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The differences between merchandising specialists and product specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a product specialist has an average salary of $85,932, which is higher than the $32,920 average annual salary of a merchandising specialist.
The top three skills for a merchandising specialist include customer service, sales floor and cash handling. The most important skills for a product specialist are customer service, product knowledge, and sales floor.
| Merchandising Specialist | Product Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $32,920 | $85,932 |
| Hourly rate | $15.83 | $41.31 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 19% |
| Number of jobs | 49,769 | 103,863 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Average age | 40 | 37 |
| Years of experience | - | 6 |
A merchandising specialist is responsible for managing the promotion of the business' products, arranging creative displays both on the physical store and company website to attract consumers on purchasing the products to generate revenues and increase profitability. Merchandising specialists assist in the development of marketing campaigns, as well as facilitating promotional offers on different communication channels. They also monitor stock inventories, analyze pricing structures, and adjust selling strategies by researching the current market trends, identifying business opportunities to meet customers' demands, and improve the negotiation process.
A product specialist is required to have excellent knowledge about a product and work with a business unit to ensure excellent product delivery. Product specialists perform product demonstrations to customers and other stakeholders and assist in their promotions and product releases. To gain increased revenue, product specialists must be able to identify new market opportunities. They are required to conduct product and sales training for the marketing team. They must also provide reports about their product-related activities to the management.
Merchandising specialists and product specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Merchandising Specialist | Product Specialist | |
| Average salary | $32,920 | $85,932 |
| Salary range | Between $22,000 And $47,000 | Between $56,000 And $130,000 |
| Highest paying City | Cupertino, CA | San Bruno, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Apple | ByteDance |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Technology |
There are a few differences between a merchandising specialist and a product specialist in terms of educational background:
| Merchandising Specialist | Product Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | University of Georgia |
Here are the differences between merchandising specialists' and product specialists' demographics:
| Merchandising Specialist | Product Specialist | |
| Average age | 40 | 37 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 43.5% Female, 56.5% | Male, 59.8% Female, 40.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 13.8% Asian, 5.3% White, 66.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | Black or African American, 5.2% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 10.6% White, 66.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 17% | 10% |