Retail Contract Job Trends in England

Retailing
UK > England

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Retail in contract job vacancies in England. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Retail over the 6 months leading up to 25 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 140 86 93
Rank change year-on-year -54 +7 -18
Contract jobs citing Retail 649 744 869
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.00% 2.79% 2.31%
As % of the General category 3.33% 4.47% 3.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 393 389 508
10th Percentile £206 £270 £263
25th Percentile £405 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £520
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +0.96% -2.35%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £636
90th Percentile £738 £773 £738
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 10 39
10th Percentile £12.95 £15.82 £10.93
25th Percentile £16.17 £18.13 £12.38
Median hourly rate £16.34 £30.75 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year -46.88% +57.69% -1.56%
75th Percentile £19.50 £34.88 £20.75
90th Percentile £24.72 £39.75 £24.35
UK median hourly rate £17.17 £30.75 £19.50
% change year-on-year -44.17% +57.69% -1.56%

All General Skills
England

Retail falls under the General Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring general skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 19,465 16,641 22,152
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 60.06% 62.41% 58.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 12,408 10,036 14,718
10th Percentile £286 £300 £265
25th Percentile £403 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £528 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.21% -4.09% -
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £775 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £535
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.87% -2.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,209 546 1,349
10th Percentile £14.02 £15.62 £13.41
25th Percentile £16.50 £19.05 £15.25
Median hourly rate £23.00 £29.12 £26.66
Median % change year-on-year -21.00% +9.21% +3.70%
75th Percentile £47.00 £57.44 £55.25
90th Percentile £70.00 £74.81 £68.75
UK median hourly rate £23.00 £27.50 £26.50
% change year-on-year -16.36% +3.77% +6.00%

Retail
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Retail relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Retail job vacancy trend in England

Retail
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Retail.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Retail

Retail
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Retail in England over the 6 months to 25 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Retail in England

Retail
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Retail.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Retail

Retail
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Retail in England over the 6 months to 25 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Retail in England

Retail
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Retail within the England region over the 6 months to 25 January 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
London -40 343 £550 - 246
South East -26 88 £520 -5.45% 422
North of England -46 79 £485 +7.78% 265
Midlands -38 70 £495 -1.00% 219
East Midlands -3 47 £495 -1.00% 116
Yorkshire -37 41 £500 +25.00% 107
East of England -16 36 £541 +3.10% 190
North West -27 34 £498 +10.56% 128
West Midlands -58 22 £275 -47.62% 103
South West -14 15 £183 -56.55% 135
North East -12 5 £200 -66.67% 32
Retail
UK

Retail
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 28 (4.31%) Confluence
2 15 (2.31%) CMS
2 15 (2.31%) SharePoint
3 9 (1.39%) Apache Airflow
4 6 (0.92%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 5 (0.77%) Camunda
5 5 (0.77%) Jupyter
6 4 (0.62%) WordPress
7 3 (0.46%) Microsoft Exchange
8 2 (0.31%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.31%) SAS
9 1 (0.15%) SharePoint Server
9 1 (0.15%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.15%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 22 (3.39%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (1.69%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 11 (1.69%) MS Visio
3 10 (1.54%) Microsoft Office
4 8 (1.23%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.31%) Chatbot
5 2 (0.31%) Trello
6 1 (0.15%) Adobe After Effects
6 1 (0.15%) Adobe XD
6 1 (0.15%) Photoshop
6 1 (0.15%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.15%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 22 (3.39%) SAP S/4HANA
2 13 (2.00%) Shopify
3 10 (1.54%) Dynamics CRM
3 10 (1.54%) SAP Retail
4 6 (0.92%) Payment Gateway
5 5 (0.77%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 5 (0.77%) SAP Payroll
6 4 (0.62%) Dynamics AX
6 4 (0.62%) Finacle
6 4 (0.62%) Oracle Retail
6 4 (0.62%) Temenos T24
7 3 (0.46%) NetSuite
7 3 (0.46%) Salesforce CRM
7 3 (0.46%) SAP MDG
7 3 (0.46%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
8 2 (0.31%) BambooHR
8 2 (0.31%) Magento
8 2 (0.31%) SAP GTS
8 2 (0.31%) SAP MM
9 1 (0.15%) Bloomberg TOMS
Cloud Services
1 79 (12.17%) Azure
2 40 (6.16%) Power Platform
3 38 (5.86%) AWS
4 31 (4.78%) GCP
5 21 (3.24%) Azure DevOps
5 21 (3.24%) Dynamics 365
6 15 (2.31%) GitHub
6 15 (2.31%) Microsoft 365
7 13 (2.00%) Figma
7 13 (2.00%) SaaS
7 13 (2.00%) Snowflake
8 11 (1.69%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
9 10 (1.54%) GitHub Actions
10 8 (1.23%) Entra ID
10 8 (1.23%) Vertex AI
11 7 (1.08%) BigCommerce
11 7 (1.08%) dbt
11 7 (1.08%) Serverless
11 7 (1.08%) SuccessFactors
12 6 (0.92%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 20 (3.08%) RFID
2 18 (2.77%) NFC
2 18 (2.77%) Wireless
3 10 (1.54%) VPN
4 8 (1.23%) Firewall
5 7 (1.08%) WAN
6 6 (0.92%) Wi-Fi
7 4 (0.62%) BGP
7 4 (0.62%) Cisco Nexus
7 4 (0.62%) EIGRP
7 4 (0.62%) OSPF
7 4 (0.62%) VoIP
8 3 (0.46%) LAN
9 2 (0.31%) MPLS
9 2 (0.31%) SAN
9 2 (0.31%) WLAN
10 1 (0.15%) FTP
10 1 (0.15%) HTTPS
10 1 (0.15%) Multicast
10 1 (0.15%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (5.08%) Power BI
2 19 (2.93%) BigQuery
3 18 (2.77%) Data Warehouse
4 15 (2.31%) SQL Server
5 14 (2.16%) Metadata
6 13 (2.00%) Tableau
7 8 (1.23%) MySQL
8 7 (1.08%) Data Lake
9 6 (0.92%) Data Vault
10 5 (0.77%) PostgreSQL
10 5 (0.77%) Snowflake Schema
11 4 (0.62%) Delta Lake
11 4 (0.62%) MongoDB
11 4 (0.62%) Redis
11 4 (0.62%) Relational Database
11 4 (0.62%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 3 (0.46%) Amazon Redshift
12 3 (0.46%) Oracle OLAP
12 3 (0.46%) SAP BW
12 3 (0.46%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 65 (10.02%) JIRA
2 11 (1.69%) Jenkins
3 7 (1.08%) Git
3 7 (1.08%) GitLab
4 5 (0.77%) ERwin
4 5 (0.77%) Selenium
5 4 (0.62%) Storybook
6 3 (0.46%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.31%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.31%) Cucumber
7 2 (0.31%) JMeter
7 2 (0.31%) JUnit
7 2 (0.31%) MLflow
7 2 (0.31%) Mockito
7 2 (0.31%) Postman
7 2 (0.31%) PowerDesigner
7 2 (0.31%) SoapUI
7 2 (0.31%) Xcode
7 2 (0.31%) Zephyr
8 1 (0.15%) Gradle
General
1 232 (35.75%) Social Skills
2 131 (20.18%) Finance
3 77 (11.86%) Analytical Skills
4 52 (8.01%) Banking
5 48 (7.40%) Marketing
6 39 (6.01%) Organisational Skills
7 33 (5.08%) Public Sector
8 32 (4.93%) Manufacturing
9 24 (3.70%) Influencing Skills
10 21 (3.24%) Retail Banking
11 20 (3.08%) Documentation Skills
12 19 (2.93%) Corporate Banking
13 18 (2.77%) Presentation Skills
14 17 (2.62%) Investment Banking
14 17 (2.62%) Legal
15 12 (1.85%) Telecoms
16 10 (1.54%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 6 (0.92%) Publishing
18 4 (0.62%) Automotive
18 4 (0.62%) Law
Job Titles
1 128 (19.72%) Analyst
2 72 (11.09%) Project Manager
3 71 (10.94%) Architect
4 65 (10.02%) Senior
5 64 (9.86%) Business Analyst
6 55 (8.47%) Lead
7 33 (5.08%) Solutions Architect
8 29 (4.47%) Consultant
9 26 (4.01%) Senior Manager
10 19 (2.93%) Product Manager
11 18 (2.77%) Programme Manager
12 16 (2.47%) Technical Manager
13 14 (2.16%) Developer
13 14 (2.16%) Service Manager
14 13 (2.00%) Help Desk Analyst
14 13 (2.00%) Support Analyst
15 12 (1.85%) SAP Consultant
15 12 (1.85%) Senior Analyst
16 11 (1.69%) Data Engineer
16 11 (1.69%) Senior Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (2.93%) React
1 19 (2.93%) VML
2 14 (2.16%) Node.js
3 13 (2.00%) REST
4 11 (1.69%) PySpark
5 10 (1.54%) HTML
6 8 (1.23%) .NET
6 8 (1.23%) AngularJS
7 7 (1.08%) scikit-learn
7 7 (1.08%) Spring
7 7 (1.08%) Spring Boot
8 6 (0.92%) Middleware
8 6 (0.92%) OpenTelemetry
9 5 (0.77%) CSS
9 5 (0.77%) Kafka
9 5 (0.77%) LangChain
9 5 (0.77%) Matplotlib
9 5 (0.77%) React Native
9 5 (0.77%) XGBoost
9 5 (0.77%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 34 (5.24%) Product Ownership
2 23 (3.54%) Self-Motivation
3 22 (3.39%) Legacy Systems
4 20 (3.08%) IoT
5 19 (2.93%) Onboarding
6 17 (2.62%) Management Information System
7 16 (2.47%) FMCG
8 14 (2.16%) Data Structures
8 14 (2.16%) EPoS
9 13 (2.00%) Cloud Native
9 13 (2.00%) Data Centre
10 10 (1.54%) Mobile App
11 9 (1.39%) Analytical Mindset
11 9 (1.39%) Driving Licence
12 7 (1.08%) Social Media
13 6 (0.92%) Algorithms
13 6 (0.92%) CMDB
13 6 (0.92%) Reference Data
13 6 (0.92%) Replication
14 5 (0.77%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 33 (5.08%) Windows
2 10 (1.54%) Linux
3 7 (1.08%) Mac OS
4 6 (0.92%) Android
5 5 (0.77%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.46%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.31%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.15%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.15%) Mac OS X
8 1 (0.15%) VMS
8 1 (0.15%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 153 (23.57%) Agile
2 151 (23.27%) Stakeholder Management
3 106 (16.33%) Problem-Solving
4 80 (12.33%) Project Management
5 75 (11.56%) Analytics
6 74 (11.40%) E-Commerce
7 67 (10.32%) Migration
8 65 (10.02%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 58 (8.94%) Workshop Facilitation
10 57 (8.78%) Roadmaps
11 55 (8.47%) Continuous Improvement
12 51 (7.86%) Scrum
13 48 (7.40%) AI
14 47 (7.24%) Data Modelling
15 45 (6.93%) DevOps
16 44 (6.78%) Business Intelligence
16 44 (6.78%) Project Delivery
17 42 (6.47%) CRM
18 40 (6.16%) Decision-Making
18 40 (6.16%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 60 (9.24%) SQL
2 51 (7.86%) Python
3 16 (2.47%) Java
4 14 (2.16%) JavaScript
5 11 (1.69%) PowerShell
6 10 (1.54%) Bash
7 7 (1.08%) Kusto Query Language
7 7 (1.08%) Shell Script
8 6 (0.92%) C#
9 5 (0.77%) TypeScript
10 3 (0.46%) PL/SQL
11 2 (0.31%) ABAP
11 2 (0.31%) PHP
11 2 (0.31%) Swift
11 2 (0.31%) VBA
12 1 (0.15%) JCL
12 1 (0.15%) Objective-C
12 1 (0.15%) ProC
12 1 (0.15%) VB
12 1 (0.15%) X++
Qualifications
1 31 (4.78%) Degree
2 20 (3.08%) PMP
3 19 (2.93%) Security Cleared
4 17 (2.62%) PMI Certification
5 9 (1.39%) Master's Degree
6 7 (1.08%) MBA
6 7 (1.08%) SC Cleared
7 6 (0.92%) Computer Science Degree
7 6 (0.92%) ITIL Certification
8 5 (0.77%) APMP
8 5 (0.77%) BPSS Clearance
8 5 (0.77%) CISSP
9 4 (0.62%) CCIE
9 4 (0.62%) CCNP
9 4 (0.62%) Cisco Certification
9 4 (0.62%) CISM
9 4 (0.62%) CRISC
9 4 (0.62%) CSPO
10 3 (0.46%) GIAC
10 3 (0.46%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (4.16%) Data Quality
2 24 (3.70%) QA
3 17 (2.62%) PMO
4 16 (2.47%) Accessibility
5 14 (2.16%) GDPR
6 12 (1.85%) SLA
7 5 (0.77%) Actionable Recommendations
8 4 (0.62%) PCI DSS
9 3 (0.46%) IFRS
9 3 (0.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 3 (0.46%) NCSC
9 3 (0.46%) NIST
10 2 (0.31%) COBIT
11 1 (0.15%) Cyber Essentials
11 1 (0.15%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 1 (0.15%) IFRS 9
11 1 (0.15%) MiFID
11 1 (0.15%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.15%) Solvency II
11 1 (0.15%) WCAG
System Software
1 11 (1.69%) Docker
2 7 (1.08%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.46%) Virtual Desktop
3 3 (0.46%) VMware NSX
4 1 (0.15%) RACF
4 1 (0.15%) Varnish
4 1 (0.15%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 17 (2.62%) Terraform
2 11 (1.69%) Kubernetes
3 5 (0.77%) Argo
3 5 (0.77%) Istio
4 4 (0.62%) Grafana
4 4 (0.62%) Microsoft Intune
5 3 (0.46%) Jamf Pro
5 3 (0.46%) SCCM
5 3 (0.46%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.31%) Ansible
7 1 (0.15%) AirWatch
7 1 (0.15%) Cacti
7 1 (0.15%) Control-M
7 1 (0.15%) Nmap
7 1 (0.15%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.15%) ZABBIX
7 1 (0.15%) zSecure
Vendors
1 71 (10.94%) Microsoft
2 58 (8.94%) SAP
3 42 (6.47%) Salesforce
4 38 (5.86%) Oracle
5 31 (4.78%) Google
6 18 (2.77%) Adobe
7 17 (2.62%) Databricks
8 9 (1.39%) ServiceNow
9 7 (1.08%) HP
9 7 (1.08%) Sitecore
10 6 (0.92%) Apple
10 6 (0.92%) BMC
10 6 (0.92%) CheckPoint
10 6 (0.92%) Dell
10 6 (0.92%) F5
10 6 (0.92%) Temenos
11 5 (0.77%) Cisco
11 5 (0.77%) Dynatrace
11 5 (0.77%) Meraki
11 5 (0.77%) MicroStrategy