JobAfterNext

Online Merchants

Conduct retail activities of businesses operating exclusively online. May perform duties such as preparing business strategies, buying merchandise, managing inventory, implementing marketing activities, fulfilling and shipping online orders, and balancing financial records.

Wages

BLS doesn't publish wages for Online Merchants separately. These are the figures for Business Operations Specialists, All Other (13-1199), its parent occupation.

Median annual wage, U.S.$83,050
Employment, U.S.1,087,090
Median hourly wage$39.93
Annual wage percentiles, U.S., May 2025
10th25thMedian75th90th
$47,880$62,640$83,050$114,010$150,010
By state (51)
StateEmploymentMedian annualLocation quotient
Alabama6,990$100,2400.47
Alaska2,020$94,7400.89
Arizona12,210$83,2800.54
Arkansas8,200$61,2400.90
California155,000$87,5701.22
Colorado45,670$92,5202.27
Connecticut5,630$85,5300.47
Delaware1,600$95,0400.47
District of Columbia37,790$108,1607.70
Florida66,230$79,6500.95
Georgia67,450$78,4101.97
Hawaii4,030$92,6200.92
Idaho2,740$76,4000.46
Illinois32,940$82,0700.77
Indiana6,290$79,0300.28
Iowa9,900$80,4700.91
Kansas9,810$83,3500.98
Kentucky5,870$74,6900.42
Louisiana17,010$63,2201.26
Maine4,230$78,8300.94
Maryland39,820$101,5002.06
Massachusetts17,910$93,2700.70
Michigan20,940$81,8100.68
Minnesota16,410$77,8200.80
Mississippi4,130$76,9800.51
Missouri15,770$80,4200.77
Montana4,760$74,9901.33
Nebraska2,540$77,9800.35
Nevada9,140$67,3300.84
New Hampshire1,920$83,7400.40
New Jersey34,210$91,0601.14
New Mexico8,450$79,1001.39
New York28,790$83,4500.43
North Carolina41,180$80,2301.19
North Dakota1,810$80,5000.60
Ohio31,690$79,3500.82
Oklahoma5,700$93,6400.48
Oregon14,920$77,1701.08
Pennsylvania27,250$80,5900.64
Rhode Island2,240$88,1300.64
South Carolina8,910$79,1100.55
South Dakota940$85,3400.30
Tennessee11,790$78,6900.51
Texas104,270$80,8201.06
Utah$80,190
Vermont2,440$71,7101.15
Virginia45,160$85,2001.57
Washington51,650$100,3602.08
West Virginia4,070$69,2400.83
Wisconsin12,210$67,3700.59
Wyoming1,770$74,0600.90

Similar occupations

Similarity is our measure: the cosine of importance x level over all 120 O*NET skills, knowledge areas and abilities. It is not an O*NET finding. More.

#OccupationJob ZoneSimilarity
1Advertising and Promotions Managers40.972
2Marketing Managers40.965
3Fundraisers40.965
4Advertising Sales Agents30.960
5Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents40.959
6Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel1-20.957
7Fundraising Managers40.957
8Information Technology Project Managers40.956
9Wholesale and Retail Buyers, Except Farm Products30.954
10Sales Managers40.952

One skill away

Among the 50 occupations most similar to Online Merchants, those at the same Job Zone or lower, where exactly one skill rated at least 3 in importance needs a level more than 0.75 points higher (on O*NET's 0-7 level scale). Our definition. Change the thresholds.

OccupationSkill to buildLevel gapSimilarity
Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales AgentsSystems Analysis1.000.959
Solar Sales Representatives and AssessorsPersuasion0.760.948
Insurance Sales AgentsPersuasion0.760.943

Software to learn next

Software used by at least 3 of the 20 occupations most similar to Online Merchants, excluding software Online Merchants already lists and any you named. Ranked by how many of them use it, weighted by how much more common it is among them than across all occupations (lift). Our ranking.

SoftwareSimilar jobs using itLift
LinkedIn12 of 2010.4x
Salesforce software13 of 206.8x
HubSpot software7 of 2017.9x
Marketo Marketing Automation8 of 2012.3x
Microsoft Publisher11 of 205.4x
Oracle Eloqua7 of 2011.1x
Oracle PeopleSoft9 of 205.3x
Airtable6 of 2011.5x
LogMeIn GoToMeeting6 of 2011.5x
Oracle PeopleSoft Financials7 of 207.9x

Skills

From O*NET data. Importance is rated 1 to 5 and level 0 to 7.

SkillTypeImportanceLevel
Reading ComprehensionEssential skill 3.62 3.75
Critical ThinkingEssential skill 3.50 3.88
Active ListeningEssential skill 3.50 3.62
SpeakingEssential skill 3.50 3.38
Service OrientationTransferable skill 3.38 3.25
WritingEssential skill 3.38 3.25
PersuasionTransferable skill 3.38 3.12
Judgment and Decision MakingTransferable skill 3.25 3.25
MonitoringEssential skill 3.12 3.62
NegotiationTransferable skill 3.12 3.12
Social PerceptivenessTransferable skill 3.12 2.75
MathematicsEssential skill 3.00 3.12
Complex Problem SolvingTransferable skill 3.00 3.00
CoordinationTransferable skill 3.00 2.88
Management of Financial ResourcesTransferable skill 2.88 3.38
Active LearningEssential skill 2.88 3.12
Time ManagementTransferable skill 2.88 2.62
Management of Material ResourcesTransferable skill 2.75 2.88
Systems EvaluationTransferable skill 2.62 3.00
Management of Personnel ResourcesTransferable skill 2.62 2.50
Systems AnalysisTransferable skill 2.62 2.38
Learning StrategiesEssential skill 2.38 2.50
ProgrammingTransferable skill 2.38 1.75
InstructingTransferable skill 2.25 2.62
Operations AnalysisTransferable skill 2.00 1.50
Operations MonitoringTransferable skill 1.88 1.38
Technology DesignTransferable skill 1.75 1.12
Quality Control AnalysisTransferable skill 1.62 1.12
Equipment SelectionTransferable skill 1.25not rated
Operation and ControlTransferable skill 1.25not rated
RepairingTransferable skill 1.25not rated
ScienceEssential skill 1.25not rated
InstallationTransferable skill 1.12not rated
TroubleshootingTransferable skill 1.12not rated
Equipment MaintenanceTransferable skill 1.00not rated
Knowledge (33) and abilities (52)
Knowledge
NameImportanceLevel
English Language 4.19 5.08
Sales and Marketing 4.00 5.21
Customer and Personal Service 3.92 4.80
Communications and Media 3.60 3.54
Administration and Management 3.59 4.08
Computers and Electronics 3.57 4.17
Administrative 3.35 4.86
Mathematics 3.18 3.78
Economics and Accounting 3.16 3.70
Production and Processing 3.09 3.31
Personnel and Human Resources 2.81 3.10
Design 2.64 2.76
Telecommunications 2.60 2.05
Education and Training 2.33 3.02
Engineering and Technology 2.14 1.90
Mechanical 1.99 1.96
Psychology 1.91 1.54
Public Safety and Security 1.89 1.25
Fine Arts 1.78 1.29
Transportation 1.78 1.23
Building and Construction 1.76 1.45
Physics 1.74not rated
Foreign Language 1.74 0.76
Geography 1.72 1.71
Law and Government 1.65 1.30
Sociology and Anthropology 1.50 1.06
Chemistry 1.19not rated
Therapy and Counseling 1.19not rated
History and Archeology 1.15not rated
Biology 1.11not rated
Philosophy and Theology 1.10not rated
Medicine and Dentistry 1.08not rated
Food Production 1.00not rated
Abilities
NameImportanceLevel
Written Comprehension 3.75 3.62
Oral Expression 3.50 3.75
Written Expression 3.50 3.62
Problem Sensitivity 3.50 3.00
Oral Comprehension 3.38 3.88
Deductive Reasoning 3.38 3.62
Near Vision 3.38 3.50
Speech Recognition 3.38 3.50
Speech Clarity 3.38 3.00
Inductive Reasoning 3.25 3.38
Information Ordering 3.12 3.25
Fluency of Ideas 3.00 3.38
Mathematical Reasoning 3.00 3.38
Number Facility 3.00 3.25
Category Flexibility 3.00 3.12
Originality 2.75 2.88
Selective Attention 2.62 2.38
Visualization 2.50 2.38
Finger Dexterity 2.38 2.25
Flexibility of Closure 2.25 2.62
Memorization 2.25 2.38
Perceptual Speed 2.25 2.38
Far Vision 2.25 2.25
Speed of Closure 2.12 2.25
Time Sharing 2.12 2.00
Visual Color Discrimination 2.12 2.00
Hearing Sensitivity 1.88 1.38
Auditory Attention 1.62 0.88
Depth Perception 1.62 0.88
Trunk Strength 1.38 0.62
Manual Dexterity 1.38 0.50
Static Strength 1.25not rated
Wrist-Finger Speed 1.25not rated
Arm-Hand Steadiness 1.12not rated
Dynamic Flexibility 1.12not rated
Extent Flexibility 1.12not rated
Multilimb Coordination 1.12not rated
Spatial Orientation 1.12not rated
Control Precision 1.00not rated
Dynamic Strength 1.00not rated
Explosive Strength 1.00not rated
Glare Sensitivity 1.00not rated
Gross Body Coordination 1.00not rated
Gross Body Equilibrium 1.00not rated
Night Vision 1.00not rated
Peripheral Vision 1.00not rated
Rate Control 1.00not rated
Reaction Time 1.00not rated
Response Orientation 1.00not rated
Sound Localization 1.00not rated
Speed of Limb Movement 1.00not rated
Stamina 1.00not rated

Software used

Examples from O*NET data. "Hot" and "in demand" are O*NET flags for technologies often listed in job postings.

All 76
  • Adobe Dreamweaver
  • Apache Solr
  • Apache Struts
  • Bing Ads
  • Bing for Power BI
  • Blogging software
  • CCBill
  • Content management systems CMS
  • Drupal
  • Dynamic hypertext markup language DHTML
  • Enterprise JavaBeans
  • Extensible hypertext markup language XHTML
  • Financial accounting software
  • Google Ads
  • Google Checkout
  • IBM Digital Analytics
  • IBM Domino
  • IBM InfoSphere DataStage
  • IBM WebSphere
  • Intuit QuickBoooks Payments
  • Inventory tracking software
  • JamBoard
  • LAMP Stack
  • Magento Analytics
  • Microsoft Dynamics
  • Mobile application software
  • MyCommerce RegNow
  • NetSuite ERP
  • Oracle JavaServer Pages JSP
  • PayPal
  • PayPal Zettle
  • ProPay payment processing software
  • Relational database management software
  • Screencast-O-Matic
  • Search engine marketing SEM software
  • Search engine optimization SEO software
  • Search engine results pages SERP software
  • Shipment processing software
  • Snorasson Holdings CCNow
  • Square
  • Tax software
  • Twitter
  • Web browser software
  • Webtrends software
  • YouTube
  • e-check software

Where it concentrates

BLS doesn't publish wages for Online Merchants separately. These are the figures for Business Operations Specialists, All Other (13-1199), its parent occupation.

Metro areas ranked by BLS location quotient: the occupation's share of the area's jobs divided by its share of all US jobs. Above 1 means more concentrated than the nation. Metros employing fewer than 100 are left out.

Metro areaEmploymentLocation quotientMedian annual
Warner Robins, GA3,0405.71$95,060
Helena, MT1,4204.56$80,410
Lexington Park, MD2,1804.41$136,660
Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA2,3603.60$105,250
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV76,6003.49$104,770
Trenton-Princeton, NJ5,5703.32$89,370
Springfield, IL2,1703.08$95,990
Lansing-East Lansing, MI4,3602.87$82,940
Boulder, CO3,6102.68$94,040
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA38,8002.66$101,920

More metros, other thresholds