When former marketing executive Lim Su-Lin, 47, applied to be a cashier at Decathlon in 2016, she expected to serve customers behind a counter, ringing up their purchases.

But her role expanded after she attended the company's training programmes and picked up skills such as digital marketing, Web merchandising and improving customer experience.

Ms Lim said she did not expect to find a second career at her age.

"I feel young again. I never expected to contribute so much to the store. When I signed up, I expected to just do cashier duties," she said.

Workforce Singapore (WSG) launched a programme yesterday that helps workers in the retail industry like Ms Lim take on jobs in the digital economy.

WSG will work with retailers to customise training plans, which can comprise a mix of classroom and on-the-job training. The agency will pay up to 70 per cent of the employee's salary when he is undergoing training.

Ms Lim, a former associate director of marketing at a multinational company, left the workforce for 12 years because of health reasons and to take care of her son.

She decided to apply for the job at Decathlon after visiting one of its stores with her son to look for sports equipment. She said her son is now older and more independent, which frees up her time.

Her role expanded to include answering online queries, analysing membership recruitment data and using data from customers' buying habits to drive sales. She is also in charge of membership acquisitions for Decathlon in Singapore.

Ms Lim said she was initially apprehensive about applying for a job for fear of being rejected, and sat on her application for two months before she sent it.

She is glad she eventually did so because she feels empowered at her new job. "The training wasn't difficult but overcoming my fear to pick up something new was," she said.