements during a spring semester through the Study Abroad Office for a tuition cost equivalent to attending UT.

 

Minor in Retail and Consumer Sciences
Required Courses

The minor consists of 15 hours.

Retail and Consumer Sciences (6 hours credit)

  • 210 Introduction to Retail Management
  • 341 Family and Consumer Behavior

Select three of the following:
Retail and Consumer Sciences (9 hours credit)

  • 310 Retail Buying
  • 346 Retail Operations Management
  • 376 Strategies for Growth
  • 412 Direct Retail Methods
  • 415 Retail Promotion
  • 421 International Retail Environments
  • 484 International Retail Industry Study Tour


Retail Technology Minor
Required Courses

The minor consists of 16 credits hours.

Complete:

  • RCS 210 Introduction to Retail Management
  • RCS 310 Retail Buying and Merchandising
  • RCS 376 Customer Relationship Management and Retail Analytics
  • RCS 425 Retail Category Management
  • RCS 435 Retail Planning and Allocation


The flagship campus of the University of Tennessee System and partner in the Tennessee Transfer Pathway.