Copilot Training NZ, home

10.4% of Wellington employees work in retail

Copilot training for Wellington retail office teams

Use Microsoft applications to make retail information easier to check and share. Build a reviewed workflow from the trading workbook to the store briefing.

EnquireWhere Copilot helps
Illustration generated with AI.
Employees in retail
29,305Wellington, February 2025
Share of Wellington employees
10.4%16 of 16 regions
Share across New Zealand
14.3%all regions, February 2025
Location quotient
0.73×less concentrated than nationally

Retail in Wellington

Head-office information reaches customers through buyers, administrators and shop staff. A useful AI session tests that whole path with fictional records and a clear approval owner. TheColab provides in-person training at your retail workplace, helping people use the capabilities available in their accounts and keep the source information visible throughout the task.

Retail activity differs across the region: Moore Wilson's lists locations from Wellington City to Masterton, and Coastlands has a retail directory in Paraparaumu.3,4 Use that variety to choose a suitable generic scenario, such as a wholesale product update or a shop campaign, rather than copying a city-centre example into every store.

Paid employees in retail went from 30,280 in February 2020 to 29,305 in February 2025 (−3.2%).

Share of paid employees in retail, by region

Share of employees in retail by region, Wellington highlighted
RegionChartShareNZ×
Auckland 16.6% 14.3% 1.2×
Canterbury 14.9% 14.3% 1.0×
Tasman 14.7% 14.3% 1.0×
Nelson 14.7% 14.3% 1.0×
Northland 14.1% 14.3% 1.0×
Manawatū-Whanganui 14.0% 14.3% 1.0×
Bay of Plenty 13.5% 14.3% 0.9×
Waikato 13.2% 14.3% 0.9×
Otago 13.1% 14.3% 0.9×
Southland 13.1% 14.3% 0.9×
Hawke's Bay 13.0% 14.3% 0.9×
Marlborough 12.0% 14.3% 0.8×
West Coast 12.0% 14.3% 0.8×
Taranaki 11.6% 14.3% 0.8×
Gisborne 10.6% 14.3% 0.7×
Wellington (this page) 10.4% 14.3% 0.7×

Paid employees at business locations in the region, February 2025. The tick marks the national share. × is the regional share divided by the national share.

Source: Stats NZ, Business Demography Statistics, February 2020 and 2025.

What retail covers in Wellington

Divisions in retail, Wellington
DivisionChartEmployeesShareNZ×
Wholesale 7,708 2.7% 5.0% 0.6×
Retail 21,597 7.7% 9.3% 0.8×

ANZSIC06 divisions in this industry group: share of the region's paid employees, against New Zealand.

Source: Stats NZ, Business Demography Statistics, February 2020 and 2025.

Local context

  • The supplied 2025 regional Stats NZ aggregation reports 7,708 Wholesale Trade employees alongside the separate Retail Trade category of 21,597 employees.1 WellingtonNZ's city programme supports retail capability, while Jackson Street Programme describes Petone shops adapting to online trade.2,5 These local differences help determine which office task is worth practising.1,2,5

Organisations are named for local context only. No relationship with them is implied.

Towns in Wellington

Each town page has its own figures and local brief.

Or see Microsoft Copilot training across Wellington.

Where Copilot helps retail teams

  • Inspect a trading workbook

    In Excel, ask Copilot to explain a margin formula or explore stock movement in a fictional table. Available spreadsheet assistance depends on the work account.7 The buyer checks returns, tax treatment and pack sizes against the source columns before using a finding. Keep an untouched export for comparison when the working file changes.

    • Retail analyst or buyer
    • Excel

  • Prepare supplier correspondence

    Use Outlook to draft questions about a revised product sheet or incomplete delivery details. Copilot's inbox features are described in Microsoft's app guidance.7 Compare the proposed reply with the original thread, including any changed terms. The purchasing lead should approve commitments and remove details that the supplier has not actually confirmed.

    • Wholesale supply administrator
    • Outlook

  • Write a store briefing from an approved offer

    Ask Word to turn reviewed campaign information into a staff briefing with clear conditions and escalation contacts. Copilot supports document drafting and editing.7 Have a store supervisor explain the draft back to the owner. Correct any wording that could lead staff to promise an excluded item or unavailable product.

    • Retail operations coordinator
    • Word

  • Track decisions in a buying discussion

    During a Teams meeting, ask for proposed orders, agreed actions and questions still awaiting supplier evidence. Teams offers live assistance, with transcription arrangements affecting later access.8 Check the notes while buyers are present. Record an unresolved proposal as a question instead of allowing the recap to become purchase approval.

    • Buying team chair
    • Teams

  • Build a staff-reference agent

    Prototype a Copilot Studio agent for approved internal product sheets and store procedures in SharePoint. Microsoft's documented knowledge integration follows user permissions.9 Test conflicting versions and unsupported product questions. Give staff a route to the product owner when the registered sources cannot answer, and keep customer complaints outside the knowledge set.

    • Product information owner
    • Copilot Studio

Carry a product update from supplier to store

  1. Identify the supplier-approved reference sheet and confirm the product codes it covers.
  2. Draft an internal Word briefing that lists changed facts separately from unanswered questions.
  3. Let the buyer verify the changes and the store supervisor test the instructions.
  4. Release the corrected briefing through the normal store channel and retire its earlier version.

Courses

  1. 1Introductory

    Microsoft Copilot foundations

    A first hands-on session on Copilot Chat and Copilot in Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

  2. 2Advanced

    Copilot Studio agents and advanced Excel

    Build and test a Copilot Studio agent for one internal process, and go further with Copilot in Excel.

  3. 3Organisation

    Copilot rollout and readiness

    Prepare the tenant, choose a pilot, and measure whether people use Copilot well.

Retail in other regions

Other industries in Wellington

See Microsoft Copilot for retail and wholesale across New Zealand, or all training in Wellington.

Retail in Wellington: questions

Can buyers work from existing Excel reports?

Choose a clearly structured demonstration copy and define the calculations first. Inspect the source cells behind a response before applying it to ordering or promotional decisions.

Will our staff-reference agent reveal buying terms?

Scope its sources and test access with the intended staff accounts. SharePoint-backed Studio answers respect user permissions, so existing oversharing still needs to be addressed.9

What should we check before buying more licences?

Inspect available app features in the current work accounts.7 Then identify a recurring task, its reviewer and the evidence needed to judge whether a pilot is useful.

Can shop supervisors join the office team?

Include them when the exercise ends in a store instruction. They can test whether the briefing answers customer questions and whether the escalation contact is clear.

Do you travel beyond the CBD?

TheColab delivers at retail and wholesale workplaces throughout the Wellington region. Public workshop days offer another way for individual staff to develop application confidence.

Train your retail team in Wellington

  1. ScopeHeadcount, sites, Microsoft 365 plan and licences, and the teams you want to start with.
  2. PlanWe propose a course, a pilot group and a format, and agree the files and meetings to use.
  3. TrainOn-site or over Teams, in Outlook, Word, Excel and Teams, with your own work.
  • In person
  • Remote
  • Half-day workshop
  • Full-day workshop
  • Team rollout

Independent training by TheColab. Not affiliated with Microsoft.

Enquire

Tell us about your team in Wellington. We reply by email with a suggested course and format.

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Sources

Written 6 October 2026. Employment figures come from Stats NZ Business Demography Statistics.