Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between junior product managers and merchandising managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 8-10 years to become both a junior product manager and a merchandising manager. Additionally, a merchandising manager has an average salary of $86,346, which is higher than the $83,812 average annual salary of a junior product manager.
The top three skills for a junior product manager include project management, user stories and cloud. The most important skills for a merchandising manager are sales floor, POS, and apparel.
| Junior Product Manager | Merchandising Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $83,812 | $86,346 |
| Hourly rate | $40.29 | $41.51 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 95,173 | 268,577 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 10 | 10 |
The junior product manager collaborates with the company's product team in defining the product vision. Junior product managers set the objectives and fundamental results. They build a certain strategic product roadmap which suits the overall strategy of the business. It is part of their job to coordinate activities to market the product. This bridges the gaps between organizational functions and aligns all the teams, including sales, customer support, and marketing.
A merchandising manager is responsible for supervising stock inventories, retail pricing, and managing product displays by analyzing customer preferences through researching the current market trends that would improve the store's sales condition and achieve profitability goals. Merchandising managers negotiate with reliable third-party vendors, minimizing costs without compromising the quality of the products. They also assist with planning floor layouts for store visuals that would attract customers and marketing promotional offers and special discounts to increase more revenues.
Junior product managers and merchandising managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Junior Product Manager | Merchandising Manager | |
| Average salary | $83,812 | $86,346 |
| Salary range | Between $51,000 And $136,000 | Between $64,000 And $116,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Woonsocket, RI |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Rhode Island |
| Best paying company | Broadridge | Roku |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Retail |
There are a few differences between a junior product manager and a merchandising manager in terms of educational background:
| Junior Product Manager | Merchandising Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Georgia | University of Georgia |
Here are the differences between junior product managers' and merchandising managers' demographics:
| Junior Product Manager | Merchandising Manager | |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 43.7% Female, 56.3% | Male, 47.7% Female, 52.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 10% |