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

6 months to
9 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 150 90 92
Rank change year-on-year -60 +2 -4
Contract jobs citing Retail 777 835 1,026
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.84% 2.81% 2.29%
As % of the General category 3.20% 4.49% 3.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 494 446 590
10th Percentile £194 £264 £275
25th Percentile £363 £413 £388
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 £456 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -8.75% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 15 66
10th Percentile £12.81 £18.13 £11.09
25th Percentile £15.05 £25.13 £12.15
Median hourly rate £18.86 £32.50 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year -41.97% +103.13% -19.23%
75th Percentile £37.53 £61.38 £21.37
90th Percentile £52.90 £83.50 £21.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.42 £27.00 £15.29
% change year-on-year -39.19% +76.59% -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 24,278 18,615 26,141
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 57.49% 62.56% 58.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,215 11,713 16,724
10th Percentile £300 £290 £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 £624 £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 1,481 657 1,815
10th Percentile £13.57 £15.26 £13.00
25th Percentile £17.00 £20.12 £15.35
Median hourly rate £24.03 £29.23 £25.71
Median % change year-on-year -17.79% +13.69% -19.66%
75th Percentile £55.00 £58.75 £50.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.81 £27.44 £25.00
% change year-on-year -16.88% +9.77% -5.87%

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 9 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 9 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 9 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 -57 700 £500 -4.76% 1,087
London -44 396 £539 -3.36% 236
UK excluding London -50 312 £456 -8.75% 924
Work from Home -76 188 £500 -4.76% 385
South East -37 91 £416 -22.56% 249
North of England -46 78 £500 +11.11% 213
Midlands -45 68 £495 -1.00% 212
East Midlands -13 41 £495 -1.00% 118
North West -30 40 £525 +10.53% 108
Yorkshire -41 34 £506 +249.14% 87
East of England -30 32 £526 +0.24% 87
West Midlands -56 26 £496 -5.59% 93
Scotland +7 21 £450 -14.89% 65
South West -21 18 £261 -26.41% 73
North East -10 4 £206 - 22
Northern Ireland -3 2 £190 -44.48% 9
Wales -10 2 £235 +61.12% 38

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 33 (4.25%) Confluence
2 16 (2.06%) SharePoint
3 14 (1.80%) CMS
4 12 (1.54%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 12 (1.54%) Apache Airflow
5 4 (0.51%) WordPress
6 3 (0.39%) Jupyter
6 3 (0.39%) Microsoft Exchange
6 3 (0.39%) SAS
7 2 (0.26%) Magnolia
8 1 (0.13%) Apache Spark
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 23 (2.96%) 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 15 (1.93%) 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%) 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%) Oracle Receivables
9 1 (0.13%) Payment Gateway
9 1 (0.13%) SAP Hybris
Cloud Services
1 88 (11.33%) Azure
2 55 (7.08%) AWS
3 50 (6.44%) Power Platform
4 45 (5.79%) GCP
5 22 (2.83%) Azure DevOps
5 22 (2.83%) Dynamics 365
5 22 (2.83%) Snowflake
6 21 (2.70%) GitHub
7 16 (2.06%) Microsoft 365
8 15 (1.93%) SaaS
9 14 (1.80%) GitHub Actions
10 13 (1.67%) Figma
11 12 (1.54%) Google Workspace
12 11 (1.42%) Azure Data Factory
12 11 (1.42%) Cloud Run
13 10 (1.29%) Entra ID
13 10 (1.29%) Miro
14 8 (1.03%) dbt
14 8 (1.03%) SuccessFactors
14 8 (1.03%) WhatsApp
Communications & Networking
1 14 (1.80%) RFID
2 13 (1.67%) VPN
3 11 (1.42%) Firewall
4 10 (1.29%) WAN
5 8 (1.03%) NFC
5 8 (1.03%) Wireless
6 6 (0.77%) Wi-Fi
7 5 (0.64%) LAN
8 4 (0.51%) BGP
8 4 (0.51%) Cisco Nexus
8 4 (0.51%) EIGRP
8 4 (0.51%) OSPF
8 4 (0.51%) VoIP
9 3 (0.39%) MPLS
10 2 (0.26%) SAN
10 2 (0.26%) WLAN
11 1 (0.13%) Broadband
11 1 (0.13%) FTP
11 1 (0.13%) SMS
11 1 (0.13%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 42 (5.41%) Power BI
2 21 (2.70%) BigQuery
3 18 (2.32%) Data Warehouse
4 14 (1.80%) Tableau
5 13 (1.67%) Metadata
5 13 (1.67%) SQL Server
6 12 (1.54%) MySQL
7 9 (1.16%) Data Lake
8 7 (0.90%) Data Vault
9 6 (0.77%) Delta Lake
9 6 (0.77%) PostgreSQL
10 5 (0.64%) MongoDB
10 5 (0.64%) Oracle Reports
10 5 (0.64%) Snowflake Schema
11 4 (0.51%) Redis
11 4 (0.51%) Relational Database
11 4 (0.51%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 3 (0.39%) NoSQL
12 3 (0.39%) Oracle Database
12 3 (0.39%) Oracle OLAP
Development Applications
1 68 (8.75%) JIRA
2 13 (1.67%) Git
3 11 (1.42%) Jenkins
4 10 (1.29%) GitLab
5 5 (0.64%) ERwin
6 4 (0.51%) Maven
6 4 (0.51%) MLflow
7 3 (0.39%) Terragrunt
8 2 (0.26%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 2 (0.26%) Mockito
8 2 (0.26%) PowerDesigner
8 2 (0.26%) Selenium
8 2 (0.26%) Xcode
9 1 (0.13%) Cucumber
9 1 (0.13%) Gradle
9 1 (0.13%) JMeter
9 1 (0.13%) JUnit
9 1 (0.13%) Oracle APEX
9 1 (0.13%) Oracle Forms
9 1 (0.13%) Visual Studio
General
1 267 (34.36%) Social Skills
2 176 (22.65%) Finance
3 83 (10.68%) Analytical Skills
4 69 (8.88%) Banking
5 60 (7.72%) Marketing
6 36 (4.63%) Public Sector
7 32 (4.12%) Manufacturing
8 30 (3.86%) Investment Banking
8 30 (3.86%) Organisational Skills
8 30 (3.86%) Retail Banking
9 29 (3.73%) Corporate Banking
10 24 (3.09%) Influencing Skills
11 21 (2.70%) Documentation Skills
12 19 (2.45%) Presentation Skills
13 16 (2.06%) Legal
14 13 (1.67%) Telecoms
15 11 (1.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 9 (1.16%) Financial Institution
17 7 (0.90%) Pharmaceutical
17 7 (0.90%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 132 (16.99%) Analyst
2 105 (13.51%) Project Manager
3 88 (11.33%) Architect
4 87 (11.20%) Senior
5 65 (8.37%) Business Analyst
6 64 (8.24%) Lead
7 39 (5.02%) Senior Manager
8 35 (4.50%) Solutions Architect
9 34 (4.38%) Consultant
10 26 (3.35%) Technical Manager
11 24 (3.09%) Senior Project Manager
12 21 (2.70%) Developer
13 17 (2.19%) Product Manager
13 17 (2.19%) Service Manager
14 16 (2.06%) Data Analyst
15 14 (1.80%) Data Architect
15 14 (1.80%) Data Engineer
15 14 (1.80%) Designer
15 14 (1.80%) E-Commerce Manager
15 14 (1.80%) Programme Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (2.96%) REST
2 19 (2.45%) VML
3 18 (2.32%) Middleware
4 17 (2.19%) Spring
5 13 (1.67%) PySpark
5 13 (1.67%) React
5 13 (1.67%) Spring Boot
6 11 (1.42%) AngularJS
7 10 (1.29%) scikit-learn
8 9 (1.16%) .NET
9 8 (1.03%) CSS
9 8 (1.03%) HTML
9 8 (1.03%) PyTorch
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%) FastAPI
11 6 (0.77%) JSON
11 6 (0.77%) LangChain
Miscellaneous
1 46 (5.92%) Product Ownership
2 37 (4.76%) Driving Licence
3 27 (3.47%) EPoS
4 24 (3.09%) Self-Motivation
5 23 (2.96%) Cloud Native
6 21 (2.70%) Onboarding
7 20 (2.57%) Legacy Systems
7 20 (2.57%) Management Information System
8 18 (2.32%) FMCG
9 15 (1.93%) Data Centre
9 15 (1.93%) Data Structures
9 15 (1.93%) Mobile App
10 11 (1.42%) Mainframe
11 9 (1.16%) Algorithms
11 9 (1.16%) Analytical Mindset
11 9 (1.16%) IoT
11 9 (1.16%) Virtual Team
12 7 (0.90%) Greenfield Project
12 7 (0.90%) Reference Data
13 6 (0.77%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 37 (4.76%) Windows
2 17 (2.19%) Linux
3 9 (1.16%) Mac OS
4 5 (0.64%) Android
4 5 (0.64%) zOS
5 4 (0.51%) Apple iOS
5 4 (0.51%) Unix
5 4 (0.51%) Windows Server
6 1 (0.13%) Kali Linux
6 1 (0.13%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 182 (23.42%) Stakeholder Management
2 173 (22.27%) Agile
3 148 (19.05%) Problem-Solving
4 99 (12.74%) E-Commerce
4 99 (12.74%) Project Management
5 83 (10.68%) Analytics
6 81 (10.42%) Migration
7 79 (10.17%) Roadmaps
8 74 (9.52%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 65 (8.37%) Continuous Improvement
9 65 (8.37%) Customer Experience
10 64 (8.24%) Workshop Facilitation
11 59 (7.59%) ERP
12 58 (7.46%) AI
12 58 (7.46%) Decision-Making
12 58 (7.46%) Scrum
13 57 (7.34%) DevOps
14 56 (7.21%) Project Delivery
15 55 (7.08%) Customer Service
16 54 (6.95%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 77 (9.91%) SQL
2 69 (8.88%) Python
3 28 (3.60%) Java
4 17 (2.19%) JavaScript
5 14 (1.80%) PowerShell
6 11 (1.42%) Bash
7 9 (1.16%) Shell Script
8 8 (1.03%) Kusto Query Language
9 7 (0.90%) C#
9 7 (0.90%) TypeScript
10 6 (0.77%) Kotlin
11 5 (0.64%) PL/SQL
12 4 (0.51%) VBA
13 2 (0.26%) Bicep
13 2 (0.26%) Data Analysis Expressions
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%) JCL
Qualifications
1 46 (5.92%) Degree
2 23 (2.96%) PMP
3 19 (2.45%) Security Cleared
4 18 (2.32%) PMI Certification
5 9 (1.16%) Master's Degree
6 8 (1.03%) BPSS Clearance
6 8 (1.03%) CISSP
6 8 (1.03%) SC Cleared
7 7 (0.90%) APMP
7 7 (0.90%) Computer Science Degree
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 40 (5.15%) Data Quality
1 40 (5.15%) QA
2 27 (3.47%) PMO
3 22 (2.83%) GDPR
4 17 (2.19%) SLA
5 16 (2.06%) Accessibility
6 6 (0.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 6 (0.77%) PCI DSS
7 5 (0.64%) Actionable Recommendations
8 4 (0.51%) IFRS
9 3 (0.39%) COBIT
9 3 (0.39%) NCSC
9 3 (0.39%) NIST
10 2 (0.26%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 2 (0.26%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.13%) GAAP
11 1 (0.13%) IFRS 9
11 1 (0.13%) MiFID
11 1 (0.13%) Solvency II
11 1 (0.13%) WCAG
System Software
1 16 (2.06%) Docker
2 13 (1.67%) Active Directory
3 4 (0.51%) RACF
4 3 (0.39%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (0.39%) VMware NSX
5 2 (0.26%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.13%) Varnish
6 1 (0.13%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 22 (2.83%) 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
5 6 (0.77%) Microsoft Intune
6 3 (0.39%) SCCM
6 3 (0.39%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.26%) Ansible
7 2 (0.26%) Jamf Pro
7 2 (0.26%) 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 (9.40%) Microsoft
2 58 (7.46%) SAP
3 52 (6.69%) Google
4 50 (6.44%) Oracle
5 30 (3.86%) Salesforce
6 29 (3.73%) Databricks
7 20 (2.57%) Adobe
8 14 (1.80%) ServiceNow
9 9 (1.16%) IBM
10 8 (1.03%) Cisco
10 8 (1.03%) Dell
10 8 (1.03%) Sitecore
11 7 (0.90%) Splunk
11 7 (0.90%) Temenos
12 6 (0.77%) CheckPoint
12 6 (0.77%) Dynatrace
12 6 (0.77%) F5
12 6 (0.77%) HP
12 6 (0.77%) Workday
13 5 (0.64%) Zscaler