retail merchant vs distributer

retail merchant and distributer both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
retail merchant	Yes	No	No	No
distributer	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, distributer is a hypernym of retail merchant; that is, distributer is a word with a broader meaning than retail merchant:

Other hypernyms of retail merchant include distributor, merchandiser, merchant.

retail merchant (noun)	distributer (noun)
a merchant who sells goods at retail	electrical device that distributes voltage to the spark plugs of a gasoline engine in the order of the firing sequence
	someone who markets merchandise