Merchandisers
Merchandisers ensure that stores are supplied with goods, liaise with suppliers, decide on pricing and promotions and advise retailers on the optimum display of merchandise.
- Employees (UK)
- 19k
- Median annual pay
- £26,554
- Exposure score ?
- 0.5/10 Minimal 1.8/10 Minimal strict reading, with tools is 1.8/10 with-tools reading, strict is 0.5/10
- Wage exposure
- £25m £91m
Higher exposure than 28% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
Where the work usually starts.
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgement, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where the work starts. Switch to With tools to see what AI plus the right context can take on.
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Provide product samples, coupons, informational brochures, or other incentives to persuade people to buy products.
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Sell products being promoted and keep records of sales.
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Keep areas neat while working and return items to correct locations following demonstrations.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Research or investigate products to be presented to prepare for demonstrations.
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Learn about competitors' products or consumers' interests or concerns to answer questions or provide more complete information.
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Prepare or alter presentation contents to target specific audiences.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Demonstrators and Product Promoters" (41-9011.00).
What AI can already do
1 of 21 tasks, unaided
Prepare or alter presentation contents to target specific audiences.
What still needs a person
20 of 21 tasks
Provide product samples, coupons, informational brochures, or other incentives to persuade people to buy products.
Sell products being promoted and keep records of sales.
Keep areas neat while working and return items to correct locations following demonstrations.
Demonstrate or explain products, methods, or services to persuade customers to purchase products or use services.
Record and report demonstration-related information, such as the number of questions asked by the audience or the number of coupons distributed.
Suggest specific product purchases to meet customers' needs.
Research or investigate products to be presented to prepare for demonstrations.
Set up and arrange displays or demonstration areas to attract the attention of prospective customers.
Identify interested and qualified customers to provide them with additional information.
Visit trade shows, stores, community organizations, or other venues to demonstrate products or services or to answer questions from potential customers.
Transport, assemble, and disassemble materials used in presentations.
Practice demonstrations to ensure that they will run smoothly.
Learn about competitors' products or consumers' interests or concerns to answer questions or provide more complete information.
Instruct customers in alteration of products.
Stock shelves with products.
Work as part of a team of demonstrators to accommodate large crowds.
Provide product information, using lectures, films, charts, or slide shows.
Train demonstrators to present a company's products or services.
Recommend product or service improvements to employers.
Wear costumes or sign boards and walk in public to promote merchandise, services, or events.
Tasks via O*NET "Demonstrators and Product Promoters" (41-9011.00).
What AI can already do
4 of 21 tasks, with tools
Research or investigate products to be presented to prepare for demonstrations.
Learn about competitors' products or consumers' interests or concerns to answer questions or provide more complete information.
Prepare or alter presentation contents to target specific audiences.
Recommend product or service improvements to employers.
What still needs a person
17 of 21 tasks
Provide product samples, coupons, informational brochures, or other incentives to persuade people to buy products.
Sell products being promoted and keep records of sales.
Keep areas neat while working and return items to correct locations following demonstrations.
Demonstrate or explain products, methods, or services to persuade customers to purchase products or use services.
Record and report demonstration-related information, such as the number of questions asked by the audience or the number of coupons distributed.
Suggest specific product purchases to meet customers' needs.
Set up and arrange displays or demonstration areas to attract the attention of prospective customers.
Identify interested and qualified customers to provide them with additional information.
Visit trade shows, stores, community organizations, or other venues to demonstrate products or services or to answer questions from potential customers.
Transport, assemble, and disassemble materials used in presentations.
Practice demonstrations to ensure that they will run smoothly.
Instruct customers in alteration of products.
Stock shelves with products.
Work as part of a team of demonstrators to accommodate large crowds.
Provide product information, using lectures, films, charts, or slide shows.
Train demonstrators to present a company's products or services.
Wear costumes or sign boards and walk in public to promote merchandise, services, or events.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Associate professional occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons