Learn about the types of people who become online merchants. This page goes into detail about the employment, gender, and ethnic ratios of the workplace.
Employment Type Mix, 2025
55% of online merchants work in full-time roles while 45% work part-time.
Gender Mix By Career Interest, 2025
This graph shows the distribution of females and males that are interested in becoming an online merchant. Four or five star ratings on CareerExplorer indicate interest.
More men than women are interested in becoming online merchants at a ratio of 1.38 to 1.
Actual Gender Mix, 2025
60% of online merchants are female and 40% are male.
Gender Bias, 2025
This is one of the most compelling statistics we collect. Gender bias shows the difference between gender interest in being an online merchant and the actual gender mix of people in the career.
If there is a significant difference, then it means there is a gender imbalance between those interested in becoming an online merchant and those who end up becoming one.
In this case there are more men interested in becoming an online merchant than those actually working as one. It is hard to pinpoint the exact reasons why, but there are likely various forces at play, from changing interests over time to societal norms and biases.
Ethnic Mix, 2019
The largest ethnic group of online merchants are White, making up 53% of the population. The next highest segments are East Asian and South Asian, making up 12% and 10% respectively.