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

6 months to
1 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 90 124 97
Rank change year-on-year +34 -27 +6
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,636 763 893
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.98% 2.31% 2.36%
As % of the General category 5.31% 3.63% 4.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 949 413 473
10th Percentile £325 £300 £277
25th Percentile £456 £431 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% - -
75th Percentile £675 £638 £638
90th Percentile £738 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £538 £500 £500
% change year-on-year +7.50% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 132 66 25
10th Percentile £12.76 £15.25 £12.24
25th Percentile £13.45 £15.31 £16.00
Median hourly rate £15.04 £16.34 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year -7.93% +0.21% -17.72%
75th Percentile £22.50 £19.50 £21.37
90th Percentile £43.25 £25.15 £48.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £13.81 £16.34 £16.00
% change year-on-year -15.46% +2.09% -19.23%

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 30,797 20,995 22,110
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.09% 63.51% 58.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,960 13,047 13,078
10th Percentile £313 £275 £281
25th Percentile £420 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,644 1,219 1,011
10th Percentile £13.50 £13.51 £14.73
25th Percentile £16.25 £16.17 £17.16
Median hourly rate £28.50 £25.15 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +13.32% -28.14% +27.27%
75th Percentile £53.75 £46.27 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £67.00 £71.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.00 £21.39 £35.00
% change year-on-year +35.58% -38.89% +30.69%

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 1 October 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 1 October 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 1 October 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 +33 1,500 £550 +4.76% 4,392
London +45 833 £575 +4.55% 2,216
UK excluding London +15 683 £538 +7.50% 2,424
Work from Home +14 364 £550 +4.76% 1,738
North of England -7 199 £550 +10.00% 659
South East -6 163 £588 +6.82% 641
Midlands +33 160 £550 +29.41% 467
North West +12 125 £550 +10.00% 362
East Midlands +20 90 £500 +17.86% 223
East of England +7 78 £550 -6.38% 232
West Midlands +10 69 £575 +35.29% 244
Yorkshire -37 56 £500 -4.76% 254
South West -14 52 £430 +36.51% 198
Scotland -12 25 £180 -64.88% 130
North East -23 18 £525 +288.89% 52
Wales -14 4 - - 102
Northern Ireland +9 3 £203 - 41

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 52 (3.18%) Confluence
2 22 (1.34%) CMS
3 20 (1.22%) Apache Airflow
3 20 (1.22%) SharePoint
4 9 (0.55%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 5 (0.31%) SAS
6 4 (0.24%) Apache
6 4 (0.24%) Apache Spark
6 4 (0.24%) WebSphere
7 3 (0.18%) Anypoint
8 2 (0.12%) CICS
8 2 (0.12%) Mule
8 2 (0.12%) WordPress
9 1 (0.061%) Mendix
9 1 (0.061%) Microsoft Exchange
9 1 (0.061%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 78 (4.77%) Microsoft Excel
2 53 (3.24%) Microsoft Office
3 28 (1.71%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 15 (0.92%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 12 (0.73%) Spreadsheet
6 11 (0.67%) Microsoft Project
6 11 (0.67%) MS Visio
7 9 (0.55%) Photoshop
8 8 (0.49%) Adobe Illustrator
9 6 (0.37%) CPLEX
9 6 (0.37%) InDesign
10 4 (0.24%) Notion
11 3 (0.18%) Chatbot
12 1 (0.061%) 3ds Max
12 1 (0.061%) PlantUML
12 1 (0.061%) Siemens NX
12 1 (0.061%) SOLIDWORKS
12 1 (0.061%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 62 (3.79%) SAP S/4HANA
2 27 (1.65%) Shopify
3 16 (0.98%) SAP Retail
4 13 (0.79%) Dynamics CRM
5 11 (0.67%) SAP CRM
6 9 (0.55%) Oracle Retail
7 8 (0.49%) Magento
8 6 (0.37%) NetSuite
8 6 (0.37%) SAP MM
9 5 (0.31%) Payment Gateway
9 5 (0.31%) Salesforce CRM
9 5 (0.31%) SAP MDG
9 5 (0.31%) Workday HCM
10 4 (0.24%) Dynamics NAV
10 4 (0.24%) Oracle EBS
10 4 (0.24%) SAP CAR
10 4 (0.24%) SAP SD
11 3 (0.18%) Oracle Payables
11 3 (0.18%) Oracle Receivables
11 3 (0.18%) SAP IBP
Cloud Services
1 217 (13.26%) Azure
2 154 (9.41%) AWS
3 81 (4.95%) Power Platform
4 76 (4.65%) GCP
5 56 (3.42%) Snowflake
6 50 (3.06%) GitHub
7 39 (2.38%) Azure DevOps
8 34 (2.08%) Entra ID
9 31 (1.89%) GitHub Actions
10 28 (1.71%) Dynamics 365
10 28 (1.71%) SaaS
11 26 (1.59%) dbt
12 24 (1.47%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
13 23 (1.41%) Azure Data Factory
14 20 (1.22%) Figma
15 18 (1.10%) Azure Synapse Analytics
16 16 (0.98%) Microsoft 365
17 15 (0.92%) OCI
18 11 (0.67%) Algolia
18 11 (0.67%) Salesforce Service Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 22 (1.34%) WAN
2 21 (1.28%) Firewall
3 17 (1.04%) VPN
4 16 (0.98%) ATM
5 14 (0.86%) Network Security
6 13 (0.79%) LAN
6 13 (0.79%) Wireless
7 12 (0.73%) Wi-Fi
8 8 (0.49%) Structured Cabling
9 7 (0.43%) BGP
9 7 (0.43%) Internet
9 7 (0.43%) IPsec
9 7 (0.43%) OSPF
9 7 (0.43%) SD-WAN
10 6 (0.37%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
10 6 (0.37%) VLAN
11 5 (0.31%) DNS
12 4 (0.24%) Broadband
12 4 (0.24%) Cisco Firepower
12 4 (0.24%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 80 (4.89%) Power BI
2 59 (3.61%) Data Warehouse
3 33 (2.02%) Data Lake
4 29 (1.77%) BigQuery
5 23 (1.41%) Metadata
6 22 (1.34%) SQL Server
6 22 (1.34%) Tableau
7 19 (1.16%) MongoDB
8 18 (1.10%) NoSQL
9 15 (0.92%) Amazon Redshift
9 15 (0.92%) PostgreSQL
9 15 (0.92%) SAP BW
10 14 (0.86%) Relational Database
10 14 (0.86%) SAP HANA
11 13 (0.79%) MySQL
12 12 (0.73%) Power Query
13 11 (0.67%) Redis
13 11 (0.67%) Star Schema
14 10 (0.61%) SQL Server Integration Services
15 9 (0.55%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 77 (4.71%) JIRA
2 24 (1.47%) Git
3 23 (1.41%) Jenkins
4 8 (0.49%) Subversion
5 7 (0.43%) Claude Code
6 5 (0.31%) Cypress.io
6 5 (0.31%) JMeter
7 4 (0.24%) Eclipse
7 4 (0.24%) GitLab
7 4 (0.24%) Hudson
8 3 (0.18%) Postman
9 2 (0.12%) git-flow
9 2 (0.12%) LSMW
9 2 (0.12%) MLflow
9 2 (0.12%) Oracle Forms
9 2 (0.12%) Selenium
9 2 (0.12%) Terragrunt
9 2 (0.12%) Visual Studio
9 2 (0.12%) webpack
10 1 (0.061%) Moq
General
1 467 (28.55%) Social Skills
2 374 (22.86%) Finance
3 159 (9.72%) Analytical Skills
4 133 (8.13%) Marketing
5 119 (7.27%) Banking
6 114 (6.97%) Manufacturing
7 70 (4.28%) Organisational Skills
8 61 (3.73%) Retail Banking
9 41 (2.51%) Corporate Banking
10 40 (2.44%) Investment Banking
11 38 (2.32%) Influencing Skills
12 35 (2.14%) Public Sector
13 29 (1.77%) Advertising
14 28 (1.71%) Legal
14 28 (1.71%) Telecoms
15 21 (1.28%) French Language
16 19 (1.16%) Back Office
17 18 (1.10%) Presentation Skills
18 17 (1.04%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 17 (1.04%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 270 (16.50%) Architect
2 235 (14.36%) Analyst
3 176 (10.76%) Senior
4 150 (9.17%) Solutions Architect
5 134 (8.19%) Business Analyst
6 120 (7.33%) Project Manager
7 115 (7.03%) Lead
8 85 (5.20%) Developer
9 58 (3.55%) Consultant
10 54 (3.30%) Product Manager
11 50 (3.06%) Data Analyst
11 50 (3.06%) Designer
12 42 (2.57%) Senior Manager
12 42 (2.57%) Supply Chain Architect
13 35 (2.14%) Service Manager
14 34 (2.08%) Senior Developer
14 34 (2.08%) Service Transition Manager
14 34 (2.08%) Transition Manager
15 33 (2.02%) Data Engineer
15 33 (2.02%) Enterprise Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 71 (4.34%) REST
2 49 (3.00%) Terraform
3 43 (2.63%) Kafka
3 43 (2.63%) React
4 30 (1.83%) Node.js
4 30 (1.83%) Spring
5 26 (1.59%) Spring Boot
6 25 (1.53%) Middleware
7 23 (1.41%) RESTful
7 23 (1.41%) SOAP
8 22 (1.34%) Django
9 21 (1.28%) MACH
10 18 (1.10%) SAP Fiori
11 17 (1.04%) VML
12 16 (0.98%) Next.js
13 15 (0.92%) HTML
14 13 (0.79%) SAPUI5
15 11 (0.67%) .NET
15 11 (0.67%) CSS
15 11 (0.67%) SAP Basis
Miscellaneous
1 83 (5.07%) Product Ownership
2 72 (4.40%) FMCG
3 65 (3.97%) EPoS
4 57 (3.48%) Onboarding
5 54 (3.30%) Cloud Native
6 42 (2.57%) Driving Licence
7 34 (2.08%) Legacy Systems
7 34 (2.08%) Management Information System
8 31 (1.89%) Mobile App
9 30 (1.83%) Marketing Technology
10 29 (1.77%) Greenfield Project
11 26 (1.59%) Data Centre
12 23 (1.41%) Data Structures
13 21 (1.28%) Distributed Systems
13 21 (1.28%) Operational Technology
14 20 (1.22%) Smartphone
15 19 (1.16%) Mainframe
16 18 (1.10%) AI Agents
17 17 (1.04%) Credit Risk
17 17 (1.04%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 52 (3.18%) Windows
2 17 (1.04%) Linux
3 12 (0.73%) Android
4 8 (0.49%) Unix
5 7 (0.43%) Apple iOS
5 7 (0.43%) Mac OS
6 6 (0.37%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (0.37%) Ubuntu
7 4 (0.24%) Windows 10
7 4 (0.24%) zOS
8 2 (0.12%) Debian
8 2 (0.12%) Windows Server
9 1 (0.061%) OS/2
9 1 (0.061%) SUSE
9 1 (0.061%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
9 1 (0.061%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 425 (25.98%) Stakeholder Management
2 370 (22.62%) Agile
3 252 (15.40%) E-Commerce
4 193 (11.80%) Migration
5 191 (11.67%) Analytics
6 189 (11.55%) Logistics
7 173 (10.57%) AI
8 171 (10.45%) Problem-Solving
9 168 (10.27%) Roadmaps
10 151 (9.23%) Decision-Making
11 137 (8.37%) CRM
11 137 (8.37%) Customer Experience
12 136 (8.31%) Continuous Improvement
13 126 (7.70%) CI/CD
14 125 (7.64%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 116 (7.09%) Customer Service
16 114 (6.97%) Business Intelligence
17 113 (6.91%) Project Management
18 112 (6.85%) Data Modelling
19 110 (6.72%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 156 (9.54%) SQL
2 115 (7.03%) Python
3 52 (3.18%) Java
4 36 (2.20%) TypeScript
5 27 (1.65%) JavaScript
6 14 (0.86%) ABAP
7 12 (0.73%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 11 (0.67%) C#
9 10 (0.61%) R
10 9 (0.55%) Apex Code
10 9 (0.55%) Bash
11 7 (0.43%) PowerShell
11 7 (0.43%) SOQL
12 6 (0.37%) PL/SQL
13 5 (0.31%) Groovy
13 5 (0.31%) SOSL
14 4 (0.24%) Bicep
14 4 (0.24%) Scala
14 4 (0.24%) Shell Script
14 4 (0.24%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 60 (3.67%) Degree
2 42 (2.57%) Security Cleared
3 23 (1.41%) PMP
4 20 (1.22%) SC Cleared
5 14 (0.86%) ITIL Certification
6 12 (0.73%) PMI Certification
7 11 (0.67%) DBS Check
8 8 (0.49%) BPSS Clearance
9 6 (0.37%) CISSP
9 6 (0.37%) Computer Science Degree
10 5 (0.31%) Cisco Certification
10 5 (0.31%) CISM
10 5 (0.31%) City & Guilds
10 5 (0.31%) Six Sigma Green Belt
11 4 (0.24%) SAP Certification
12 3 (0.18%) APMG
12 3 (0.18%) AWS Certification
12 3 (0.18%) CCNP
12 3 (0.18%) CCSE
12 3 (0.18%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 87 (5.32%) Data Quality
2 75 (4.58%) QA
3 31 (1.89%) GDPR
4 25 (1.53%) Accessibility
5 24 (1.47%) PMO
6 13 (0.79%) PCI DSS
7 10 (0.61%) SLA
8 6 (0.37%) Actionable Recommendations
8 6 (0.37%) NIST
9 5 (0.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 5 (0.31%) WCAG
10 3 (0.18%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 3 (0.18%) PSD2
11 2 (0.12%) GAAP
11 2 (0.12%) GRC
11 2 (0.12%) IFRS
11 2 (0.12%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.061%) Cyber Essentials
12 1 (0.061%) IASME
12 1 (0.061%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 35 (2.14%) Docker
2 26 (1.59%) Active Directory
3 13 (0.79%) Virtual Desktop
4 6 (0.37%) VMware Infrastructure
5 5 (0.31%) Firmware
5 5 (0.31%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.18%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.12%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.061%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 41 (2.51%) Kubernetes
2 12 (0.73%) Single Sign-On
3 10 (0.61%) Ansible
4 7 (0.43%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 6 (0.37%) Microsoft Intune
6 5 (0.31%) FortiGate
7 4 (0.24%) Bosun
8 3 (0.18%) SCCM
9 2 (0.12%) AirWatch
9 2 (0.12%) CloudHub
9 2 (0.12%) Jamf Pro
9 2 (0.12%) logstash
9 2 (0.12%) vCenter Server
10 1 (0.061%) Argo
10 1 (0.061%) CSIRT
10 1 (0.061%) Grafana
10 1 (0.061%) Kubeflow
10 1 (0.061%) Nagios
10 1 (0.061%) vMotion
10 1 (0.061%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 163 (9.96%) Microsoft
2 142 (8.68%) SAP
3 87 (5.32%) Salesforce
4 81 (4.95%) Databricks
5 69 (4.22%) Oracle
6 50 (3.06%) Google
7 37 (2.26%) Adobe
8 30 (1.83%) MuleSoft
9 24 (1.47%) Zscaler
10 21 (1.28%) IBM
11 20 (1.22%) Cisco
12 18 (1.10%) Workday
13 13 (0.79%) New Relic
13 13 (0.79%) Splunk
14 12 (0.73%) Apple
14 12 (0.73%) ServiceNow
15 11 (0.67%) Braze
15 11 (0.67%) Fortinet
16 10 (0.61%) Palo Alto
16 10 (0.61%) VMware