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The differences between merchandising directors 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 merchandising director and a merchandising manager. Additionally, a merchandising director has an average salary of $145,282, which is higher than the $86,346 average annual salary of a merchandising manager.
The top three skills for a merchandising director include apparel, gross margin and direct reports. The most important skills for a merchandising manager are sales floor, POS, and apparel.
| Merchandising Director | Merchandising Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $145,282 | $86,346 |
| Hourly rate | $69.85 | $41.51 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 81,434 | 268,577 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 77% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 10 | 10 |
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.
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.
Merchandising directors and merchandising managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Merchandising Director | Merchandising Manager | |
| Average salary | $145,282 | $86,346 |
| Salary range | Between $103,000 And $203,000 | Between $64,000 And $116,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | Woonsocket, RI |
| Highest paying state | Nevada | Rhode Island |
| Best paying company | Coty | Roku |
| Best paying industry | - | Retail |
There are a few differences between a merchandising director and a merchandising manager in terms of educational background:
| Merchandising Director | Merchandising Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 77% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Georgia | University of Georgia |
Here are the differences between merchandising directors' and merchandising managers' demographics:
| Merchandising Director | Merchandising Manager | |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 53.9% Female, 46.1% | 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% |