How To Become A Wholesale And Retail Merchant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a wholesale and retail merchant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a wholesale and retail merchant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $26.51 an hour? That's $55,137 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 19% and produce 150,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreWholesale And Retail MerchantUS Average

Salary

4.3

Avg. Salary $55,137

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.3

Growth rate 19%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.34%

Asian 6.49%

Black or African American 8.45%

Hispanic or Latino 15.68%

Unknown 4.60%

White 64.43%

Gender

female 42.86%

male 57.14%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

8.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.9

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a wholesale and retail merchant

Explore wholesale and retail merchant education requirements

Most common wholesale and retail merchant degrees

Bachelor's

55.1 %

Associate

23.1 %

High School Diploma

10.3 %

Start to develop specific wholesale and retail merchant skills

Skills	Percentages
Product Development	27.59%
Apparel	25.93%
Bottom Line	19.30%
Customer Service	16.89%
Retail Sales	10.30%

Complete relevant wholesale and retail merchant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New wholesale and retail merchants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a wholesale and retail merchant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real wholesale and retail merchant resumes.

Research wholesale and retail merchant duties and responsibilities

Manage Nintendo's promotional programs; secure and maintain point-of-purchase displays that alert customers to brand availability.
Execute daily operations of apparel production.
Respond to written and telephone requests for purchases of girls' apparel.
Manage Nintendo's promotional programs; secure and maintain point-of-purchase displays that alert customers to brand availability.

Prepare your wholesale and retail merchant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your wholesale and retail merchant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a wholesale and retail merchant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable wholesale and retail merchant resume templates

Build a professional wholesale and retail merchant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your wholesale and retail merchant resume.