A sales merchandiser is a person who works with customers to get them to buy products. Sales managers help the salesmen sell more things and also keep track of inventory, how much money they are making etc.
In other words a salesman or saleswoman deals in goods that a business supplies through their product line, whereas a retail (or sales) merchandiser deals in the goods that a retailer sells. They are hired by a company that supplies products to retailers.
The main job of a sales merchandiser is to get as many retailers as possible to buy their product and therefore have it available for consumers to purchase.
The sales merchandiser is a salesperson, but will not be selling the product directly to the consumer, but rather to retailers. If the product is available in many stores then it’s called a “line card”.
Sales merchandisers also help to decide where a product should be displayed and how it should be presented. They also have a lot of information about the product which they share with retailers. They will talk to retailers about their brand’s history, how much profit it has made in the past, or what other products it might go well with, and so on.
Sales merchandisers may also help create promotional materials for salespeople when the product they are selling is not readily available for consumers to see in a store. If the product is a part of a line card then sales merchandisers may also help organize and create new products for the future.
Sales merchandisers want retailers to think that their brand’s item will sell more products, be profitable or increase revenue for them.