retail merchant vs distributor

retail merchant and distributor both are nouns.

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

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

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

retail merchant (noun)	distributor (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
	a company that markets merchandise
	someone who markets merchandise
	a person with authority to allot or deal out or apportion