Merchandise sales manager vs outside sales manager

The differences between merchandise sales managers and outside sales managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both a merchandise sales manager and an outside sales manager. Additionally, an outside sales manager has an average salary of $84,408, which is higher than the $52,766 average annual salary of a merchandise sales manager.

The top three skills for a merchandise sales manager include customer service, sales floor and sales associates. The most important skills for an outside sales manager are product knowledge, CRM, and customer service.

Merchandise sales manager vs outside sales manager overview

	Merchandise Sales Manager	Outside Sales Manager
Yearly salary	$52,766	$84,408
Hourly rate	$25.37	$40.58
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	111,810	138,054
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 63%
Average age	46	46
Years of experience	8	8

Merchandise sales manager vs outside sales manager salary

Merchandise sales managers and outside sales managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Merchandise Sales Manager	Outside Sales Manager
Average salary	$52,766	$84,408
Salary range	Between $34,000 And $79,000	Between $51,000 And $138,000
Highest paying City	-	Albany, NY
Highest paying state	-	Hawaii
Best paying company	-	Dominion Enterprises
Best paying industry	-	Finance

Differences between merchandise sales manager and outside sales manager education

There are a few differences between a merchandise sales manager and an outside sales manager in terms of educational background:

	Merchandise Sales Manager	Outside Sales Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 63%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of Southern California

Merchandise sales manager vs outside sales manager demographics

Here are the differences between merchandise sales managers' and outside sales managers' demographics:

	Merchandise Sales Manager	Outside Sales Manager
Average age	46	46
Gender ratio	Male, 53.2% Female, 46.8%	Male, 79.1% Female, 20.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 4.1% White, 78.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 4.1% White, 78.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between merchandise sales manager and outside sales manager duties and responsibilities

Merchandise sales manager example 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.
Create marketing content for pages and promotional initiatives, newsletter design and implementation, create designed and produce PowerPoint presentations.

Outside sales manager example responsibilities.

Manage a team of sales executives to establish and maintain professional relationships with healthcare professionals in their prospective territories.
Develop a complete marketing program where none previously exist, now serves as CRM base for company.
Used CRM tools in order to provide current and detail information relate to activities, opportunity pipeline, and close business.
Channele marketing through the establishment of international distributors servicing Mexico (Hermosillo, Mexicali, and Tijuana) and Korea.
Plan and schedule work perform by HVAC technicians.
Educate and present new approach to facility managers and plant managers including ROI analysis.

Merchandise sales manager vs outside sales manager skills

Common merchandise sales manager skills

Customer Service, 20%
Sales Floor, 15%
Sales Associates, 4%
Inventory Control, 4%
Increase Sales, 4%
POS, 3%

Common outside sales manager skills

Product Knowledge, 12%
CRM, 10%
Customer Service, 10%
Sales Territory, 7%
Sales Strategies, 4%
Sales Growth, 3%

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Merchandise Sales Manager
Merchandise Sales Manager vs Outside Sales Manager

Updated January 8, 2025

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