How To Become An Online Merchant: What It Is and Career Path

What is an online merchant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an online merchant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $26.6 an hour? That's $55,338 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 19% and produce 150,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreOnline MerchantUS Average

Salary

4.3

Avg. Salary $55,338

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.0

Growth Rate 19%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.43%

Asian 8.83%

Black or African American 6.36%

Hispanic or Latino 9.39%

Unknown 4.56%

White 70.43%

Gender

female 30.59%

male 69.41%

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

7.0

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.5

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.0

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an online merchant

Explore online merchant education requirements

Most common online merchant degrees

Bachelor's

62.7 %

Associate

16.9 %

Master's

10.2 %

Start to develop specific online merchant skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Satisfaction	52.35%
Apparel	10.11%
Product Line	7.26%
Retail Business	5.31%
Customer Service	5.27%

Complete relevant online merchant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New online 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 an online merchant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real online merchant resumes.

Research online merchant duties and responsibilities

Manage social media (Facebook) by posting new content, questions, pictures, new arrivals, graphics, etc.
Define and optimize lead nurturing strategy, create regular cadence of outbound marketing, leverage marketing automation and CRM technology.
Define and optimize lead nurturing strategy, create regular cadence of outbound marketing, leverage marketing automation and CRM technology.

Prepare your online merchant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your online 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 an online 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 Online Merchant Resume templates

Build a professional Online 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 Online Merchant resume.

Apply for online merchant jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an online merchant job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams