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 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 148 91 93
Rank change year-on-year -57 +2 -4
Contract jobs citing Retail 800 822 1,026
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.85% 2.80% 2.31%
As % of the General category 3.25% 4.46% 3.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 506 437 593
10th Percentile £191 £291 £278
25th Percentile £358 £413 £390
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £638
90th Percentile £706 £750 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £463 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -7.50% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 17 66
10th Percentile £12.79 £16.98 £11.09
25th Percentile £13.60 £21.25 £12.15
Median hourly rate £16.92 £32.50 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year -47.94% +103.13% -19.23%
75th Percentile £40.44 £55.25 £21.37
90th Percentile £53.85 £81.50 £21.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.42 £22.50 £14.62
% change year-on-year -27.03% +53.95% -26.22%

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 24,606 18,417 25,991
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.99% 62.72% 58.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,367 11,703 16,637
10th Percentile £300 £296 £263
25th Percentile £405 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £623 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £490
% change year-on-year - -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,508 665 1,809
10th Percentile £13.67 £15.23 £12.84
25th Percentile £17.00 £20.12 £15.38
Median hourly rate £24.55 £30.00 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year -18.17% +15.38% -25.71%
75th Percentile £56.97 £60.00 £50.00
90th Percentile £76.25 £75.85 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.00 £27.70 £25.00
% change year-on-year -16.97% +10.80% -16.67%

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 March 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 March 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 March 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 -55 719 £500 -4.76% 1,028
London -42 401 £538 -3.59% 318
UK excluding London -42 329 £463 -7.50% 878
Work from Home -71 194 £488 -7.14% 359
South East -33 97 £416 -23.45% 254
North of England -47 81 £500 +11.11% 213
Midlands -39 70 £495 -1.00% 184
East Midlands -10 42 £495 -1.00% 105
North West -33 41 £525 +16.67% 108
Yorkshire -34 36 £506 +26.56% 88
East of England -21 35 £526 +0.24% 87
West Midlands -65 27 £463 -11.90% 79
Scotland +14 23 £450 -15.49% 58
South West -16 19 £261 -26.41% 69
North East -9 4 £206 - 19
Northern Ireland -6 2 £190 -44.48% 11
Wales -12 2 £235 +60.19% 28

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 36 (4.50%) Confluence
2 16 (2.00%) SharePoint
3 13 (1.63%) CMS
4 12 (1.50%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 12 (1.50%) Apache Airflow
5 4 (0.50%) WordPress
6 3 (0.38%) Jupyter
6 3 (0.38%) Microsoft Exchange
6 3 (0.38%) SAS
7 2 (0.25%) Magnolia
8 1 (0.13%) SharePoint Server
8 1 (0.13%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.13%) WebSphere
8 1 (0.13%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 25 (3.13%) Microsoft Excel
2 17 (2.13%) Microsoft Project
3 13 (1.63%) Chatbot
3 13 (1.63%) Microsoft Office
4 12 (1.50%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 10 (1.25%) MS Visio
6 3 (0.38%) Photoshop
7 2 (0.25%) Adobe Illustrator
7 2 (0.25%) Trello
8 1 (0.13%) 3ds Max
8 1 (0.13%) Adobe After Effects
8 1 (0.13%) Adobe XD
8 1 (0.13%) InDesign
8 1 (0.13%) Maya
8 1 (0.13%) SOLIDWORKS
8 1 (0.13%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.13%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 17 (2.13%) SAP S/4HANA
2 15 (1.88%) Shopify
3 12 (1.50%) Dynamics CRM
3 12 (1.50%) SAP Retail
4 8 (1.00%) Oracle Retail
5 6 (0.75%) Finacle
5 6 (0.75%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 5 (0.63%) SAP Payroll
7 4 (0.50%) ResourceLink
7 4 (0.50%) SAP MDG
7 4 (0.50%) Temenos T24
8 3 (0.38%) SAP MM
8 3 (0.38%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
9 2 (0.25%) BambooHR
9 2 (0.25%) NetSuite
9 2 (0.25%) Sage X3
9 2 (0.25%) Sprinklr
10 1 (0.13%) Payment Gateway
10 1 (0.13%) SAP CAR
10 1 (0.13%) SAP Hybris
Cloud Services
1 89 (11.13%) Azure
2 56 (7.00%) AWS
3 52 (6.50%) Power Platform
4 44 (5.50%) GCP
5 24 (3.00%) Azure DevOps
6 22 (2.75%) Dynamics 365
7 21 (2.63%) Snowflake
8 20 (2.50%) GitHub
9 17 (2.13%) Microsoft 365
10 14 (1.75%) GitHub Actions
11 13 (1.63%) SaaS
12 12 (1.50%) Google Workspace
13 11 (1.38%) Azure Data Factory
13 11 (1.38%) Cloud Run
13 11 (1.38%) Figma
14 10 (1.25%) Entra ID
14 10 (1.25%) Miro
15 9 (1.13%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
15 9 (1.13%) Serverless
16 8 (1.00%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 14 (1.75%) RFID
2 13 (1.63%) VPN
3 11 (1.38%) Firewall
3 11 (1.38%) WAN
4 10 (1.25%) Wireless
5 8 (1.00%) NFC
6 7 (0.88%) LAN
7 6 (0.75%) Wi-Fi
8 5 (0.63%) Cisco Nexus
9 4 (0.50%) BGP
9 4 (0.50%) EIGRP
9 4 (0.50%) OSPF
9 4 (0.50%) VoIP
10 3 (0.38%) MPLS
11 2 (0.25%) Network Security
11 2 (0.25%) SAN
11 2 (0.25%) SD-WAN
11 2 (0.25%) WLAN
12 1 (0.13%) FTP
12 1 (0.13%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 44 (5.50%) Power BI
2 20 (2.50%) BigQuery
3 17 (2.13%) Data Warehouse
4 13 (1.63%) SQL Server
4 13 (1.63%) Tableau
5 12 (1.50%) MySQL
6 11 (1.38%) Metadata
7 7 (0.88%) Data Lake
7 7 (0.88%) Data Vault
8 6 (0.75%) Delta Lake
8 6 (0.75%) PostgreSQL
9 5 (0.63%) NoSQL
9 5 (0.63%) Oracle Reports
10 4 (0.50%) MongoDB
10 4 (0.50%) Redis
10 4 (0.50%) Relational Database
10 4 (0.50%) Snowflake Schema
10 4 (0.50%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 3 (0.38%) Oracle Database
11 3 (0.38%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 74 (9.25%) JIRA
2 15 (1.88%) Git
3 10 (1.25%) GitLab
3 10 (1.25%) Jenkins
4 5 (0.63%) ERwin
5 4 (0.50%) Maven
5 4 (0.50%) MLflow
6 3 (0.38%) Selenium
6 3 (0.38%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.25%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.25%) PowerDesigner
7 2 (0.25%) WebDriver
8 1 (0.13%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.13%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.13%) Gatling
8 1 (0.13%) JMeter
8 1 (0.13%) Mockito
8 1 (0.13%) Oracle APEX
8 1 (0.13%) Xcode
8 1 (0.13%) Zephyr
General
1 269 (33.63%) Social Skills
2 187 (23.38%) Finance
3 86 (10.75%) Analytical Skills
4 78 (9.75%) Banking
5 58 (7.25%) Marketing
6 37 (4.63%) Public Sector
7 35 (4.38%) Retail Banking
8 33 (4.13%) Manufacturing
9 32 (4.00%) Investment Banking
10 30 (3.75%) Corporate Banking
10 30 (3.75%) Organisational Skills
11 24 (3.00%) Documentation Skills
11 24 (3.00%) Influencing Skills
12 18 (2.25%) Presentation Skills
13 15 (1.88%) Legal
14 12 (1.50%) Telecoms
15 11 (1.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 9 (1.13%) Financial Institution
17 8 (1.00%) Private Banking
18 7 (0.88%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 136 (17.00%) Analyst
2 108 (13.50%) Project Manager
3 92 (11.50%) Senior
4 88 (11.00%) Architect
5 70 (8.75%) Business Analyst
6 66 (8.25%) Lead
7 39 (4.88%) Senior Manager
8 35 (4.38%) Consultant
9 34 (4.25%) Solutions Architect
10 28 (3.50%) Technical Manager
11 23 (2.88%) Developer
12 22 (2.75%) Senior Project Manager
13 18 (2.25%) Product Manager
13 18 (2.25%) Programme Manager
13 18 (2.25%) Service Manager
14 17 (2.13%) Data Analyst
15 15 (1.88%) Data Architect
16 14 (1.75%) Designer
16 14 (1.75%) E-Commerce Manager
17 13 (1.63%) Data Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (3.13%) REST
2 22 (2.75%) Middleware
3 20 (2.50%) VML
4 17 (2.13%) Spring
5 13 (1.63%) PySpark
5 13 (1.63%) React
6 12 (1.50%) Spring Boot
7 11 (1.38%) AngularJS
8 10 (1.25%) scikit-learn
9 8 (1.00%) .NET
9 8 (1.00%) CSS
9 8 (1.00%) HTML
9 8 (1.00%) Node.js
10 7 (0.88%) Kafka
10 7 (0.88%) PyTorch
11 6 (0.75%) FastAPI
11 6 (0.75%) JSON
11 6 (0.75%) LangChain
11 6 (0.75%) OpenTelemetry
11 6 (0.75%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 49 (6.13%) Product Ownership
2 38 (4.75%) Driving Licence
3 27 (3.38%) EPoS
4 24 (3.00%) Onboarding
4 24 (3.00%) Self-Motivation
5 22 (2.75%) Cloud Native
6 21 (2.63%) Legacy Systems
7 20 (2.50%) Management Information System
8 18 (2.25%) FMCG
9 17 (2.13%) Data Centre
10 16 (2.00%) Data Structures
11 14 (1.75%) Mobile App
12 11 (1.38%) Mainframe
13 9 (1.13%) Algorithms
13 9 (1.13%) IoT
13 9 (1.13%) Virtual Team
14 8 (1.00%) Analytical Mindset
14 8 (1.00%) Reference Data
15 7 (0.88%) Greenfield Project
16 6 (0.75%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 36 (4.50%) Windows
2 18 (2.25%) Linux
3 9 (1.13%) Mac OS
4 5 (0.63%) zOS
5 4 (0.50%) Android
5 4 (0.50%) Apple iOS
5 4 (0.50%) Unix
6 3 (0.38%) Windows Server
7 1 (0.13%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.13%) VMS
7 1 (0.13%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 191 (23.88%) Stakeholder Management
2 187 (23.38%) Agile
3 154 (19.25%) Problem-Solving
4 104 (13.00%) E-Commerce
5 101 (12.63%) Project Management
6 87 (10.88%) Migration
7 80 (10.00%) Analytics
7 80 (10.00%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 78 (9.75%) Roadmaps
9 68 (8.50%) Continuous Improvement
10 67 (8.38%) Customer Experience
11 65 (8.13%) Workshop Facilitation
12 64 (8.00%) ERP
12 64 (8.00%) Scrum
13 62 (7.75%) DevOps
14 61 (7.63%) AI
14 61 (7.63%) Project Delivery
15 60 (7.50%) Change Management
16 58 (7.25%) Decision-Making
17 56 (7.00%) Customer Service
Programming Languages
1 77 (9.63%) SQL
2 69 (8.63%) Python
3 28 (3.50%) Java
4 18 (2.25%) JavaScript
5 14 (1.75%) PowerShell
6 11 (1.38%) Bash
7 9 (1.13%) Shell Script
8 8 (1.00%) Kusto Query Language
9 7 (0.88%) C#
9 7 (0.88%) TypeScript
10 5 (0.63%) Kotlin
10 5 (0.63%) PL/SQL
11 4 (0.50%) VBA
12 3 (0.38%) Apex Code
12 3 (0.38%) SOQL
12 3 (0.38%) SOSL
13 2 (0.25%) Bicep
13 2 (0.25%) Korn
13 2 (0.25%) R
13 2 (0.25%) Scala
Qualifications
1 48 (6.00%) Degree
2 22 (2.75%) PMP
3 20 (2.50%) Security Cleared
4 17 (2.13%) PMI Certification
5 9 (1.13%) Master's Degree
6 8 (1.00%) BPSS Clearance
6 8 (1.00%) SC Cleared
7 7 (0.88%) APMP
7 7 (0.88%) CISSP
7 7 (0.88%) Computer Science Degree
7 7 (0.88%) MBA
8 5 (0.63%) CCNP
8 5 (0.63%) Cisco Certification
8 5 (0.63%) ITIL Certification
9 4 (0.50%) CCIE
9 4 (0.50%) CISM
9 4 (0.50%) CRISC
9 4 (0.50%) CSPO
10 3 (0.38%) Microsoft Certification
10 3 (0.38%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 45 (5.63%) QA
2 44 (5.50%) Data Quality
3 27 (3.38%) PMO
4 20 (2.50%) GDPR
5 18 (2.25%) SLA
6 13 (1.63%) Accessibility
7 6 (0.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 6 (0.75%) PCI DSS
8 5 (0.63%) Actionable Recommendations
9 4 (0.50%) IFRS
10 3 (0.38%) COBIT
10 3 (0.38%) NIST
11 2 (0.25%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.25%) NCSC
11 2 (0.25%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.13%) GAAP
12 1 (0.13%) GRC
12 1 (0.13%) IFRS 9
12 1 (0.13%) MiFID
12 1 (0.13%) Solvency II
System Software
1 17 (2.13%) Docker
2 14 (1.75%) Active Directory
3 4 (0.50%) RACF
3 4 (0.50%) VMware NSX
4 3 (0.38%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.25%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.25%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.13%) Varnish
6 1 (0.13%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 21 (2.63%) Terraform
2 15 (1.88%) Kubernetes
3 9 (1.13%) Grafana
4 7 (0.88%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 6 (0.75%) Argo
5 6 (0.75%) Istio
5 6 (0.75%) Microsoft Intune
6 3 (0.38%) SCCM
6 3 (0.38%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.25%) Ansible
7 2 (0.25%) Jamf Pro
7 2 (0.25%) MOM
8 1 (0.13%) Cacti
8 1 (0.13%) Control-M
8 1 (0.13%) HP ALM
8 1 (0.13%) Nmap
8 1 (0.13%) Prometheus
8 1 (0.13%) ZABBIX
8 1 (0.13%) zSecure
Vendors
1 73 (9.13%) Microsoft
2 62 (7.75%) SAP
3 52 (6.50%) Google
4 49 (6.13%) Oracle
5 33 (4.13%) Salesforce
6 27 (3.38%) Databricks
7 21 (2.63%) Adobe
8 14 (1.75%) ServiceNow
9 9 (1.13%) Cisco
9 9 (1.13%) IBM
9 9 (1.13%) Sitecore
10 8 (1.00%) CheckPoint
10 8 (1.00%) Temenos
11 7 (0.88%) Splunk
12 6 (0.75%) Avaloq
12 6 (0.75%) Dell
12 6 (0.75%) F5
12 6 (0.75%) GoldenSource
12 6 (0.75%) IFS
12 6 (0.75%) VMware