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Senior strategist vs merchandising manager

The differences between senior strategists and merchandising managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 8-10 years to become both a senior strategist and a merchandising manager. Additionally, a senior strategist has an average salary of $104,996, which is higher than the $86,346 average annual salary of a merchandising manager.

The top three skills for a senior strategist include digital marketing, client facing and powerpoint. The most important skills for a merchandising manager are sales floor, POS, and apparel.

Senior strategist vs merchandising manager overview

Senior StrategistMerchandising Manager
Yearly salary$104,996$86,346
Hourly rate$50.48$41.51
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs29,894268,577
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 73%Bachelor's Degree, 65%
Average age3939
Years of experience1010

What does a senior strategist do?

A senior strategist develops and recommends marketing strategies for an organization. Your role involves motivating and inspiring creative teams and writing insightful and clear briefs. Other duties include developing effective strategic plans, studying clients to better understand their needs and business objectives, and developing and maintaining business relations with general managers, dealer owners, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Additionally, you are responsible for promoting creative services to clients, such as design services and content strategy. You will also be responsible for designing security programs to identify vulnerabilities and threats to networks and architectures.

What does a merchandising manager do?

A merchandising manager is responsible for supervising stock inventories, retail pricing, and managing product displays by analyzing customer preferences through researching the current market trends that would improve the store's sales condition and achieve profitability goals. Merchandising managers negotiate with reliable third-party vendors, minimizing costs without compromising the quality of the products. They also assist with planning floor layouts for store visuals that would attract customers and marketing promotional offers and special discounts to increase more revenues.

Senior strategist vs merchandising manager salary

Senior strategists and merchandising managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Senior StrategistMerchandising Manager
Average salary$104,996$86,346
Salary rangeBetween $70,000 And $155,000Between $64,000 And $116,000
Highest paying CitySeattle, WAWoonsocket, RI
Highest paying stateNew JerseyRhode Island
Best paying companyBP America IncRoku
Best paying industryTechnologyRetail

Differences between senior strategist and merchandising manager education

There are a few differences between a senior strategist and a merchandising manager in terms of educational background:

Senior StrategistMerchandising Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 73%Bachelor's Degree, 65%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of GeorgiaUniversity of Georgia

Senior strategist vs merchandising manager demographics

Here are the differences between senior strategists' and merchandising managers' demographics:

Senior StrategistMerchandising Manager
Average age3939
Gender ratioMale, 58.5% Female, 41.5%Male, 47.7% Female, 52.3%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%Black or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage10%10%

Differences between senior strategist and merchandising manager duties and responsibilities

Senior strategist example responsibilities.

  • Manage a team of three analysts to successfully execute on clients' Facebook marketing goals.
  • Create brand messaging, managing marketing media agency to launch company's first paid social PPC efforts.
  • Manage all top line donation form fundraising strategy including design, copy, naming conventions, redirects and A/B testing.
  • Assist with the implementation of CRM system.
  • Copy editing and optimization of content for search / SEO.
  • Create new SEM offerings including development, performance of and training others in SEO.
  • Show more

Merchandising manager example responsibilities.

  • Manage and plan ROI, CPC and bid management on external online shopping sites.
  • Manage hardware, plumbing, kitchen and bath, kitchen design, and night operations.
  • Create all marketing materials (paper/media), organize logistics of readings, manage financials.
  • Manage merchandising for lumber, building materials, paint, hardware, plumbing, electrical, and the garden department.
  • Lead website development committee, including RFP development, ROI analysis, marketing, brand-enhancement strategies, and back-end integration solutions.
  • Manage creative development and production of indirect channel POS fixtures creating brand consistency
  • Show more

Senior strategist vs merchandising manager skills

Common senior strategist skills
  • Digital Marketing, 13%
  • Client Facing, 9%
  • PowerPoint, 9%
  • Project Management, 8%
  • Client Relationships, 4%
  • Integrated Marketing, 4%
Common merchandising manager skills
  • Sales Floor, 10%
  • POS, 9%
  • Apparel, 7%
  • Pallets, 6%
  • Merchandise Presentation, 5%
  • Drive Sales, 5%

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