Shopper vs buyer

The differences between shoppers and buyers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a buyer has an average salary of $54,049, which is higher than the $36,631 average annual salary of a shopper.

The top three skills for a shopper include groceries, grocery store and customer orders. The most important skills for a buyer are purchase orders, customer service, and logistics.

Shopper vs buyer overview

	Shopper	Buyer
Yearly salary	$36,631	$54,049
Hourly rate	$17.61	$25.99
Growth rate	6%	-
Number of jobs	420,518	23,589
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 34%	Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Average age	40	47
Years of experience	-	-

What does a shopper do?

A shopper is responsible for assisting customers in purchasing goods and services, advising them of the best products according to their needs and budget limitations. Shoppers should have excellent knowledge of the current industry trends to be an effective consultant of their clients, processing orders and payments, and set delivery schedules. They also handle product replacements or refunds as needed, coordinating with sellers for complaints made by the client. A shopper must be highly communicative and organizational, understanding client requirements, and developing selling techniques.

What does a buyer do?

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.

Shopper vs buyer salary

Shoppers and buyers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Shopper	Buyer
Average salary	$36,631	$54,049
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $49,000	Between $37,000 And $76,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	Englewood, NJ
Highest paying state	Vermont	New Jersey
Best paying company	Reckitt Benckiser	NVIDIA
Best paying industry	Start-up	Automotive

Differences between shopper and buyer education

There are a few differences between a shopper and a buyer in terms of educational background:

	Shopper	Buyer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 34%	Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	California State University - Bakersfield

Shopper vs buyer demographics

Here are the differences between shoppers' and buyers' demographics:

	Shopper	Buyer
Average age	40	47
Gender ratio	Male, 38.7% Female, 61.3%	Male, 43.9% Female, 56.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 16.0% Asian, 5.8% White, 61.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	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	8%	15%

Differences between shopper and buyer duties and responsibilities

Shopper example responsibilities.

Light landscaping - planting flowers, mulch flower beds, weeding, mowing.
Key notes on quarterly reviews show exemplary marks for punctuality, customer service, and job quality.
Stack cases of merchandise on to pallets.
Select the highest quality produce and perishables.
Train in use of the RF scanner system.
Expedite signs for departments and handle pricing issues with management.

Buyer example responsibilities.

Achieve QA initiatives by increasing transparency and communication with multiple departments and suppliers to achieve daily/weekly/monthly production requirements and expedites.
Manage all incoming RMA equipment, processing and directing to correct locations and departments.
Create, analyze and manage recaps pertaining to inventory, trends, OTB, and markdowns.
Manage KanBan spreadsheets to optimize inventory levels and supplier performance.
Manage business relationship with Japanese OEM of wide-format printer engines.
Manage MRB and IQA escalations to facilitate defective material resolutions.

Shopper vs buyer skills

Common shopper skills

Groceries, 36%
Grocery Store, 25%
Customer Orders, 25%
Customer Service, 3%
Instacart, 2%
RF, 2%

Common buyer skills

Purchase Orders, 22%
Customer Service, 11%
Logistics, 5%
Supplier Performance, 4%
MRP, 4%
Commodities, 3%