售货员(shòu huò yuán) - shop assistant in Mandarin

售货员 (shòuhuòyuán) is a "shop assistant" or "sales clerk". 售 (shòu) means "to sell", 货 (huò) means "goods, merchandise", and 员 (yuán), the same suffix as in 服务员 (fúwùyuán), "waiter", marks a member of staff in a particular role.

The word is used for anyone serving behind a counter, whether in a small corner shop or a big department store, and pairs naturally with 顾客 (gùkè), "customer": a transaction in Chinese is typically described from the 售货员 (shòuhuòyuán) side as 卖 (mài), "to sell", and from the customer's side as 买 (mǎi), "to buy".

In everyday speech, especially in supermarkets, 服务员 (fúwùyuán) sometimes gets used loosely as a catch-all for any member of staff, but 售货员 (shòuhuòyuán) is the precise word for retail sales staff, as opposed to waiting staff in a restaurant.