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The differences between merchandising specialists and retail sales merchandisers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a retail sales merchandiser has an average salary of $39,721, 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 retail sales merchandiser are customer service, POS, and working independently.
| Merchandising Specialist | Retail Sales Merchandiser | |
| Yearly salary | $32,920 | $39,721 |
| Hourly rate | $15.83 | $19.10 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 49,769 | 155,213 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 54% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
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.
Retail sales merchandisers are employees who are responsible for promoting and selling goods or services to customers for a retail store. These merchandisers are required to maintain a proper level of stock while ensuring that merchandise is displayed appropriately with proper signage. They must execute special promotional campaigns of their products or services that are created to boost their sales volume. Retail store merchandisers must also resolve issues that may arise after internal audits while training employees to be aware of their products so that they can recommend them to customers.
Merchandising specialists and retail sales merchandisers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Merchandising Specialist | Retail Sales Merchandiser | |
| Average salary | $32,920 | $39,721 |
| Salary range | Between $22,000 And $47,000 | Between $19,000 And $79,000 |
| Highest paying City | Cupertino, CA | - |
| Highest paying state | California | - |
| Best paying company | Apple | - |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | - |
There are a few differences between a merchandising specialist and a retail sales merchandiser in terms of educational background:
| Merchandising Specialist | Retail Sales Merchandiser | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 54% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between merchandising specialists' and retail sales merchandisers' demographics:
| Merchandising Specialist | Retail Sales Merchandiser | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 43.5% Female, 56.5% | Male, 42.4% Female, 57.6% |
| 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, 8.5% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 13.8% Asian, 5.3% White, 66.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 17% | 17% |