How are we are able to find every product available in the market worth buying? From creative advertisement to fascinating displays in the store, this whole trap is set by merchandising specialists. They are the ones who look after every promotional activity of new and existing products. Merchandising Specialists based on detailed market research by launching marketing campaigns, analyzing pricing, and formulating selling strategies.
No worries, as you can become a Merchandising Specialist with high school graduation, including a high level of creativity, public dealing, and communication skills. Since this field requires loads of research work, one has to compete with experienced individuals. It would be a great idea if you opted for this career after graduating from college to reduce competition. More than 40% of professionals have a Bachelor's degree, and the remaining have years of experience.
Being a Merchandising Specialist, you are the first to know all about products starting from pricing to marketing. In addition to access to this knowledge, you can earn around $18 per hour on average.
Merchandising Specialist Overview
Merchandising Specialist Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a merchandising specialist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.45 an hour? That's $32,130 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 2% and produce 35,400 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Merchandising Specialist Do
There are certain skills that many merchandising specialists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed physical stamina, self-confidence and interpersonal skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a merchandising specialist, we found that a lot of resumes listed 37.5% of merchandising specialists included customer service, while 18.8% of resumes included sales floor, and 7.4% of resumes included store management. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the merchandising specialist job title. But what industry to start with? Most merchandising specialists actually find jobs in the retail and manufacturing industries.
How To Become a Merchandising Specialist
If you're interested in becoming a merchandising specialist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 42.2% of merchandising specialists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 4.7% of merchandising specialists have master's degrees. Even though some merchandising specialists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a merchandising specialist. When we researched the most common majors for a merchandising specialist, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or high school diploma degrees. Other degrees that we often see on merchandising specialist resumes include associate degree degrees or master's degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a merchandising specialist. In fact, many merchandising specialist jobs require experience in a role such as sales associate. Meanwhile, many merchandising specialists also have previous career experience in roles such as cashier or customer service representative.
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Merchandising Specialist Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of specialist you might progress to a role such as team leader eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title assistant general manager.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Merchandising Specialist
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Actionlink Services LLC Merchandising Specialist- Merchandising Specialist- | Actionlink Services LLC Actionlink Services LLC | 03/30/2021 03/30/2021 | $28,17503/30/2021 $28,175 |
Primesource Building Products Merchandising Specialist Merchandising Specialist | Primesource Building Products Primesource Building Products | 03/26/2021 03/26/2021 | $33,39203/26/2021 $33,392 |
O'Reilly Automotive Stores, Inc. Retail Merchandise Specialist (MVR Required) Retail Merchandise Specialist (MVR Required) | O'Reilly Automotive Stores, Inc. O'Reilly Automotive Stores, Inc. | 03/25/2021 03/25/2021 | $25,71203/25/2021 $25,712 |
Primesource Building Products, Inc. Merchandising Specialist Merchandising Specialist | Primesource Building Products, Inc. Primesource Building Products, Inc. | 03/16/2021 03/16/2021 | $33,39203/16/2021 $33,392 |
Primesource Building Products, Inc. Merchandising Specialist Merchandising Specialist | Primesource Building Products, Inc. Primesource Building Products, Inc. | 03/16/2021 03/16/2021 | $31,30503/16/2021 $31,305 |
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Merchandising Specialist Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Merchandising Specialist. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Merchandising Specialist Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Merchandising Specialist resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Skills For a Merchandising Specialist
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 37.5% of merchandising specialists listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as physical stamina and self-confidence are important as well.
- Customer Service, 37.5%
- Sales Floor, 18.8%
- Store Management, 7.4%
- Product Category, 4.9%
- Product Knowledge, 4.4%
- Other Skills, 27.0% See All Merchandising Specialist Skills
Best States For a Merchandising Specialist
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a merchandising specialist. The best states for people in this position are California, New York, Arizona, and New Jersey. Merchandising specialists make the most in California with an average salary of $51,713. Whereas in New York and Arizona, they would average $45,511 and $42,587, respectively. While merchandising specialists would only make an average of $41,939 in New Jersey, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. New York
$45,511
Avg. Salary
2. California
$51,713
Avg. Salary
3. Arizona
$42,587
Avg. Salary
How Do Merchandising Specialist Rate Their Jobs?
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Merchandising • November 2019What do you like the most about working as Merchandising Specialist?
The flexibility, the ability to travel, and getting to know people from all walks of life. I really enjoy setting up new displays and stocking merchandise! Show MoreMerchandising Specialist Videos
