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 1 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 129 86 93
Rank change year-on-year -43 +7 -24
Contract jobs citing Retail 676 827 938
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.22% 2.70% 2.42%
As % of the General category 3.53% 4.48% 4.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 400 448 531
10th Percentile £206 £265 £281
25th Percentile £400 £413 £418
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £641
90th Percentile £738 £773 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 55 10 31
10th Percentile £14.50 £16.05 £15.33
25th Percentile £15.25 £18.13 £19.06
Median hourly rate £16.34 £32.50 £19.81
Median % change year-on-year -49.74% +64.06% -
75th Percentile £19.50 £37.88 £20.94
90th Percentile £25.15 £49.38 £29.75
UK median hourly rate £16.34 £32.50 £19.81
% change year-on-year -49.74% +64.06% -

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 common skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for common skills 19,174 18,473 23,123
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 62.95% 60.38% 59.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 12,187 11,117 15,696
10th Percentile £275 £300 £290
25th Percentile £400 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £538 £550
Median % change year-on-year -6.98% -2.27% -
75th Percentile £626 £650 £669
90th Percentile £738 £775 £770
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,236 678 1,038
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.24 £14.25
25th Percentile £16.84 £18.00 £17.47
Median hourly rate £24.00 £30.69 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -21.79% -5.58% +26.41%
75th Percentile £46.00 £58.75 £59.88
90th Percentile £72.00 £71.63 £70.65
UK median hourly rate £24.00 £28.00 £31.76
% change year-on-year -14.29% -11.84% +27.04%

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 1 December 2025.

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 1 December 2025.

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 1 December 2025. 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 -30 354 £525 -5.66% 222
South East -17 96 £525 -4.55% 265
North of England -48 75 £500 +9.59% 172
Midlands -44 55 £450 -10.00% 170
East of England -9 44 £595 +10.70% 81
East Midlands 0 36 £450 -10.00% 76
Yorkshire -38 36 £531 +18.06% 76
North West -26 34 £500 +11.11% 77
South West +16 31 £183 -55.38% 71
West Midlands -44 18 £450 -16.28% 90
North East -6 6 £206 -65.63% 21
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 27 (3.99%) Confluence
2 17 (2.51%) CMS
3 12 (1.78%) SharePoint
4 7 (1.04%) Apache Airflow
5 6 (0.89%) Camunda
6 5 (0.74%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 5 (0.74%) Jupyter
6 5 (0.74%) Microsoft Exchange
7 4 (0.59%) WordPress
8 2 (0.30%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.15%) Appian
9 1 (0.15%) SAS
9 1 (0.15%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 27 (3.99%) Microsoft Excel
2 14 (2.07%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 12 (1.78%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (0.44%) Chatbot
4 3 (0.44%) Microsoft Project
4 3 (0.44%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.15%) Trello
6 1 (0.15%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 29 (4.29%) SAP S/4HANA
2 12 (1.78%) Shopify
3 8 (1.18%) Dynamics CRM
3 8 (1.18%) Oracle Retail
3 8 (1.18%) SAP Retail
4 6 (0.89%) Payment Gateway
5 5 (0.74%) Dynamics AX
5 5 (0.74%) SAP Payroll
6 4 (0.59%) SAP GTS
7 3 (0.44%) NetSuite
7 3 (0.44%) Oracle Payables
7 3 (0.44%) Salesforce CRM
7 3 (0.44%) SAP MM
8 2 (0.30%) BambooHR
8 2 (0.30%) Magento
8 2 (0.30%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
8 2 (0.30%) Sprinklr
8 2 (0.30%) Temenos T24
9 1 (0.15%) Avolution ABACUS
9 1 (0.15%) Oracle General Ledger
Cloud Services
1 76 (11.24%) Azure
2 40 (5.92%) AWS
3 39 (5.77%) Power Platform
4 25 (3.70%) GCP
5 22 (3.25%) Azure DevOps
5 22 (3.25%) Dynamics 365
6 14 (2.07%) SaaS
7 13 (1.92%) Microsoft 365
8 9 (1.33%) Entra ID
8 9 (1.33%) Figma
8 9 (1.33%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
8 9 (1.33%) Snowflake
8 9 (1.33%) Vertex AI
9 8 (1.18%) Power Automate
9 8 (1.18%) Serverless
10 7 (1.04%) GitHub
10 7 (1.04%) OCI
10 7 (1.04%) SuccessFactors
11 6 (0.89%) Microsoft Copilot
11 6 (0.89%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 19 (2.81%) RFID
2 18 (2.66%) NFC
2 18 (2.66%) Wireless
3 8 (1.18%) VPN
4 7 (1.04%) Firewall
4 7 (1.04%) Wi-Fi
5 5 (0.74%) WAN
6 4 (0.59%) LAN
7 3 (0.44%) Broadband
7 3 (0.44%) Cisco Nexus
8 2 (0.30%) BGP
8 2 (0.30%) DNS
8 2 (0.30%) EIGRP
8 2 (0.30%) Network Security
8 2 (0.30%) OSPF
8 2 (0.30%) SAN
8 2 (0.30%) VoIP
9 1 (0.15%) Intranet
9 1 (0.15%) MPLS
9 1 (0.15%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 32 (4.73%) Power BI
2 13 (1.92%) Data Warehouse
3 12 (1.78%) BigQuery
3 12 (1.78%) Metadata
4 11 (1.63%) SQL Server
4 11 (1.63%) Tableau
5 6 (0.89%) Data Lake
6 4 (0.59%) Power Query
6 4 (0.59%) Redis
6 4 (0.59%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 3 (0.44%) Data Vault
7 3 (0.44%) MongoDB
7 3 (0.44%) SAP BW
7 3 (0.44%) Snowflake Schema
7 3 (0.44%) Star Schema
8 2 (0.30%) Amazon Redshift
8 2 (0.30%) Big Data
8 2 (0.30%) Oracle Reports
8 2 (0.30%) Relational Database
8 2 (0.30%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 48 (7.10%) JIRA
2 15 (2.22%) Git
3 9 (1.33%) Jenkins
4 4 (0.59%) Selenium
4 4 (0.59%) Storybook
5 3 (0.44%) Postman
6 2 (0.30%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 2 (0.30%) ERwin
6 2 (0.30%) JUnit
6 2 (0.30%) MLflow
6 2 (0.30%) PowerDesigner
6 2 (0.30%) SoapUI
6 2 (0.30%) Xcode
7 1 (0.15%) Android Studio
7 1 (0.15%) Artifactory
7 1 (0.15%) Cucumber
7 1 (0.15%) Cypress.io
7 1 (0.15%) Gradle
7 1 (0.15%) Mockito
7 1 (0.15%) Zephyr
General
1 246 (36.39%) Social Skills
2 142 (21.01%) Finance
3 76 (11.24%) Analytical Skills
4 58 (8.58%) Banking
5 53 (7.84%) Marketing
6 41 (6.07%) Manufacturing
7 39 (5.77%) Public Sector
8 34 (5.03%) Organisational Skills
9 31 (4.59%) Retail Banking
10 28 (4.14%) Investment Banking
11 27 (3.99%) Corporate Banking
12 23 (3.40%) Legal
13 18 (2.66%) Influencing Skills
14 17 (2.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 16 (2.37%) Documentation Skills
16 15 (2.22%) Presentation Skills
17 10 (1.48%) Telecoms
18 9 (1.33%) Automotive
19 8 (1.18%) French Language
19 8 (1.18%) Law
Job Titles
1 132 (19.53%) Analyst
2 75 (11.09%) Architect
3 69 (10.21%) Project Manager
4 54 (7.99%) Business Analyst
4 54 (7.99%) Senior
5 49 (7.25%) Lead
6 35 (5.18%) Solutions Architect
7 29 (4.29%) Consultant
8 22 (3.25%) Senior Manager
9 20 (2.96%) Administrator
9 20 (2.96%) Programme Manager
10 19 (2.81%) Developer
11 18 (2.66%) Product Manager
12 13 (1.92%) Senior Analyst
13 12 (1.78%) Data Analyst
13 12 (1.78%) Help Desk Analyst
13 12 (1.78%) Product Owner
14 11 (1.63%) Service Analyst
14 11 (1.63%) Support Analyst
15 10 (1.48%) Field Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (2.81%) React
2 15 (2.22%) REST
3 14 (2.07%) HTML
3 14 (2.07%) Node.js
4 10 (1.48%) .NET
5 9 (1.33%) CSS
5 9 (1.33%) PySpark
5 9 (1.33%) VML
6 8 (1.18%) Oracle Fusion
7 7 (1.04%) React Native
7 7 (1.04%) scikit-learn
8 6 (0.89%) RESTful
9 5 (0.74%) CSS3
9 5 (0.74%) HTML5
9 5 (0.74%) Kafka
9 5 (0.74%) Matplotlib
9 5 (0.74%) PyTorch
9 5 (0.74%) XGBoost
9 5 (0.74%) XML
10 4 (0.59%) FastAPI
Miscellaneous
1 33 (4.88%) Product Ownership
2 23 (3.40%) Legacy Systems
3 22 (3.25%) IoT
3 22 (3.25%) Self-Motivation
4 19 (2.81%) EPoS
4 19 (2.81%) Mobile App
5 17 (2.51%) Onboarding
6 15 (2.22%) FMCG
7 12 (1.78%) Cloud Native
8 11 (1.63%) Analytical Mindset
9 10 (1.48%) Management Information System
10 9 (1.33%) Data Structures
11 8 (1.18%) Algorithms
11 8 (1.18%) Data Centre
11 8 (1.18%) Driving Licence
12 7 (1.04%) Greenfield Project
13 6 (0.89%) Replication
13 6 (0.89%) Social Media
14 5 (0.74%) Enterprise Software
14 5 (0.74%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 40 (5.92%) Windows
2 8 (1.18%) Linux
3 7 (1.04%) Mac OS
4 6 (0.89%) Apple iOS
5 3 (0.44%) Android
5 3 (0.44%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.30%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.15%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.15%) Mac OS X
7 1 (0.15%) VMS
7 1 (0.15%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 153 (22.63%) Stakeholder Management
2 152 (22.49%) Agile
3 95 (14.05%) Problem-Solving
4 79 (11.69%) E-Commerce
5 71 (10.50%) Project Management
6 70 (10.36%) Analytics
7 59 (8.73%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 58 (8.58%) Roadmaps
9 56 (8.28%) Customer Experience
10 53 (7.84%) Continuous Improvement
11 51 (7.54%) CRM
12 50 (7.40%) Migration
12 50 (7.40%) Workshop Facilitation
13 48 (7.10%) AI
13 48 (7.10%) DevOps
14 44 (6.51%) ERP
14 44 (6.51%) Project Delivery
15 41 (6.07%) Business Intelligence
15 41 (6.07%) Data Modelling
16 40 (5.92%) Logistics
Programming Languages
1 60 (8.88%) Python
2 51 (7.54%) SQL
3 19 (2.81%) JavaScript
4 12 (1.78%) Java
4 12 (1.78%) PowerShell
5 10 (1.48%) Bash
6 8 (1.18%) C#
6 8 (1.18%) TypeScript
7 7 (1.04%) Kusto Query Language
8 3 (0.44%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 3 (0.44%) PL/SQL
9 2 (0.30%) ABAP
9 2 (0.30%) PHP
9 2 (0.30%) R
9 2 (0.30%) Swift
9 2 (0.30%) VBA
10 1 (0.15%) ProC
10 1 (0.15%) REXX
10 1 (0.15%) VB
10 1 (0.15%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 32 (4.73%) Degree
2 19 (2.81%) PMP
3 16 (2.37%) PMI Certification
4 12 (1.78%) Security Cleared
5 9 (1.33%) Computer Science Degree
6 6 (0.89%) Master's Degree
7 5 (0.74%) CISSP
8 4 (0.59%) ITIL Certification
8 4 (0.59%) Microsoft Certification
9 3 (0.44%) ACCA
9 3 (0.44%) CISM
10 2 (0.30%) CCIE
10 2 (0.30%) CCNP
10 2 (0.30%) Cisco Certification
10 2 (0.30%) CRISC
10 2 (0.30%) GIAC
10 2 (0.30%) MBA
10 2 (0.30%) SC Cleared
10 2 (0.30%) Six Sigma Green Belt
10 2 (0.30%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (3.55%) QA
2 17 (2.51%) GDPR
3 14 (2.07%) Data Quality
4 11 (1.63%) SLA
5 10 (1.48%) Accessibility
6 7 (1.04%) PMO
7 5 (0.74%) Actionable Recommendations
8 4 (0.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 3 (0.44%) GRC
9 3 (0.44%) NIST
9 3 (0.44%) PCI DSS
9 3 (0.44%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 2 (0.30%) COBIT
10 2 (0.30%) IFRS
10 2 (0.30%) MiFID
10 2 (0.30%) NCSC
11 1 (0.15%) FATCA
11 1 (0.15%) IFRS 9
11 1 (0.15%) SEPA
11 1 (0.15%) Solvency II
System Software
1 11 (1.63%) Active Directory
1 11 (1.63%) Docker
2 2 (0.30%) Virtual Desktop
2 2 (0.30%) VMware Infrastructure
2 2 (0.30%) VMware NSX
3 1 (0.15%) RACF
3 1 (0.15%) Varnish
3 1 (0.15%) VMware ESXi
3 1 (0.15%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 16 (2.37%) Terraform
2 13 (1.92%) Kubernetes
3 6 (0.89%) Ansible
4 5 (0.74%) Microsoft Intune
5 4 (0.59%) Grafana
5 4 (0.59%) Jamf Pro
5 4 (0.59%) SCCM
6 3 (0.44%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.30%) Prometheus
8 1 (0.15%) AirWatch
8 1 (0.15%) Cacti
8 1 (0.15%) Control-M
8 1 (0.15%) Nmap
8 1 (0.15%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.15%) ZABBIX
8 1 (0.15%) zSecure
Vendors
1 75 (11.09%) Microsoft
2 65 (9.62%) SAP
3 42 (6.21%) Salesforce
4 37 (5.47%) Oracle
5 21 (3.11%) Google
6 15 (2.22%) Adobe
7 13 (1.92%) Databricks
8 12 (1.78%) HP
9 6 (0.89%) Apple
9 6 (0.89%) Dell
9 6 (0.89%) ServiceNow
9 6 (0.89%) Splunk
9 6 (0.89%) Workday
10 5 (0.74%) Cisco
10 5 (0.74%) Sitecore
10 5 (0.74%) VMware
11 4 (0.59%) CheckPoint
11 4 (0.59%) F5
11 4 (0.59%) Qualys
12 3 (0.44%) Meraki