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Merchandise sales manager skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Adry S. Clark Ph.D.,

Andrea Dixon Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical merchandise sales manager skills. We ranked the top skills for merchandise sales managers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 20.3% of merchandise sales manager resumes contained customer service as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a merchandise sales manager needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 merchandise sales manager skills for your resume and career

1. Customer Service

Customer service is the process of offering assistance to all the current and potential customers -- answering questions, fixing problems, and providing excellent service. The main goal of customer service is to build a strong relationship with the customers so that they keep coming back for more business.

Here's how merchandise sales managers use customer service:

Develop enthusiastic, outgoing positive relationships with new and existing customers by offering superior customer service.
Managed customer service department supplying guidance as needed to ensure overall efficiency of the division.

2. Sales Floor

The sales floor is the area in a company or a business that is specified for retail activities or is designated as the selling area of the shop. A car showroom can be considered a sales floor, as it has cars in its display which are to be sold. A sales floor is generally crowded with sales assistants who are there to help you out while you can search and check out the products. Generally a sales floor has free access to the public and they can observe, view and get information about the product that is being sold.

Here's how merchandise sales managers use sales floor:

Attended buying shows and maintained good relations with vendors -Responsible for merchandising sales floor and creating promotional materials and events
Managed sales floor, helped customers with their purchases and loyalty with the company.

3. Sales Associates

Here's how merchandise sales managers use sales associates:

Developed numerous managers and sales associates into advanced roles.
Guided 10+ sales associates in all facets of store operations, from sales, equipment issues, store upkeep, etc.

4. Inventory Control

Here's how merchandise sales managers use inventory control:

Coordinated logistics with operations to include volume forecast, new product roll-out, and sales trends to assist with inventory control.
Reduced fulfillment house storage costs by 50% while reinforcing inventory control.

5. Increase Sales

Here's how merchandise sales managers use increase sales:

Increase sales and warranty revenues through strategic product assortment and diversification, internal and external advertising programs, retail price restructuring.
Utilized excellent communication skills to increase sales and build lasting relationships.

6. POS

POS is an abbreviation of "Point of Sale" which is the time and place where a customer completes a transaction. It can either be a physical shop that consists of POS terminals or a virtual shop. A POS system helps simplify the retail functions and track important sales data.

Here's how merchandise sales managers use pos:

Developed a weekly sales report to enable managers to better track sales and POS to goal and prior year.
Assisted customers with point of sale (POS) at the cash register.

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7. Product Knowledge

Product knowledge is the skill of having better information and knowledge about the product you are selling. Product knowledge is essential for the employees of the companies so they can communicate and inform the customers about the product. Having great product knowledge is essential for a better sales pitch and to give the customer a better and complete idea of the product that will influence him to buy the product eventually.

Here's how merchandise sales managers use product knowledge:

Provided job training including imparting product knowledge.
Developed a schedule for training new store associates, product knowledge classes, and assisted in special store related promotions.

8. Loss Prevention

The steps taken by a business to prevent theft is called loss prevention. There are multiple methods for loss prevention for example usage of automated cash handling, secure physical location, product security staff buy-in, and attentive customer service.

Here's how merchandise sales managers use loss prevention:

Trained and directed loss prevention processes accomplishing excellent shrink results.
Identify and address loss prevention issues to reduce shrink by 13% over last 6 month period.

9. Merchandise Sales

Here's how merchandise sales managers use merchandise sales:

Drive merchandise sales by ensuring proper placement/full displays.
Execute merchandise sales initiatives for current promotions rolling out new product and sales on a consistent basis.

10. Retail Sales

Retail sales are the method to track consumer demand for finished goods by assessing the purchases of durable and non-durable products over a definite period. Data on retail sales is accumulated monthly by the U.S. Bureau of the Census.

Here's how merchandise sales managers use retail sales:

Managed a staff of approximately 40 commissioned retail sales people
Established communications between wholesale (high volume) and retail sales staffs resulting in new sales strategies and new product implementation.

11. Inventory Management

Here's how merchandise sales managers use inventory management:

Established baselines for each location to ensure effective inventory management.
Adjusted labor in response to seasonal needs - Ensured proper stock levels through inventory management

12. Store Operations

Here's how merchandise sales managers use store operations:

Managed accurate store operations record keeping achieving near flawless audits.
Have in depth understanding of store operations, merchandising methodologies, and practices, including P&L and financial management.

13. Drive Sales

Here's how merchandise sales managers use drive sales:

Produced effective retail promotions that efficiently allocate promotion funds to drive sales and enhance profitability.
Coached and counseled booksellers to drive sales and deliver core service principles essential to the needs of the business.

14. Store Management

Here's how merchandise sales managers use store management:

Reduced out-of-stock items at retailers more than 30% through creation of toolkit for store management to manage private-label stock.
Appointed to conduct sales management training; 100% of students graduated and were promoted into store management positions.

15. Trade Shows

Here's how merchandise sales managers use trade shows:

Represented the company for customer meetings held abroad & at the trade shows.
Attended trade shows seasonally, predicted trends and sales figures for each season.

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What skills help Merchandise Sales Managers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on merchandise sales manager resumes?

Adry S. Clark Ph.D.

Director, Western Oregon University

The skills that stand out on resumes fall into two categories: 1) Skills required to do the job and 2) Skills almost all employers look for. The most important aspect of resumes is to make sure it reflects exactly what the employer needs. Study the job description, identify key skills, and have them reflected on your resume. Think about transferrable skills, not the specific roles you've had.

Most employers look for skills such as communication (written/oral), flexibility, proactivity, problem-solving, project management, and technical. Make sure to cultivate those skills in whatever role you have, and have examples that demonstrate those skills.

What soft skills should all merchandise sales managers possess?

Andrea Dixon Ph.D.

Executive Director, Center for Professional Selling, Frank and Floy Smith Holloway Endowed Professorship in Marketing, President, University Sales Center Alliance 2019-2021, Baylor University

Since sales professionals have a lot of information available to them today via customer relationship management (CRM) systems, the sales manager's "supervisory" role is less important (especially for experienced sellers). Consequently, the sales manager needs to be more of a coach and enabler of high performance. Having confidence balanced with humility allows the sales manager to engage more effectively with their salespeople.
One of the critical soft skills for sales managers going forward will be the ability to connect members of the sales team to others in the organization - in other words, the sales manager of the future needs to have strong skills in network building for others. Sellers have access to data which helps them build success.
They also need access to the right people to turn to when they need specific expertise or assistance.

What hard/technical skills are most important for merchandise sales managers?

Andrea Dixon Ph.D.

Executive Director, Center for Professional Selling, Frank and Floy Smith Holloway Endowed Professorship in Marketing, President, University Sales Center Alliance 2019-2021, Baylor University

One of the growing technical skill requirements for sales managers is in the area of data analytics. Our performance and customer systems provide a myriad of data, and the role of the sales manager is to be a sense-maker of that mound of data. What are the implications for changes in strategy or behavior evident in last quarter's activity? How can the sales manager help a specific seller "see" where the data suggest new approaches?

What merchandise sales manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Kerri Orders

Assistant Professor of Business, Aquinas College

In terms of a gap year, I recommend that international business students acquire tangible skills, relevant experience and/or certifications which will enhance their success in their desired area of interest. For example, a gap year could consist of gaining technical or digital training overseas, which would also further the students' cultural intelligence and language proficiency. These types of enriching gap year experiences will assist students to distinguish themselves in a highly competitive market. Furthermore, students should focus on broadening and maintaining their global network during a gap year in order to be ready for the job market once the gap year is concluded.

What type of skills will young merchandise sales managers need?

Michael Mikitka

Executive Vice President, MHI – Material Handling Industry

Courses and internships are essential. While the required depth of knowledge may vary from one position to another, employers are generally looking for candidates with strong "people-related" skills, those who are willing to continue to learn, and those with the ability to be flexible and adapt.

By "people-related" skills, I mean the abilities associated with effective communication (listen and express ideas and direction) and the skills related to working independently and a team.

As for the interest to continually learn... from a technology, data, and equipment perspective, today's supply chain looks very different than it did 10-years ago. The willingness and ability to continually learn are essential for anyone in a leadership role.

As for flexibility and adapting...supply chain/logistics is as much about responding to disruption and demand as it is planning for it. There is a predictable demand (i.e., seasonal...everyone knows when back-to-school shopping begins). Then there is the unpredictable demand (i.e., power-outages, wildfires, pandemic) that impact market and the ability to operate. Candidates that express flexibility and problem-solving skills will be much sought-after.

What technical skills for a merchandise sales manager stand out to employers?

Dr. John Leylegian Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Chair, Mechanical Engineering, Manhattan College

I think almost any graduate will finish school with the same skill set in terms of technical knowledge. What can stand out is an ability to code and use various professional-grade software packages - the actual programming languages and software packages are secondary. If you can code in VBA, moving to Matlab or Python is not a big deal - it's just a matter of syntax. If you can use one CFD code or one FEA code, others will be much easier to learn. The foundation will be attractive to employers. Of course, the non-technical skills are SO important as well, most notably communication (speaking and writing).

Do you want to know more?

List of merchandise sales manager skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a merchandise sales manager resume and required skills for a merchandise sales manager to have include:

Customer Service
Sales Floor
Sales Associates
Inventory Control
Increase Sales
POS
Product Knowledge
Loss Prevention
Merchandise Sales
Retail Sales
Inventory Management
Store Operations
Drive Sales
Store Management
Trade Shows
Store Sales

Market Trends
Customer Complaints
Retail Store
Sales Strategies
Visual Presentation
Gross Profit
Customer Relations
Direct Reports
Jewelry
Product Line
Staff Training
Sales Volume
Sales Performance
Sales Growth
Depot
Sales Techniques

Store Displays
Store Events
Pricing Strategy
Bank Deposits
Product Development
Customer Issues
Sales Plan
Product Placement
Customer Inquiries
Retail Locations
Merchandise Presentation
Conference Calls
Window Displays
Scotts

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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