Retail Contract Job Trends in the South East

Retailing
England > South East

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Retail in contract job vacancies in the South East. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Retail over the 6 months leading up to 28 June 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 84 95 91
Rank change year-on-year +11 -4 +20
Contract jobs citing Retail 157 61 120
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 2.51% 1.96% 2.10%
As % of the General category 5.03% 3.23% 4.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 85 30 67
10th Percentile £189 £209 £263
25th Percentile £311 £366 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £475
Median % change year-on-year - +15.79% -13.64%
75th Percentile £738 £609 £619
90th Percentile - £719 £733
England median daily rate £538 £525 £525
% change year-on-year +2.38% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 3 7
10th Percentile £16.17 £16.45 £11.00
25th Percentile £16.80 £18.25 £13.50
Median hourly rate £21.25 £22.50 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year -5.56% +40.63% -27.80%
75th Percentile £22.50 £28.25 -
90th Percentile £22.63 £30.95 £19.30
England median hourly rate £21.00 £16.30 £16.00
% change year-on-year +28.83% +1.88% -19.23%

All General Skills
South East

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 the South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 3,124 1,888 2,790
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 50.02% 60.55% 48.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,798 1,177 1,516
10th Percentile £263 £209 £213
25th Percentile £402 £363 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £503 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +0.55% - -
75th Percentile £613 £600 £608
90th Percentile £700 £675 £688
England median daily rate £525 £520 £535
% change year-on-year +1.01% -2.85% -2.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 413 159 342
10th Percentile £13.99 £13.00 £12.88
25th Percentile £21.35 £14.42 £18.32
Median hourly rate £47.54 £19.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year +150.21% -57.78% -10.00%
75th Percentile £82.25 £53.75 £61.60
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.00 £72.14
England median hourly rate £32.50 £27.76 £32.90
% change year-on-year +17.07% -15.61% +9.65%

Retail
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

Retail job vacancy trend in the South East

Retail
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Retail.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Retail

Retail
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Retail in the South East over the 6 months to 28 June 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Retail in the South East

Retail
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Retail.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Retail

Retail
Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Retail within the South East region over the 6 months to 28 June 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
Thames Valley -4 82 £619 +17.86% 79
Hampshire +14 53 £321 -44.18% 23
Berkshire +3 52 £725 +29.46% 32
Buckinghamshire -31 23 £203 -52.35% 36
Kent +4 9 £390 -5.98% 15
Oxfordshire - 7 £525 - 13
Surrey -22 6 £375 -28.57% 39
West Sussex -16 3 £550 +175.00% 8
Home Counties 0 2 £650 -
Retail
England

Retail
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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 3 (1.91%) Confluence
2 1 (0.64%) Adobe Experience Manager
2 1 (0.64%) CMS
Applications
1 3 (1.91%) Microsoft Excel
1 3 (1.91%) Microsoft Office
1 3 (1.91%) Microsoft Project
2 1 (0.64%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (0.64%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 4 (2.55%) Oracle Retail
2 1 (0.64%) Cognos Controller
2 1 (0.64%) IBM Planning Analytics
2 1 (0.64%) Oracle ERP
2 1 (0.64%) Oracle Payables
2 1 (0.64%) Oracle Receivables
2 1 (0.64%) Sage X3
2 1 (0.64%) Salesforce CRM
2 1 (0.64%) SAP ERP
2 1 (0.64%) SAP Hybris
2 1 (0.64%) SAP MDG
2 1 (0.64%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.64%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 17 (10.83%) Power Platform
2 12 (7.64%) Azure
3 6 (3.82%) AWS
4 5 (3.18%) Azure Sentinel
5 3 (1.91%) SaaS
6 2 (1.27%) Dynamics 365
7 1 (0.64%) iPaaS
7 1 (0.64%) Salsify
7 1 (0.64%) SAP Commerce Cloud
7 1 (0.64%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 7 (4.46%) ATM
2 5 (3.18%) Cisco ASA
2 5 (3.18%) Cisco Firepower
2 5 (3.18%) Cisco Nexus
2 5 (3.18%) VPN
2 5 (3.18%) VSAN
3 4 (2.55%) Firewall
3 4 (2.55%) RFID
4 2 (1.27%) Wi-Fi
5 1 (0.64%) Broadband
5 1 (0.64%) DHCP
5 1 (0.64%) LAN
5 1 (0.64%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (10.83%) Power BI
2 1 (0.64%) Metadata
2 1 (0.64%) Oracle ODI
Development Applications
1 10 (6.37%) JIRA
2 2 (1.27%) Postman
3 1 (0.64%) MSI
General
1 44 (28.03%) Finance
2 32 (20.38%) Analytical Skills
3 30 (19.11%) Social Skills
4 16 (10.19%) French Language
4 16 (10.19%) Spanish Language
5 14 (8.92%) Documentation Skills
6 10 (6.37%) Public Sector
7 8 (5.10%) Manufacturing
8 5 (3.18%) Banking
8 5 (3.18%) Telecoms
9 4 (2.55%) Legal
10 3 (1.91%) Automotive
10 3 (1.91%) Marketing
11 2 (1.27%) Local Government
11 2 (1.27%) Retail Banking
12 1 (0.64%) German Language
12 1 (0.64%) Influencing Skills
12 1 (0.64%) Organisational Skills
12 1 (0.64%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 37 (23.57%) Architect
2 36 (22.93%) Solutions Architect
3 18 (11.46%) Lead
4 17 (10.83%) Analyst
5 16 (10.19%) 2nd Line Support
5 16 (10.19%) 2nd Line Technical Support
5 16 (10.19%) Technical Support
6 12 (7.64%) Supply Chain Architect
7 9 (5.73%) Dynamics 365 Architect
7 9 (5.73%) Dynamics 365 Solution Architect
7 9 (5.73%) ERP Architect
8 7 (4.46%) Project Manager
9 6 (3.82%) Business Analyst
10 5 (3.18%) Network Engineer
10 5 (3.18%) NOC Engineer
10 5 (3.18%) Oracle Architect
10 5 (3.18%) Oracle Solutions Architect
10 5 (3.18%) PMO Analyst
10 5 (3.18%) Programme Manager
10 5 (3.18%) Senior Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (4.46%) MACH
2 6 (3.82%) RESTful
3 4 (2.55%) Middleware
4 2 (1.27%) .NET
4 2 (1.27%) .NET Core
4 2 (1.27%) .NET Framework
4 2 (1.27%) AngularJS
4 2 (1.27%) Blazor
4 2 (1.27%) JSON
4 2 (1.27%) Razor View Engine
4 2 (1.27%) XML
5 1 (0.64%) Oracle Fusion
5 1 (0.64%) REST
5 1 (0.64%) SOAP
5 1 (0.64%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 11 (7.01%) EPoS
2 10 (6.37%) Data Centre
3 8 (5.10%) Driving Licence
4 5 (3.18%) Smartphone
5 4 (2.55%) FMCG
5 4 (2.55%) Onboarding
6 3 (1.91%) Enterprise Software
6 3 (1.91%) Greenfield Project
7 2 (1.27%) Data Structures
7 2 (1.27%) Learning Management System
7 2 (1.27%) Product Ownership
7 2 (1.27%) Self-Motivation
8 1 (0.64%) AI Agents
8 1 (0.64%) Digital Signage
8 1 (0.64%) Hybrid Cloud
8 1 (0.64%) Legacy Systems
8 1 (0.64%) Life Science
8 1 (0.64%) Robotics
8 1 (0.64%) Taxonomies
8 1 (0.64%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 28 (17.83%) Windows
2 7 (4.46%) Linux
3 4 (2.55%) Windows Server
4 3 (1.91%) Windows 10
5 2 (1.27%) Debian
5 2 (1.27%) Ubuntu
6 1 (0.64%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.64%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 42 (26.75%) Stakeholder Management
2 41 (26.11%) Problem-Solving
3 32 (20.38%) Change Management
4 31 (19.75%) ERP
5 28 (17.83%) Customer Service
6 23 (14.65%) Customer Experience
7 22 (14.01%) Business Intelligence
7 22 (14.01%) Migration
8 20 (12.74%) Continuous Improvement
8 20 (12.74%) Project Delivery
8 20 (12.74%) Roadmaps
9 16 (10.19%) Agile
9 16 (10.19%) Process Improvement
9 16 (10.19%) User Acceptance Testing
9 16 (10.19%) Validation
10 14 (8.92%) Requirements Gathering
10 14 (8.92%) Scenario Testing
11 13 (8.28%) Data Cleansing
11 13 (8.28%) Data Protection
12 12 (7.64%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 19 (12.10%) SQL
2 2 (1.27%) C#
2 2 (1.27%) PL/SQL
2 2 (1.27%) PowerShell
2 2 (1.27%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 7 (4.46%) Degree
2 5 (3.18%) CCNP
2 5 (3.18%) CCSE
2 5 (3.18%) CCSM
2 5 (3.18%) Cisco Certification
3 2 (1.27%) DBS Check
4 1 (0.64%) PMP
4 1 (0.64%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (12.10%) GDPR
2 10 (6.37%) PMO
3 5 (3.18%) SLA
4 4 (2.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 3 (1.91%) QA
6 2 (1.27%) Data Quality
7 1 (0.64%) GAAP
7 1 (0.64%) IFRS
7 1 (0.64%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 6 (3.82%) VMware Infrastructure
2 5 (3.18%) VMware ESXi
3 4 (2.55%) Active Directory
4 1 (0.64%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 4 (2.55%) Microsoft Intune
2 2 (1.27%) AirWatch
2 2 (1.27%) Kubernetes
2 2 (1.27%) MOM
3 1 (0.64%) SCCM
3 1 (0.64%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 14 (8.92%) Oracle
2 13 (8.28%) IFS
3 8 (5.10%) VMware
4 6 (3.82%) Microsoft
4 6 (3.82%) Palo Alto
4 6 (3.82%) SAP
5 5 (3.18%) CheckPoint
5 5 (3.18%) Cisco
5 5 (3.18%) Fortinet
6 3 (1.91%) Salesforce
7 2 (1.27%) Adobe
7 2 (1.27%) Apple
8 1 (0.64%) Cognos
8 1 (0.64%) IBM
8 1 (0.64%) Informatica
8 1 (0.64%) Meraki
8 1 (0.64%) Sage
8 1 (0.64%) Samsung
8 1 (0.64%) Workday
8 1 (0.64%) Zscaler