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The differences between vice presidents, merchandising and general managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a vice president, merchandising and a general manager. Additionally, a vice president, merchandising has an average salary of $194,178, which is higher than the $71,581 average annual salary of a general manager.
The top three skills for a vice president, merchandising include apparel, sales growth and gross margin. The most important skills for a general manager are customer service, cleanliness, and food safety.
| Vice President, Merchandising | General Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $194,178 | $71,581 |
| Hourly rate | $93.35 | $34.41 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 42,803 | 442,690 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4.25 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 82% | Bachelor's Degree, 56% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
Merchandising is everything that happens from when a product is delivered to a retail store to when a shopper buys it from the shelf. A vice president of merchandising promotes the services and products of their company at events like exhibits, concerts, or retail outlets. They are tasked with creating plans for the introduction and promotion of new products based on customer research. Also, they analyze market trends and observe the behavior of competitors to develop strategies for product promotion.
A general manager is responsible for handling the overall operations in the business. General managers manage the staff tasks efficiently, monitor the productivity and efficiency of the work environment, implement new strategies to improve the business performance, recognize the team's best efforts, and effective allocation of budget resources. A general manager must have excellent communication, decision-making, and critical-thinking skills to identify areas of improvement in handling customer complaints, connecting with vendors and other lines of businesses that will direct the company towards its successful objectives.
Vice presidents, merchandising and general managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Vice President, Merchandising | General Manager | |
| Average salary | $194,178 | $71,581 |
| Salary range | Between $131,000 And $286,000 | Between $40,000 And $126,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | Altar'd State | NVIDIA |
| Best paying industry | Retail | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a vice president, merchandising and a general manager in terms of educational background:
| Vice President, Merchandising | General Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 82% | Bachelor's Degree, 56% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between vice presidents, merchandising' and general managers' demographics:
| Vice President, Merchandising | General Manager | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 65.0% Female, 35.0% | Male, 70.7% Female, 29.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.4% Asian, 6.4% White, 67.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.4% Asian, 6.4% White, 67.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 10% |