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

6 months to
10 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 99 107 82
Rank change year-on-year +8 -25 +13
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,188 737 1,093
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.40% 2.51% 2.50%
As % of the General category 4.45% 3.96% 4.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 691 377 606
10th Percentile £244 £311 £300
25th Percentile £408 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £520 £505
Median % change year-on-year +0.96% +2.97% -6.05%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £625
90th Percentile £738 £725 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 88 29 87
10th Percentile £13.18 £13.81 £11.50
25th Percentile £15.63 £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 £53.75 £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 26,686 18,634 24,964
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 53.93% 63.44% 57.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 16,124 11,755 15,662
10th Percentile £313 £280 £275
25th Percentile £413 £402 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £507 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.08% -3.43% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £769
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +4.21% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,775 862 2,008
10th Percentile £13.81 £13.46 £12.78
25th Percentile £17.87 £16.73 £15.50
Median hourly rate £31.25 £27.70 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +12.82% -7.67% -6.25%
75th Percentile £60.00 £53.95 £52.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £74.88 £67.41
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.58 £24.34 £28.42
% change year-on-year +25.64% -14.36% +3.35%

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 10 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 10 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 10 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 +1 1,086 £525 - 1,087
London +8 617 £550 - 399
UK excluding London +1 482 £500 - 819
Work from Home -25 272 £500 - 373
South East -4 144 £513 -3.53% 254
North of England -42 134 £513 +2.50% 231
Midlands -23 94 £495 +10.00% 138
North West -3 84 £550 +10.00% 120
East Midlands -6 54 £495 +6.74% 77
East of England +2 51 £509 -3.05% 85
Yorkshire -53 47 £500 +5.26% 87
West Midlands -32 40 £500 +14.29% 61
South West -12 33 £333 -22.22% 76
Scotland -6 21 £500 -6.10% 36
Wales -15 3 £190 +29.52% 14
North East -23 3 £173 -76.98% 26
Northern Ireland +3 2 £190 -44.48% 12

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 (2.95%) Confluence
2 14 (1.18%) Adobe Experience Manager
2 14 (1.18%) CMS
3 11 (0.93%) Apache Airflow
4 9 (0.76%) SharePoint
5 5 (0.42%) SAS
6 3 (0.25%) WebSphere
7 2 (0.17%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.17%) CICS
8 1 (0.084%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 30 (2.53%) Microsoft Excel
2 25 (2.10%) Microsoft Office
3 16 (1.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 16 (1.35%) Microsoft Project
4 13 (1.09%) Chatbot
5 11 (0.93%) MS Visio
6 10 (0.84%) Photoshop
7 8 (0.67%) Adobe Illustrator
8 6 (0.51%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 5 (0.42%) InDesign
10 3 (0.25%) Notion
10 3 (0.25%) Spreadsheet
11 2 (0.17%) UserZoom
12 1 (0.084%) 3ds Max
12 1 (0.084%) Adobe After Effects
12 1 (0.084%) Adobe XD
12 1 (0.084%) Maya
12 1 (0.084%) PlantUML
12 1 (0.084%) SOLIDWORKS
12 1 (0.084%) Trello
Business Applications
1 23 (1.94%) Shopify
2 22 (1.85%) SAP S/4HANA
3 14 (1.18%) Dynamics CRM
4 9 (0.76%) SAP Retail
5 7 (0.59%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 7 (0.59%) SAP CRM
6 6 (0.51%) Finacle
6 6 (0.51%) Oracle Retail
7 5 (0.42%) NetSuite
7 5 (0.42%) Oracle EBS
7 5 (0.42%) SAP MDG
8 4 (0.34%) Magento
8 4 (0.34%) Salesforce CRM
9 3 (0.25%) Payment Gateway
10 2 (0.17%) Dynamics AX
10 2 (0.17%) Sage X3
10 2 (0.17%) SAP CAR
10 2 (0.17%) SAP ERP
10 2 (0.17%) SAP MM
10 2 (0.17%) SAP SD
Cloud Services
1 126 (10.61%) Azure
2 97 (8.16%) AWS
3 69 (5.81%) GCP
4 58 (4.88%) Power Platform
5 41 (3.45%) Snowflake
6 27 (2.27%) GitHub
7 24 (2.02%) Dynamics 365
8 20 (1.68%) Azure DevOps
9 19 (1.60%) Entra ID
9 19 (1.60%) GitHub Actions
10 17 (1.43%) Figma
11 16 (1.35%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
12 13 (1.09%) Azure Data Factory
13 12 (1.01%) BigCommerce
13 12 (1.01%) dbt
13 12 (1.01%) Microsoft 365
13 12 (1.01%) SaaS
14 11 (0.93%) Cloud Run
14 11 (0.93%) Google Workspace
15 10 (0.84%) Miro
Communications & Networking
1 13 (1.09%) ATM
2 12 (1.01%) Firewall
2 12 (1.01%) WAN
3 10 (0.84%) Network Security
3 10 (0.84%) VPN
4 9 (0.76%) Wireless
5 8 (0.67%) RFID
6 6 (0.51%) Cisco Firepower
6 6 (0.51%) Cisco Nexus
6 6 (0.51%) LAN
6 6 (0.51%) Wi-Fi
7 5 (0.42%) Cisco ASA
7 5 (0.42%) SD-WAN
7 5 (0.42%) VSAN
8 4 (0.34%) BGP
8 4 (0.34%) OSPF
9 3 (0.25%) Broadband
9 3 (0.25%) IPsec
9 3 (0.25%) MPLS
10 2 (0.17%) SMS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 55 (4.63%) Power BI
2 29 (2.44%) BigQuery
3 21 (1.77%) Data Warehouse
4 17 (1.43%) SQL Server
5 16 (1.35%) MySQL
5 16 (1.35%) Tableau
6 13 (1.09%) Metadata
7 11 (0.93%) Data Lake
8 10 (0.84%) NoSQL
9 7 (0.59%) MongoDB
9 7 (0.59%) Relational Database
10 6 (0.51%) Data Vault
10 6 (0.51%) Snowflake Schema
11 5 (0.42%) PostgreSQL
12 4 (0.34%) Big Data
12 4 (0.34%) Looker
12 4 (0.34%) Semantic Layer
13 3 (0.25%) Amazon Redshift
13 3 (0.25%) DynamoDB
13 3 (0.25%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 74 (6.23%) JIRA
2 24 (2.02%) Git
3 17 (1.43%) Jenkins
4 11 (0.93%) GitLab
5 4 (0.34%) JMeter
5 4 (0.34%) Maven
5 4 (0.34%) Subversion
6 3 (0.25%) Cypress.io
6 3 (0.25%) Eclipse
6 3 (0.25%) ERwin
6 3 (0.25%) Hudson
6 3 (0.25%) Selenium
6 3 (0.25%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.17%) Gatling
7 2 (0.17%) git-flow
7 2 (0.17%) MLflow
7 2 (0.17%) Postman
7 2 (0.17%) WebDriver
7 2 (0.17%) webpack
8 1 (0.084%) IBM UrbanCode
General
1 335 (28.20%) Social Skills
2 285 (23.99%) Finance
3 116 (9.76%) Analytical Skills
4 106 (8.92%) Banking
5 70 (5.89%) Marketing
6 57 (4.80%) Manufacturing
7 55 (4.63%) Organisational Skills
7 55 (4.63%) Retail Banking
8 45 (3.79%) Investment Banking
9 41 (3.45%) Corporate Banking
10 28 (2.36%) Public Sector
11 27 (2.27%) Telecoms
12 25 (2.10%) Documentation Skills
13 22 (1.85%) Legal
14 21 (1.77%) Presentation Skills
15 20 (1.68%) French Language
16 18 (1.52%) Influencing Skills
17 16 (1.35%) Advertising
18 14 (1.18%) Spanish Language
19 13 (1.09%) Private Banking
Job Titles
1 178 (14.98%) Architect
2 172 (14.48%) Analyst
3 144 (12.12%) Senior
4 117 (9.85%) Project Manager
5 98 (8.25%) Business Analyst
6 94 (7.91%) Lead
7 81 (6.82%) Solutions Architect
8 59 (4.97%) Senior Manager
9 47 (3.96%) Developer
10 43 (3.62%) Technical Manager
11 40 (3.37%) Designer
12 36 (3.03%) Enterprise Architect
13 35 (2.95%) Consultant
14 34 (2.86%) Product Manager
14 34 (2.86%) Senior Project Manager
15 28 (2.36%) Data Engineer
16 26 (2.19%) 2nd Line Support
16 26 (2.19%) Data Architect
17 25 (2.10%) Programme Manager
18 23 (1.94%) Service Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (3.11%) REST
2 33 (2.78%) Middleware
3 29 (2.44%) React
4 26 (2.19%) VML
5 25 (2.10%) Spring
6 20 (1.68%) Kafka
7 19 (1.60%) Node.js
7 19 (1.60%) Spring Boot
8 15 (1.26%) CSS
9 14 (1.18%) AngularJS
9 14 (1.18%) RESTful
10 13 (1.09%) HTML
11 10 (0.84%) .NET
11 10 (0.84%) MACH
12 8 (0.67%) OpenTelemetry
12 8 (0.67%) SOAP
13 7 (0.59%) J2EE
13 7 (0.59%) JSON
13 7 (0.59%) LangChain
13 7 (0.59%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 69 (5.81%) Product Ownership
2 44 (3.70%) EPoS
3 41 (3.45%) Driving Licence
4 40 (3.37%) FMCG
5 34 (2.86%) Cloud Native
6 33 (2.78%) Onboarding
7 21 (1.77%) Data Structures
8 20 (1.68%) Mainframe
9 19 (1.60%) Data Centre
10 18 (1.52%) Legacy Systems
11 17 (1.43%) Mobile App
11 17 (1.43%) Self-Motivation
12 15 (1.26%) Management Information System
13 14 (1.18%) AI Agents
13 14 (1.18%) Greenfield Project
13 14 (1.18%) Marketing Technology
14 11 (0.93%) Operational Technology
14 11 (0.93%) Smartphone
15 10 (0.84%) Virtual Team
16 9 (0.76%) CCTV
Operating Systems
1 51 (4.29%) Windows
2 22 (1.85%) Linux
3 11 (0.93%) Android
4 7 (0.59%) Unix
4 7 (0.59%) zOS
5 5 (0.42%) Mac OS
5 5 (0.42%) Windows Server
6 4 (0.34%) Apple iOS
7 3 (0.25%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.084%) Debian
8 1 (0.084%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.084%) SUSE
8 1 (0.084%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
8 1 (0.084%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.084%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 261 (21.97%) Agile
2 251 (21.13%) Stakeholder Management
3 186 (15.66%) Problem-Solving
4 171 (14.39%) E-Commerce
5 146 (12.29%) Migration
6 136 (11.45%) Roadmaps
7 117 (9.85%) Customer Experience
7 117 (9.85%) Project Management
8 115 (9.68%) Analytics
9 101 (8.50%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 93 (7.83%) AI
10 93 (7.83%) ERP
11 87 (7.32%) Project Delivery
12 85 (7.15%) Change Management
13 83 (6.99%) Continuous Improvement
13 83 (6.99%) Decision-Making
14 81 (6.82%) Scrum
14 81 (6.82%) User Acceptance Testing
15 78 (6.57%) CI/CD
16 77 (6.48%) Customer Service
Programming Languages
1 91 (7.66%) SQL
2 65 (5.47%) Python
3 40 (3.37%) Java
4 25 (2.10%) JavaScript
5 18 (1.52%) TypeScript
6 10 (0.84%) Shell Script
7 9 (0.76%) C#
7 9 (0.76%) PowerShell
8 7 (0.59%) SOQL
9 6 (0.51%) Kotlin
10 5 (0.42%) Apex Code
10 5 (0.42%) Bash
10 5 (0.42%) PL/SQL
10 5 (0.42%) SOSL
11 4 (0.34%) Bicep
11 4 (0.34%) Scala
12 3 (0.25%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 3 (0.25%) Kusto Query Language
12 3 (0.25%) R
12 3 (0.25%) VBA
Qualifications
1 51 (4.29%) Degree
2 40 (3.37%) Security Cleared
3 29 (2.44%) SC Cleared
4 19 (1.60%) PMP
5 11 (0.93%) PMI Certification
6 10 (0.84%) DBS Check
7 9 (0.76%) BPSS Clearance
7 9 (0.76%) Computer Science Degree
8 8 (0.67%) CISSP
9 7 (0.59%) APMP
9 7 (0.59%) Master's Degree
10 6 (0.51%) CCNP
10 6 (0.51%) Cisco Certification
11 5 (0.42%) CCSE
11 5 (0.42%) CCSM
11 5 (0.42%) CISM
11 5 (0.42%) CSPO
11 5 (0.42%) MBA
12 4 (0.34%) City & Guilds
12 4 (0.34%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 60 (5.05%) QA
2 54 (4.55%) Data Quality
3 38 (3.20%) GDPR
4 33 (2.78%) PMO
5 16 (1.35%) Accessibility
6 13 (1.09%) PCI DSS
7 12 (1.01%) SLA
8 8 (0.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 5 (0.42%) NIST
10 3 (0.25%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.17%) Actionable Recommendations
11 2 (0.17%) GRC
11 2 (0.17%) PSD2
11 2 (0.17%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.17%) WCAG
12 1 (0.084%) Basel III
12 1 (0.084%) COBIT
12 1 (0.084%) GAAP
12 1 (0.084%) GxP
12 1 (0.084%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 25 (2.10%) Active Directory
2 24 (2.02%) Docker
3 6 (0.51%) Virtual Desktop
3 6 (0.51%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (0.51%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (0.42%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.17%) RACF
5 2 (0.17%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.084%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 27 (2.27%) Terraform
2 21 (1.77%) Kubernetes
3 12 (1.01%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
4 7 (0.59%) Microsoft Intune
5 6 (0.51%) Argo
5 6 (0.51%) Grafana
5 6 (0.51%) Istio
6 5 (0.42%) SCCM
6 5 (0.42%) Single Sign-On
7 3 (0.25%) Ansible
8 2 (0.17%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 2 (0.17%) CA Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.17%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.17%) MOM
8 2 (0.17%) PingFederate
9 1 (0.084%) Nagios
9 1 (0.084%) vCenter Server
9 1 (0.084%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 100 (8.42%) Microsoft
2 80 (6.73%) SAP
3 71 (5.98%) Oracle
4 55 (4.63%) Google
5 54 (4.55%) Salesforce
6 42 (3.54%) Databricks
7 31 (2.61%) Adobe
8 21 (1.77%) ServiceNow
9 15 (1.26%) Cisco
9 15 (1.26%) IFS
10 14 (1.18%) Sitecore
11 12 (1.01%) IBM
11 12 (1.01%) Splunk
12 11 (0.93%) Zscaler
13 10 (0.84%) MuleSoft
13 10 (0.84%) VMware
14 9 (0.76%) Fortinet
14 9 (0.76%) Palo Alto
15 8 (0.67%) Dynatrace
16 7 (0.59%) Workday