Hello,Priya

In my opinion both merchandising and fashion design are equally good.

However basic knowledge of merchandising is covered while learning fashion design.Fashion design requires a lot of creativity,skills,talent to be on the top. One really needs to be passionate about designing to become a good designer.

Merchandising surely is a technical field in fashion ,but fashion merchandisers are experts who know intricate design elements of a design , which I think is better developed after pursuing fashion designing.

Career options

merchandising :

marketing,sales,advertising,fashion promoter,supplier,fashion manager,retail store manager etc.

Fashion design:

Designer,stylist,blogger,advisor,garment construction expert,costume designer,fashion,marketing,merchandising, journalist,illustrator etc.

As you can fashion designing gives more better job perspective than merchandising.So according to me fashion designing is better than merchandising .If your still confused you can opt for bachelors degree in fashion designing and then do masters in merchandising.

Hope your query is answered.