How To Become A Merchandise Sales Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a merchandise sales manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Bill Thorne

The average merchandise sales manager salary is $52,766. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an business major. It usually takes 6-8 years of experience to become a merchandise sales manager. Merchandise sales managers with a Certified Sales Professional (CSP) certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 23,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a merchandise sales manager?

Bill Thorne

Executive Director of the NRF Foundation and Senior Vice President of Communication and Public Affairs of NRF, National Retail Federation

Retail is the largest private-sector employer in the country, directly employing 32 million people and supporting 52 million jobs overall - roughly one-quarter of the U.S. workforce. While COVID-19 has presented new and unexpected challenges, retailers have continued to showcase the industry's resilience and adaptability time and again. The safety and security of customers and employees remains our greatest priority. It is no doubt that the professional environment has changed this year, but retail continues to offer a plethora of career opportunities for graduates and seasoned veterans alike.

ScoreMerchandise Sales ManagerUS Average

Salary

4.1

Avg. Salary $52,766

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.4

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.24%

Asian 4.07%

Black or African American 3.24%

Hispanic or Latino 9.82%

Unknown 4.41%

White 78.23%

Gender

female 46.80%

male 53.20%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress level

6.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a merchandise sales manager

Explore merchandise sales manager education requirements

Most common merchandise sales manager degrees

Bachelor's

63.7 %

Associate

20.1 %

High School Diploma

9.1 %

Start to develop specific merchandise sales manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	20.30%
Sales Floor	14.71%
Sales Associates	3.99%
Inventory Control	3.89%
Increase Sales	3.63%

Complete relevant merchandise sales manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New merchandise sales managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a merchandise sales manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real merchandise sales manager resumes.

Research merchandise sales manager duties and responsibilities

Prospect and cold-cal commercial locations, building relationships with distributors and manufacturer representatives to leverage internal leads.
Develop a weekly sales report to enable managers to better track sales and POS to goal and prior year.
Represent a complete line of paper and janitorial supplies to wholesale distributors, service established accounts and develop new business partners.
Increase ROI by narrowing focus on strategic accounts, markets & doors.

Prepare your merchandise sales manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your merchandise sales manager resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a merchandise sales manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable merchandise sales manager resume templates

Build a professional merchandise sales manager resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your merchandise sales manager resume.