UK AI Exposure · Associate professional occupations
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 genuinely hard for AI to do. Physical presence, bodily skill, high-context judgment, direct human care - the things that don't translate to text.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
You're not in the firing line today. But the frontier moves. Build enough AI fluency now that you can direct it for the parts of your work that could benefit. People in unexposed roles who understand AI become unusually valuable inside their organisations.
Most of this role's work is still genuinely hard for AI to do. Physical presence, bodily skill, high-context judgment, direct human care - the things that don't translate to text.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
You're not in the firing line today. But the frontier moves. Build enough AI fluency now that you can direct it for the parts of your work that could benefit. People in unexposed roles who understand AI become unusually valuable inside their organisations.
Where a project with Alex usually starts for this role
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgment, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where we start — flip the toggle to 'With tools' to see what AI plus the right context can compress.
-
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.
These are the highest-importance tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around these — usually the difference between an LLM that can technically do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
-
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.
Every role has three or four wedges like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days. Talk to Alex about a project →
The full task breakdown
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can already do unaided versus what still needs a human. Importance is O*NET's 1–5 rating of how central each task is to the role.
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.
Where humans still hold the line
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.
Where humans still hold the line
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.
Stay on top of this
One email a week, written for people who aren't AI nerds. What's actually real, what's hype, and what smart operators are doing about it.
Get the weekly note
One email a week from Alex on how AI is changing UK work, how to get ahead of it, and what smart operators are actually doing. Written for people who aren't AI nerds.
Free. Unsubscribe any time.
Or go deeper:
Methodology
This role's exposure score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 GPT task labels, aggregated by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 via ISCO-08 (ONS Vol 2 coding index) and US SOC 2010 (BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional. ASHE covers employees only, so self-employed workers are not counted.
Get the weekly note. One email on how AI is changing UK work.