Retail Contract Job Trends

Retailing
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Retail in contract job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Retail over the 6 months leading up to 17 June 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 95 109 83
Rank change year-on-year +14 -26 +8
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,236 734 1,086
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.46% 2.47% 2.49%
As % of the General category 4.54% 3.89% 4.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 726 377 607
10th Percentile £244 £308 £300
25th Percentile £410 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £505
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% +1.49% -5.43%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £638
90th Percentile £738 £725 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -3.85%
Number of hourly rates quoted 89 31 87
10th Percentile £13.21 £13.90 £11.50
25th Percentile £15.75 £15.25 £12.15
Median hourly rate £21.00 £22.50 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year -6.67% +40.63% -19.23%
75th Percentile £22.50 £52.50 £21.37
90th Percentile £43.75 £87.50 £21.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £17.21 £15.50 £15.95
% change year-on-year +11.03% -2.82% -19.49%

All General Skills
UK

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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 27,204 18,850 24,852
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 54.06% 63.51% 57.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 16,432 11,891 15,566
10th Percentile £313 £281 £275
25th Percentile £413 £402 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £514 £504 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.98% -4.00% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £768
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £473 £488
% change year-on-year +5.82% -3.08% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,828 900 2,007
10th Percentile £13.99 £13.46 £12.78
25th Percentile £18.24 £16.67 £15.50
Median hourly rate £32.00 £27.85 £31.00
Median % change year-on-year +14.90% -10.16% +1.51%
75th Percentile £60.71 £53.96 £52.78
90th Percentile £80.07 £75.00 £67.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.48 £24.34 £29.75
% change year-on-year +29.33% -18.18% +12.26%

Retail
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Retail job vacancy trend in the UK

Retail
Daily Rate Trend

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Retail

Retail
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Retail over the 6 months to 17 June 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Retail in the UK

Retail
Hourly Rate Trend

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Retail

Retail
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Retail over the 6 months to 17 June 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Retail in the UK

Retail
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Retail within the UK over the 6 months to 17 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
England +7 1,131 £525 - 1,880
London +18 652 £550 - 463
UK excluding London +2 494 £500 - 1,809
Work from Home -25 273 £500 - 1,358
South East +3 150 £525 -1.18% 460
North of England -35 135 £513 +2.50% 385
Midlands -18 95 £495 +10.00% 283
North West 0 87 £563 +12.50% 188
East of England +3 53 £523 -4.86% 249
East Midlands -3 53 £495 +7.03% 156
Yorkshire -57 45 £500 - 135
West Midlands -31 42 £500 +12.68% 127
South West -19 33 £333 -26.11% 139
Scotland -2 22 £500 -6.10% 163
Northern Ireland +4 3 £196 -42.66% 91
Wales -13 3 £190 +29.52% 77
North East -32 3 £173 -76.98% 66

Retail
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 35 (2.83%) Confluence
2 17 (1.38%) CMS
3 15 (1.21%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 12 (0.97%) Apache Airflow
5 8 (0.65%) SharePoint
6 5 (0.40%) SAS
7 3 (0.24%) WebSphere
8 2 (0.16%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.16%) CICS
9 1 (0.081%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 33 (2.67%) Microsoft Excel
2 25 (2.02%) Microsoft Office
3 16 (1.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 16 (1.29%) Microsoft Project
4 13 (1.05%) Chatbot
5 11 (0.89%) MS Visio
6 10 (0.81%) Photoshop
7 8 (0.65%) Adobe Illustrator
8 7 (0.57%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 5 (0.40%) InDesign
10 3 (0.24%) Notion
10 3 (0.24%) Spreadsheet
11 2 (0.16%) UserZoom
12 1 (0.081%) 3ds Max
12 1 (0.081%) Adobe After Effects
12 1 (0.081%) Adobe XD
12 1 (0.081%) Maya
12 1 (0.081%) PlantUML
12 1 (0.081%) SOLIDWORKS
12 1 (0.081%) Trello
Business Applications
1 24 (1.94%) SAP S/4HANA
2 23 (1.86%) Shopify
3 14 (1.13%) Dynamics CRM
4 9 (0.73%) SAP Retail
5 7 (0.57%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 7 (0.57%) Oracle Retail
5 7 (0.57%) SAP CRM
6 6 (0.49%) Finacle
7 5 (0.40%) NetSuite
7 5 (0.40%) Oracle EBS
7 5 (0.40%) SAP MDG
8 4 (0.32%) Magento
8 4 (0.32%) Salesforce CRM
9 3 (0.24%) Payment Gateway
9 3 (0.24%) SAP CAR
9 3 (0.24%) SAP SD
10 2 (0.16%) Dynamics AX
10 2 (0.16%) Sage X3
10 2 (0.16%) SAP ERP
10 2 (0.16%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 133 (10.76%) Azure
2 107 (8.66%) AWS
3 73 (5.91%) GCP
4 61 (4.94%) Power Platform
5 44 (3.56%) Snowflake
6 27 (2.18%) GitHub
7 23 (1.86%) Dynamics 365
8 20 (1.62%) Azure DevOps
9 19 (1.54%) Entra ID
9 19 (1.54%) GitHub Actions
10 17 (1.38%) Figma
11 16 (1.29%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
12 13 (1.05%) Azure Data Factory
12 13 (1.05%) dbt
13 12 (0.97%) BigCommerce
13 12 (0.97%) Microsoft 365
13 12 (0.97%) SaaS
14 11 (0.89%) Cloud Run
14 11 (0.89%) Google Workspace
15 9 (0.73%) Azure Synapse Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 13 (1.05%) ATM
1 13 (1.05%) WAN
2 12 (0.97%) Firewall
3 11 (0.89%) Network Security
4 10 (0.81%) VPN
4 10 (0.81%) Wireless
5 9 (0.73%) RFID
6 7 (0.57%) LAN
7 6 (0.49%) Cisco Firepower
7 6 (0.49%) SD-WAN
7 6 (0.49%) Wi-Fi
8 5 (0.40%) Cisco ASA
8 5 (0.40%) Cisco Nexus
8 5 (0.40%) VSAN
9 4 (0.32%) BGP
9 4 (0.32%) IPsec
9 4 (0.32%) OSPF
10 3 (0.24%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
10 3 (0.24%) MPLS
10 3 (0.24%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 58 (4.69%) Power BI
2 31 (2.51%) BigQuery
3 22 (1.78%) Data Warehouse
4 19 (1.54%) MySQL
5 18 (1.46%) Tableau
6 17 (1.38%) SQL Server
7 16 (1.29%) Metadata
8 12 (0.97%) Data Lake
9 11 (0.89%) NoSQL
10 9 (0.73%) Relational Database
11 6 (0.49%) Data Vault
11 6 (0.49%) MongoDB
11 6 (0.49%) PostgreSQL
11 6 (0.49%) Snowflake Schema
12 5 (0.40%) Power Query
13 4 (0.32%) Big Data
13 4 (0.32%) Looker
13 4 (0.32%) Semantic Layer
14 3 (0.24%) Couchbase
14 3 (0.24%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 75 (6.07%) JIRA
2 24 (1.94%) Git
3 16 (1.29%) Jenkins
4 11 (0.89%) GitLab
5 4 (0.32%) Maven
5 4 (0.32%) Subversion
6 3 (0.24%) Cypress.io
6 3 (0.24%) Eclipse
6 3 (0.24%) ERwin
6 3 (0.24%) Hudson
6 3 (0.24%) JMeter
6 3 (0.24%) Selenium
6 3 (0.24%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.16%) git-flow
7 2 (0.16%) MLflow
7 2 (0.16%) Postman
7 2 (0.16%) WebDriver
7 2 (0.16%) webpack
8 1 (0.081%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.081%) Oracle APEX
General
1 350 (28.32%) Social Skills
2 293 (23.71%) Finance
3 116 (9.39%) Analytical Skills
4 113 (9.14%) Banking
5 72 (5.83%) Marketing
6 60 (4.85%) Organisational Skills
7 59 (4.77%) Manufacturing
7 59 (4.77%) Retail Banking
8 47 (3.80%) Investment Banking
9 43 (3.48%) Corporate Banking
10 28 (2.27%) Public Sector
11 27 (2.18%) Telecoms
12 26 (2.10%) Documentation Skills
13 22 (1.78%) Presentation Skills
14 21 (1.70%) French Language
14 21 (1.70%) Legal
15 19 (1.54%) Influencing Skills
16 16 (1.29%) Advertising
17 15 (1.21%) Spanish Language
18 14 (1.13%) Private Banking
Job Titles
1 188 (15.21%) Architect
2 179 (14.48%) Analyst
3 151 (12.22%) Senior
4 116 (9.39%) Project Manager
5 102 (8.25%) Business Analyst
6 97 (7.85%) Lead
7 88 (7.12%) Solutions Architect
8 59 (4.77%) Senior Manager
9 48 (3.88%) Developer
10 42 (3.40%) Technical Manager
11 41 (3.32%) Designer
12 37 (2.99%) Consultant
12 37 (2.99%) Enterprise Architect
13 35 (2.83%) Product Manager
14 34 (2.75%) Senior Project Manager
15 28 (2.27%) Data Engineer
16 27 (2.18%) 2nd Line Support
17 26 (2.10%) Data Analyst
17 26 (2.10%) Data Architect
18 25 (2.02%) Programme Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (3.48%) REST
2 33 (2.67%) Middleware
3 31 (2.51%) React
4 27 (2.18%) Spring
5 26 (2.10%) VML
6 21 (1.70%) Node.js
6 21 (1.70%) Spring Boot
7 20 (1.62%) Kafka
8 16 (1.29%) CSS
8 16 (1.29%) HTML
9 15 (1.21%) RESTful
10 14 (1.13%) AngularJS
11 11 (0.89%) MACH
12 10 (0.81%) .NET
12 10 (0.81%) J2EE
12 10 (0.81%) OAuth
13 8 (0.65%) Django
13 8 (0.65%) OAuth2
13 8 (0.65%) OpenID
13 8 (0.65%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 74 (5.99%) Product Ownership
2 45 (3.64%) EPoS
3 43 (3.48%) FMCG
4 42 (3.40%) Driving Licence
5 39 (3.16%) Cloud Native
6 35 (2.83%) Onboarding
7 21 (1.70%) Data Structures
8 20 (1.62%) Data Centre
9 19 (1.54%) Mainframe
9 19 (1.54%) Mobile App
10 18 (1.46%) Legacy Systems
10 18 (1.46%) Self-Motivation
11 15 (1.21%) AI Agents
11 15 (1.21%) Management Information System
11 15 (1.21%) Marketing Technology
12 14 (1.13%) Greenfield Project
13 11 (0.89%) Operational Technology
13 11 (0.89%) Smartphone
14 10 (0.81%) Virtual Team
15 9 (0.73%) Mobile Payment
Operating Systems
1 52 (4.21%) Windows
2 24 (1.94%) Linux
3 11 (0.89%) Android
4 8 (0.65%) Unix
5 7 (0.57%) zOS
6 6 (0.49%) Mac OS
7 5 (0.40%) Windows Server
8 4 (0.32%) Apple iOS
9 3 (0.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (0.24%) Ubuntu
9 3 (0.24%) Windows 10
10 1 (0.081%) Debian
10 1 (0.081%) SUSE
10 1 (0.081%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
10 1 (0.081%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 276 (22.33%) Agile
2 269 (21.76%) Stakeholder Management
3 187 (15.13%) Problem-Solving
4 175 (14.16%) E-Commerce
5 153 (12.38%) Migration
6 145 (11.73%) Roadmaps
7 126 (10.19%) Analytics
8 120 (9.71%) Customer Experience
9 117 (9.47%) Project Management
10 106 (8.58%) AI
11 105 (8.50%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 93 (7.52%) ERP
13 87 (7.04%) Decision-Making
13 87 (7.04%) Project Delivery
14 86 (6.96%) Change Management
14 86 (6.96%) Continuous Improvement
15 85 (6.88%) Scrum
15 85 (6.88%) User Acceptance Testing
16 84 (6.80%) CI/CD
17 80 (6.47%) Workshop Facilitation
Programming Languages
1 99 (8.01%) SQL
2 75 (6.07%) Python
3 49 (3.96%) Java
4 26 (2.10%) JavaScript
5 18 (1.46%) TypeScript
6 10 (0.81%) Shell Script
7 9 (0.73%) C#
7 9 (0.73%) PowerShell
8 7 (0.57%) SOQL
9 6 (0.49%) Bash
9 6 (0.49%) Kotlin
10 5 (0.40%) Apex Code
10 5 (0.40%) Bicep
10 5 (0.40%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 5 (0.40%) PL/SQL
10 5 (0.40%) SOSL
11 4 (0.32%) Scala
12 3 (0.24%) Groovy
12 3 (0.24%) Kusto Query Language
12 3 (0.24%) R
Qualifications
1 53 (4.29%) Degree
2 41 (3.32%) Security Cleared
3 29 (2.35%) SC Cleared
4 18 (1.46%) PMP
5 10 (0.81%) DBS Check
5 10 (0.81%) PMI Certification
6 9 (0.73%) BPSS Clearance
6 9 (0.73%) Computer Science Degree
7 8 (0.65%) CISSP
8 7 (0.57%) APMP
8 7 (0.57%) Master's Degree
9 5 (0.40%) CCNP
9 5 (0.40%) CCSE
9 5 (0.40%) CCSM
9 5 (0.40%) Cisco Certification
9 5 (0.40%) CISM
9 5 (0.40%) CSPO
9 5 (0.40%) MBA
10 4 (0.32%) City & Guilds
10 4 (0.32%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 61 (4.94%) QA
2 54 (4.37%) Data Quality
3 38 (3.07%) GDPR
4 32 (2.59%) PMO
5 17 (1.38%) Accessibility
6 15 (1.21%) PCI DSS
7 12 (0.97%) SLA
8 8 (0.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 6 (0.49%) NIST
10 3 (0.24%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 3 (0.24%) PSD2
11 2 (0.16%) Actionable Recommendations
11 2 (0.16%) GAAP
11 2 (0.16%) GRC
11 2 (0.16%) IFRS
11 2 (0.16%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.16%) WCAG
12 1 (0.081%) Basel III
12 1 (0.081%) COBIT
12 1 (0.081%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 26 (2.10%) Docker
2 23 (1.86%) Active Directory
3 6 (0.49%) Virtual Desktop
3 6 (0.49%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (0.49%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (0.40%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.16%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.081%) Firmware
6 1 (0.081%) RACF
Systems Management
1 34 (2.75%) Terraform
2 25 (2.02%) Kubernetes
3 13 (1.05%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
4 6 (0.49%) Ansible
4 6 (0.49%) Argo
4 6 (0.49%) Istio
4 6 (0.49%) Microsoft Intune
5 5 (0.40%) Grafana
5 5 (0.40%) SCCM
5 5 (0.40%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (0.24%) FortiGate
7 2 (0.16%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 2 (0.16%) CA Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.16%) MOM
7 2 (0.16%) PingFederate
8 1 (0.081%) CSIRT
8 1 (0.081%) Nagios
8 1 (0.081%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.081%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 102 (8.25%) Microsoft
2 83 (6.72%) SAP
3 74 (5.99%) Oracle
4 59 (4.77%) Google
5 54 (4.37%) Salesforce
6 42 (3.40%) Databricks
7 34 (2.75%) Adobe
8 22 (1.78%) ServiceNow
9 15 (1.21%) Cisco
9 15 (1.21%) IFS
10 14 (1.13%) Sitecore
11 13 (1.05%) IBM
11 13 (1.05%) Splunk
12 12 (0.97%) Zscaler
13 10 (0.81%) Fortinet
13 10 (0.81%) MuleSoft
13 10 (0.81%) Palo Alto
13 10 (0.81%) VMware
14 8 (0.65%) Dynatrace
15 7 (0.57%) Workday