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

6 months to
27 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 145 89 92
Rank change year-on-year -56 +3 -9
Contract jobs citing Retail 777 868 1,010
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.87% 2.83% 2.29%
As % of the General category 3.21% 4.56% 3.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 491 446 584
10th Percentile £206 £266 £275
25th Percentile £380 £413 £387
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -5.66%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £750 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 14 56
10th Percentile £12.95 £18.13 £11.03
25th Percentile £16.17 £23.19 £12.79
Median hourly rate £19.00 £33.00 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year -42.42% +102.45% -17.72%
75th Percentile £24.18 £64.44 £21.37
90th Percentile £46.25 £84.50 £21.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.34 £22.50 £15.29
% change year-on-year -27.40% +47.16% -22.82%

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 24,234 19,043 25,971
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 58.35% 62.16% 58.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,179 11,650 16,722
10th Percentile £300 £289 £265
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 £477 £496
% change year-on-year -0.42% -3.88% -0.75%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,473 622 1,713
10th Percentile £13.64 £15.62 £13.00
25th Percentile £16.50 £20.46 £15.33
Median hourly rate £23.58 £29.90 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.15% +15.00% -10.34%
75th Percentile £54.00 £57.62 £51.25
90th Percentile £74.26 £75.00 £65.84
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.27 £27.39 £25.00
% change year-on-year -18.70% +9.54% -3.85%

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 27 February 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 27 February 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 27 February 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 -48 705 £513 -2.38% 791
London -42 398 £550 - 226
UK excluding London -57 314 £475 -5.00% 723
Work from Home -76 185 £500 -4.76% 267
South East -36 87 £463 -13.95% 212
North of England -55 80 £500 +11.11% 154
Midlands -48 69 £495 -1.00% 163
East Midlands -12 41 £495 -1.00% 94
North West -29 41 £525 +16.67% 90
Yorkshire -55 35 £506 +26.56% 48
East of England -33 32 £526 -4.32% 83
West Midlands -51 27 £463 -11.90% 69
Scotland +9 20 £450 -14.29% 41
South West -14 20 £261 -19.62% 66
Wales -5 4 £453 +210.25% 24
North East -17 4 £206 -65.63% 18
Northern Ireland -5 2 £190 +41.31% 6

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 (4.50%) Confluence
2 16 (2.06%) SharePoint
3 14 (1.80%) CMS
4 12 (1.54%) Apache Airflow
5 10 (1.29%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 4 (0.51%) WordPress
7 3 (0.39%) Jupyter
7 3 (0.39%) Microsoft Exchange
8 2 (0.26%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.26%) Magnolia
8 2 (0.26%) SAS
9 1 (0.13%) SharePoint Server
9 1 (0.13%) WebLogic
9 1 (0.13%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.13%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 22 (2.83%) Microsoft Excel
2 14 (1.80%) Microsoft Project
3 12 (1.54%) Chatbot
4 11 (1.42%) Microsoft Office
4 11 (1.42%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 10 (1.29%) MS Visio
6 3 (0.39%) Photoshop
7 2 (0.26%) Adobe Illustrator
7 2 (0.26%) 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 19 (2.45%) SAP S/4HANA
2 12 (1.54%) Dynamics CRM
2 12 (1.54%) SAP Retail
2 12 (1.54%) Shopify
3 9 (1.16%) Oracle Retail
4 6 (0.77%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 5 (0.64%) Finacle
5 5 (0.64%) SAP Payroll
6 4 (0.51%) ResourceLink
6 4 (0.51%) SAP MDG
6 4 (0.51%) Temenos T24
7 3 (0.39%) Dynamics AX
7 3 (0.39%) SAP MM
7 3 (0.39%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
8 2 (0.26%) BambooHR
8 2 (0.26%) NetSuite
8 2 (0.26%) Sage X3
8 2 (0.26%) Sprinklr
9 1 (0.13%) Payment Gateway
9 1 (0.13%) SAP Hybris
Cloud Services
1 92 (11.84%) Azure
2 59 (7.59%) AWS
3 49 (6.31%) GCP
3 49 (6.31%) Power Platform
4 22 (2.83%) Azure DevOps
4 22 (2.83%) Dynamics 365
5 21 (2.70%) GitHub
5 21 (2.70%) Snowflake
6 17 (2.19%) Microsoft 365
7 15 (1.93%) SaaS
8 14 (1.80%) GitHub Actions
9 13 (1.67%) Figma
10 12 (1.54%) Google Workspace
11 11 (1.42%) Cloud Run
12 10 (1.29%) Azure Data Factory
12 10 (1.29%) Entra ID
12 10 (1.29%) Miro
13 9 (1.16%) OCI
14 8 (1.03%) dbt
14 8 (1.03%) WhatsApp
Communications & Networking
1 20 (2.57%) RFID
2 14 (1.80%) NFC
2 14 (1.80%) Wireless
3 10 (1.29%) Firewall
3 10 (1.29%) VPN
3 10 (1.29%) WAN
4 6 (0.77%) Wi-Fi
5 5 (0.64%) LAN
6 4 (0.51%) BGP
6 4 (0.51%) Cisco Nexus
6 4 (0.51%) EIGRP
6 4 (0.51%) OSPF
6 4 (0.51%) VoIP
7 3 (0.39%) MPLS
8 2 (0.26%) SAN
8 2 (0.26%) WLAN
9 1 (0.13%) FTP
9 1 (0.13%) HTTPS
9 1 (0.13%) Network Security
9 1 (0.13%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 41 (5.28%) Power BI
2 22 (2.83%) BigQuery
3 18 (2.32%) Data Warehouse
4 14 (1.80%) Metadata
4 14 (1.80%) Tableau
5 13 (1.67%) SQL Server
6 10 (1.29%) Data Lake
6 10 (1.29%) MySQL
7 7 (0.90%) Data Vault
8 6 (0.77%) Delta Lake
8 6 (0.77%) PostgreSQL
9 5 (0.64%) MongoDB
9 5 (0.64%) Oracle Reports
9 5 (0.64%) Snowflake Schema
10 4 (0.51%) Redis
10 4 (0.51%) Relational Database
10 4 (0.51%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 3 (0.39%) NoSQL
11 3 (0.39%) Oracle OLAP
11 3 (0.39%) SAP BW
Development Applications
1 72 (9.27%) JIRA
2 12 (1.54%) Git
2 12 (1.54%) Jenkins
3 9 (1.16%) GitLab
4 5 (0.64%) ERwin
5 4 (0.51%) MLflow
6 3 (0.39%) Selenium
6 3 (0.39%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.26%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.26%) Maven
7 2 (0.26%) Mockito
7 2 (0.26%) PowerDesigner
7 2 (0.26%) Xcode
8 1 (0.13%) Android Studio
8 1 (0.13%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.13%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.13%) Gradle
8 1 (0.13%) SonarQube
8 1 (0.13%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.13%) Zephyr
General
1 266 (34.23%) Social Skills
2 172 (22.14%) Finance
3 79 (10.17%) Analytical Skills
4 71 (9.14%) Banking
5 62 (7.98%) Marketing
6 36 (4.63%) Public Sector
7 33 (4.25%) Organisational Skills
8 32 (4.12%) Manufacturing
9 31 (3.99%) Retail Banking
10 28 (3.60%) Corporate Banking
10 28 (3.60%) Investment Banking
11 24 (3.09%) Influencing Skills
12 22 (2.83%) Documentation Skills
13 20 (2.57%) Presentation Skills
14 19 (2.45%) Legal
15 13 (1.67%) Telecoms
16 11 (1.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 9 (1.16%) Financial Institution
18 7 (0.90%) Pharmaceutical
18 7 (0.90%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 130 (16.73%) Analyst
2 103 (13.26%) Project Manager
3 88 (11.33%) Architect
3 88 (11.33%) Senior
4 68 (8.75%) Lead
5 66 (8.49%) Business Analyst
6 40 (5.15%) Senior Manager
7 37 (4.76%) Solutions Architect
8 33 (4.25%) Consultant
9 25 (3.22%) Technical Manager
10 22 (2.83%) Developer
10 22 (2.83%) Senior Project Manager
11 18 (2.32%) Programme Manager
12 17 (2.19%) Product Manager
13 15 (1.93%) Data Engineer
14 14 (1.80%) Designer
14 14 (1.80%) E-Commerce Manager
14 14 (1.80%) Service Manager
15 13 (1.67%) SAP Consultant
15 13 (1.67%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (2.96%) REST
2 19 (2.45%) VML
3 18 (2.32%) Middleware
4 15 (1.93%) Spring
5 14 (1.80%) PySpark
5 14 (1.80%) React
6 13 (1.67%) Spring Boot
7 10 (1.29%) scikit-learn
8 9 (1.16%) .NET
8 9 (1.16%) AngularJS
8 9 (1.16%) PyTorch
9 8 (1.03%) HTML
10 7 (0.90%) FastAPI
10 7 (0.90%) Kafka
10 7 (0.90%) Node.js
10 7 (0.90%) OpenTelemetry
10 7 (0.90%) XML
11 6 (0.77%) CSS
11 6 (0.77%) JSON
11 6 (0.77%) LangChain
Miscellaneous
1 47 (6.05%) Product Ownership
2 33 (4.25%) Driving Licence
3 27 (3.47%) EPoS
4 23 (2.96%) Cloud Native
4 23 (2.96%) Self-Motivation
5 22 (2.83%) Legacy Systems
6 21 (2.70%) Onboarding
7 20 (2.57%) Management Information System
8 18 (2.32%) FMCG
9 15 (1.93%) Data Structures
9 15 (1.93%) IoT
9 15 (1.93%) Mobile App
10 12 (1.54%) Data Centre
11 11 (1.42%) Mainframe
12 9 (1.16%) Algorithms
12 9 (1.16%) Analytical Mindset
12 9 (1.16%) Virtual Team
13 8 (1.03%) Social Media
14 7 (0.90%) Greenfield Project
14 7 (0.90%) Reference Data
Operating Systems
1 35 (4.50%) Windows
2 14 (1.80%) Linux
3 8 (1.03%) Mac OS
4 5 (0.64%) Android
4 5 (0.64%) zOS
5 4 (0.51%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.39%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.26%) Unix
8 1 (0.13%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.13%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 184 (23.68%) Stakeholder Management
2 179 (23.04%) Agile
3 143 (18.40%) Problem-Solving
4 106 (13.64%) Project Management
5 97 (12.48%) E-Commerce
6 83 (10.68%) Migration
7 81 (10.42%) Analytics
8 78 (10.04%) Roadmaps
9 70 (9.01%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 67 (8.62%) Workshop Facilitation
11 66 (8.49%) Continuous Improvement
12 61 (7.85%) Customer Experience
13 59 (7.59%) Decision-Making
13 59 (7.59%) Scrum
14 58 (7.46%) AI
15 56 (7.21%) Project Delivery
16 55 (7.08%) DevOps
17 53 (6.82%) Business Intelligence
18 52 (6.69%) Data Modelling
18 52 (6.69%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 73 (9.40%) SQL
2 70 (9.01%) Python
3 26 (3.35%) Java
4 16 (2.06%) JavaScript
5 13 (1.67%) PowerShell
6 11 (1.42%) Bash
7 9 (1.16%) Shell Script
7 9 (1.16%) TypeScript
8 8 (1.03%) Kusto Query Language
9 7 (0.90%) C#
10 6 (0.77%) Kotlin
11 5 (0.64%) PL/SQL
12 3 (0.39%) VBA
13 2 (0.26%) Google Apps Script
13 2 (0.26%) PHP
13 2 (0.26%) R
13 2 (0.26%) Swift
14 1 (0.13%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 1 (0.13%) SOQL
14 1 (0.13%) SOSL
Qualifications
1 45 (5.79%) Degree
2 23 (2.96%) PMP
3 19 (2.45%) Security Cleared
4 18 (2.32%) PMI Certification
5 10 (1.29%) Master's Degree
6 8 (1.03%) CISSP
6 8 (1.03%) Computer Science Degree
6 8 (1.03%) SC Cleared
7 7 (0.90%) APMP
7 7 (0.90%) BPSS Clearance
7 7 (0.90%) MBA
8 5 (0.64%) CISM
8 5 (0.64%) CRISC
8 5 (0.64%) ITIL Certification
9 4 (0.51%) CCIE
9 4 (0.51%) CCNP
9 4 (0.51%) Cisco Certification
9 4 (0.51%) CSPO
10 3 (0.39%) GIAC
10 3 (0.39%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (4.76%) QA
2 36 (4.63%) Data Quality
3 26 (3.35%) PMO
4 20 (2.57%) GDPR
5 17 (2.19%) Accessibility
6 14 (1.80%) SLA
7 6 (0.77%) Actionable Recommendations
7 6 (0.77%) PCI DSS
8 5 (0.64%) COBIT
9 4 (0.51%) IFRS
10 3 (0.39%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 3 (0.39%) NCSC
10 3 (0.39%) NIST
11 2 (0.26%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.26%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.13%) GAAP
12 1 (0.13%) GRC
12 1 (0.13%) MiFID
12 1 (0.13%) Solvency II
12 1 (0.13%) WCAG
System Software
1 16 (2.06%) Docker
2 10 (1.29%) Active Directory
3 4 (0.51%) RACF
4 3 (0.39%) Virtual Desktop
4 3 (0.39%) VMware NSX
5 2 (0.26%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.13%) Varnish
6 1 (0.13%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 24 (3.09%) Terraform
2 15 (1.93%) Kubernetes
3 9 (1.16%) Grafana
4 7 (0.90%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 6 (0.77%) Argo
5 6 (0.77%) Istio
6 4 (0.51%) Ansible
7 3 (0.39%) Microsoft Intune
7 3 (0.39%) SCCM
7 3 (0.39%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.26%) Jamf Pro
9 1 (0.13%) Cacti
9 1 (0.13%) Control-M
9 1 (0.13%) HP ALM
9 1 (0.13%) Nmap
9 1 (0.13%) Prometheus
9 1 (0.13%) ZABBIX
9 1 (0.13%) zSecure
Vendors
1 73 (9.40%) Microsoft
2 62 (7.98%) SAP
3 53 (6.82%) Google
4 49 (6.31%) Oracle
5 33 (4.25%) Salesforce
6 29 (3.73%) Databricks
7 21 (2.70%) Adobe
8 14 (1.80%) ServiceNow
9 10 (1.29%) Dell
10 9 (1.16%) IBM
10 9 (1.16%) Sitecore
10 9 (1.16%) Splunk
11 8 (1.03%) CheckPoint
11 8 (1.03%) Cisco
11 8 (1.03%) Dynatrace
11 8 (1.03%) F5
11 8 (1.03%) HP
12 7 (0.90%) Temenos
13 6 (0.77%) Workday
14 5 (0.64%) Zscaler