Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between merchants and buyers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a merchant has an average salary of $74,999, which is higher than the $54,049 average annual salary of a buyer.
The top three skills for a merchant include product development, gross margin and market trends. The most important skills for a buyer are purchase orders, customer service, and logistics.
| Merchant | Buyer | |
| Yearly salary | $74,999 | $54,049 |
| Hourly rate | $36.06 | $25.99 |
| Growth rate | - | - |
| Number of jobs | 15,395 | 23,589 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 57% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Average age | 41 | 47 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A merchant is responsible for selling goods and services for an organization to generate revenues by reaching out to existing and potential customers and discuss the products' features. Merchants must have extensive knowledge of the goods offered by the company to be able to respond to customers' inquiries and concerns accurately. They also maintain the adequacy of inventory for store orders, create purchase requests, and analyze sales performance. A merchant coordinates with the sales and marketing team to develop efficient promotional strategies and increase brand awareness on public platforms.
A buyer's duties include product sourcing and comparing resources for the best product range that would suit the specific needs of the business. Buyers must have excellent communication and negotiation skills to evaluate items that most likely benefit the customer and improve the sales of daily operations with cost-efficient products. They also conduct extensive research for market and price trends while considering the highest quality standards. Buyers should also possess strong analytical skills to create purchase orders and statistical analysis.
Merchants and buyers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Merchant | Buyer | |
| Average salary | $74,999 | $54,049 |
| Salary range | Between $47,000 And $119,000 | Between $37,000 And $76,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Englewood, NJ |
| Highest paying state | California | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Levi Strauss & Co. | NVIDIA |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Automotive |
There are a few differences between a merchant and a buyer in terms of educational background:
| Merchant | Buyer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 57% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | California State University - Bakersfield |
Here are the differences between merchants' and buyers' demographics:
| Merchant | Buyer | |
| Average age | 41 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 42.1% Female, 57.9% | Male, 43.9% Female, 56.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 23.3% Asian, 7.4% White, 55.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% | Black or African American, 4.0% Unknown, 3.1% Hispanic or Latino, 10.0% Asian, 6.7% White, 75.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 15% |