Merchandising director vs group director

The differences between merchandising directors and group directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 8-10 years to become both a merchandising director and a group director. Additionally, a group director has an average salary of $149,193, which is higher than the $145,282 average annual salary of a merchandising director.

The top three skills for a merchandising director include apparel, gross margin and direct reports. The most important skills for a group director are oversight, healthcare, and project management.

Merchandising director vs group director overview

	Merchandising Director	Group Director
Yearly salary	$145,282	$149,193
Hourly rate	$69.85	$71.73
Growth rate	10%	10%
Number of jobs	81,434	89,420
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age	39	39
Years of experience	10	10

What does a merchandising director do?

A merchandising director is in charge of spearheading and streamlining merchandising strategies, including promotion and branding. Using their expertise and experience, they conceptualize plans with fellow directors and managers, perform extensive research and analysis, gather and analyze data, set goals and guidelines, establish budgets and schedules, and build positive relationships with external business partners. Moreover, as a merchandising director, they must lead and encourage the workforce to reach goals while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

What does a group director do?

A group director is responsible for monitoring the operations of a specific team in an organization, ensuring that the group meets daily targets, providing the highest customer satisfaction for the company's services. Group directors work with senior management to identify business opportunities that would bring more revenues and increase the company's profitability. They also handle the department's budgets, allocating adequate resources for every team to support project deliverables. A group director must have excellent communication and leadership skills, analyzing business functions, and developing strategic ways to increase productivity.

Merchandising director vs group director salary

Merchandising directors and group directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Merchandising Director	Group Director
Average salary	$145,282	$149,193
Salary range	Between $103,000 And $203,000	Between $99,000 And $224,000
Highest paying City	Seattle, WA	Newark, NJ
Highest paying state	Nevada	New Jersey
Best paying company	Coty	Apple
Best paying industry	-	Finance

Differences between merchandising director and group director education

There are a few differences between a merchandising director and a group director in terms of educational background:

	Merchandising Director	Group Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Georgia	University of Georgia

Merchandising director vs group director demographics

Here are the differences between merchandising directors' and group directors' demographics:

	Merchandising Director	Group Director
Average age	39	39
Gender ratio	Male, 53.9% Female, 46.1%	Male, 64.6% Female, 35.4%
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%

Differences between merchandising director and group director duties and responsibilities

Merchandising director example responsibilities.

Manage and train associates on shop operations including customer service standards, checking in merchandise, operating QuickBooks POS.
Lead website development committee, including RFP development, ROI analysis, marketing, brand-enhancement strategies, and back-end integration solutions.
Input all merchandise information in to AS400.
Identify, negotiate, purchase and implement new POS software systems.
Develop comprehensive marketing plan including print and digital, utilizing negotiate funding to support events and driving additional revenue and margin.
Set annual and semi-annual ROI, sales, margin, and turn goals for all divisions in the company.

Group director example responsibilities.

Manage business relate responsibilities such as employee relations, scheduling, payroll, and general center operations.
Manage treasury and wire transfer/electronic payments operations.
Manage the production operational readiness group and provide oversight for all delivery projects for the company.
Manage and monitor rehabilitation departments to ensure productivity thresholds are met and appropriate Medicare billing criteria document.
Create a Medicaid regulation requirements tracking grid for operational leads and underwriting to reference while drafting responses for new business proposals.
Manage inter-relationships between diverse work groups in the brewing, packaging and distribution departments relating to internal logistics and production scheduling.

Merchandising director vs group director skills

Common merchandising director skills

Apparel, 9%
Gross Margin, 8%
Direct Reports, 5%
Product Development, 5%
Product Categories, 4%
Merchandise Sales, 4%

Common group director skills

Oversight, 12%
Healthcare, 10%
Project Management, 9%
Direct Reports, 7%
Digital Marketing, 5%
Process Improvement, 4%

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Executive Management Industry
Merchandising Director
Merchandising Director vs Group Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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