Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between merchandising specialists and specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a specialist has an average salary of $58,013, 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 specialist are patients, customer service, and work ethic.
| Merchandising Specialist | Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $32,920 | $58,013 |
| Hourly rate | $15.83 | $27.89 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 49,769 | 358,433 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Average age | 40 | 42 |
| Years of experience | - | 2 |
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.
Specialists are employees who are responsible for specific tasks or activities in the department they are assigned to. The actions or tasks they work on are related to their educational background or work experiences. They are usually highly skilled in specializations related to the work they are assigned to. Specialists are also highly trained on the competencies that are required of their specialty. As such, they are focused on the skills and competencies that are needed to enhance their experience in their specific field further.
Merchandising specialists and specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Merchandising Specialist | Specialist | |
| Average salary | $32,920 | $58,013 |
| Salary range | Between $22,000 And $47,000 | Between $32,000 And $104,000 |
| Highest paying City | Cupertino, CA | Jersey City, NJ |
| Highest paying state | California | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Apple | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | - |
There are a few differences between a merchandising specialist and a specialist in terms of educational background:
| Merchandising Specialist | Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between merchandising specialists' and specialists' demographics:
| Merchandising Specialist | Specialist | |
| Average age | 40 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 43.5% Female, 56.5% | Male, 47.5% Female, 52.5% |
| 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, 11.4% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.4% Asian, 10.5% White, 55.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 17% | 11% |