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

6 months to
23 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 90 118 79
Rank change year-on-year +28 -39 +16
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,471 780 1,077
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.79% 2.39% 2.62%
As % of the General category 5.09% 3.80% 4.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 892 398 592
10th Percentile £300 £300 £300
25th Percentile £419 £402 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £507 £509
Median % change year-on-year +6.12% -0.44% -4.46%
75th Percentile £650 £634 £638
90th Percentile £738 £725 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £509 £500 £500
% change year-on-year +1.80% - -2.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 96 42 76
10th Percentile £12.98 - £12.15
25th Percentile £15.24 £15.25 £12.50
Median hourly rate £21.00 £16.30 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year +28.83% - -17.72%
75th Percentile £22.50 £30.85 £21.37
90th Percentile £43.75 £76.50 £21.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.92 £15.96 £16.00
% change year-on-year +6.02% -0.25% -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 28,911 20,540 23,548
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 54.83% 62.88% 57.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,215 12,857 14,814
10th Percentile £313 £280 £282
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £630 £634 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £470 £490
% change year-on-year +6.38% -4.08% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,025 1,069 1,632
10th Percentile £14.04 £13.33 £13.50
25th Percentile £18.32 £16.30 £16.25
Median hourly rate £32.81 £26.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +26.17% -25.71% +14.68%
75th Percentile £61.50 £51.90 £56.31
90th Percentile £81.05 £71.30 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.00 £22.63 £35.00
% change year-on-year +45.82% -35.34% +34.62%

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 23 July 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 23 July 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 23 July 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 +21 1,346 £550 +4.76% 1,279
London +29 785 £550 - 542
UK excluding London +18 578 £509 +1.80% 886
Work from Home -14 324 £500 - 463
South East +12 173 £525 -8.70% 283
North of England -19 169 £550 +10.00% 222
North West +6 109 £575 +15.00% 119
Midlands -2 108 £500 +17.65% 178
East of England +10 62 £550 +10.00% 91
East Midlands +7 57 £500 +21.21% 79
West Midlands -26 51 £606 +42.65% 98
Yorkshire -44 51 £500 -4.76% 82
South West -36 36 £322 -9.23% 82
Scotland +4 22 £447 -12.78% 32
North East -33 9 £155 -81.17% 23
Northern Ireland +10 5 £196 -64.32% 9
Wales -18 3 £190 +29.52% 21

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 38 (2.58%) Confluence
2 19 (1.29%) CMS
3 15 (1.02%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 11 (0.75%) Apache Airflow
5 7 (0.48%) SharePoint
6 5 (0.34%) SAS
7 4 (0.27%) WebSphere
8 3 (0.20%) Anypoint
9 2 (0.14%) Apache Spark
9 2 (0.14%) CICS
9 2 (0.14%) Mule
10 1 (0.068%) Apache
10 1 (0.068%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 46 (3.13%) Microsoft Excel
2 32 (2.18%) Microsoft Office
3 22 (1.50%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 19 (1.29%) Microsoft Project
5 13 (0.88%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 13 (0.88%) Chatbot
6 10 (0.68%) Photoshop
7 9 (0.61%) Adobe Illustrator
8 6 (0.41%) InDesign
9 3 (0.20%) CPLEX
9 3 (0.20%) MS Visio
9 3 (0.20%) Notion
9 3 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
10 2 (0.14%) UserZoom
11 1 (0.068%) 3ds Max
11 1 (0.068%) Maya
11 1 (0.068%) PlantUML
11 1 (0.068%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 41 (2.79%) SAP S/4HANA
2 28 (1.90%) Shopify
3 12 (0.82%) Dynamics CRM
4 10 (0.68%) Oracle Retail
4 10 (0.68%) SAP CRM
5 8 (0.54%) Magento
6 6 (0.41%) Salesforce CRM
6 6 (0.41%) SAP Retail
7 5 (0.34%) Oracle EBS
7 5 (0.34%) Payment Gateway
7 5 (0.34%) SAP MDG
7 5 (0.34%) SAP SD
8 4 (0.27%) NetSuite
9 3 (0.20%) OpenText VIM for SAP
9 3 (0.20%) Oracle Payables
9 3 (0.20%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
9 3 (0.20%) Oracle Receivables
9 3 (0.20%) SAP CAR
9 3 (0.20%) SAP ERP
10 2 (0.14%) SAP IBP
Cloud Services
1 175 (11.90%) Azure
2 137 (9.31%) AWS
3 75 (5.10%) GCP
4 67 (4.55%) Power Platform
5 49 (3.33%) Snowflake
6 39 (2.65%) GitHub
7 30 (2.04%) Entra ID
8 26 (1.77%) Azure DevOps
9 24 (1.63%) Dynamics 365
9 24 (1.63%) GitHub Actions
10 22 (1.50%) Figma
10 22 (1.50%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
11 17 (1.16%) SaaS
12 13 (0.88%) Azure Data Factory
13 12 (0.82%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 12 (0.82%) dbt
14 11 (0.75%) Google Workspace
14 11 (0.75%) Microsoft 365
14 11 (0.75%) Salesforce Service Cloud
15 10 (0.68%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 16 (1.09%) ATM
1 16 (1.09%) Firewall
1 16 (1.09%) WAN
2 15 (1.02%) Wireless
3 14 (0.95%) VPN
4 13 (0.88%) Network Security
5 10 (0.68%) LAN
6 8 (0.54%) BGP
6 8 (0.54%) IPsec
6 8 (0.54%) OSPF
6 8 (0.54%) RFID
6 8 (0.54%) Wi-Fi
7 7 (0.48%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
7 7 (0.48%) VLAN
8 6 (0.41%) Cisco Firepower
8 6 (0.41%) SD-WAN
8 6 (0.41%) Structured Cabling
9 5 (0.34%) Cisco ASA
9 5 (0.34%) Cisco Nexus
9 5 (0.34%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 65 (4.42%) Power BI
2 31 (2.11%) BigQuery
3 25 (1.70%) Data Warehouse
4 19 (1.29%) Data Lake
5 17 (1.16%) Metadata
6 16 (1.09%) MySQL
6 16 (1.09%) NoSQL
6 16 (1.09%) Tableau
7 12 (0.82%) Relational Database
8 11 (0.75%) MongoDB
8 11 (0.75%) SQL Server
9 8 (0.54%) Amazon Redshift
9 8 (0.54%) PostgreSQL
9 8 (0.54%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 7 (0.48%) Power Query
10 7 (0.48%) Redis
10 7 (0.48%) SAP HANA
11 6 (0.41%) Couchbase
11 6 (0.41%) Looker
11 6 (0.41%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 72 (4.89%) JIRA
2 31 (2.11%) Git
3 19 (1.29%) Jenkins
4 8 (0.54%) Subversion
5 5 (0.34%) Claude Code
6 4 (0.27%) Cypress.io
6 4 (0.27%) Eclipse
6 4 (0.27%) GitLab
6 4 (0.27%) Maven
7 3 (0.20%) Hudson
7 3 (0.20%) JMeter
7 3 (0.20%) Oracle Forms
8 2 (0.14%) git-flow
8 2 (0.14%) MLflow
8 2 (0.14%) Postman
8 2 (0.14%) Selenium
8 2 (0.14%) webpack
9 1 (0.068%) Gatling
9 1 (0.068%) IBM UrbanCode
9 1 (0.068%) TestRail
General
1 411 (27.94%) Social Skills
2 338 (22.98%) Finance
3 138 (9.38%) Analytical Skills
4 115 (7.82%) Banking
5 93 (6.32%) Marketing
6 85 (5.78%) Manufacturing
7 61 (4.15%) Organisational Skills
8 60 (4.08%) Retail Banking
9 45 (3.06%) Investment Banking
10 42 (2.86%) Corporate Banking
11 27 (1.84%) Influencing Skills
12 26 (1.77%) Public Sector
13 25 (1.70%) Telecoms
14 24 (1.63%) Legal
15 23 (1.56%) French Language
16 22 (1.50%) Presentation Skills
17 21 (1.43%) Advertising
17 21 (1.43%) Documentation Skills
18 18 (1.22%) Spanish Language
19 15 (1.02%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 237 (16.11%) Architect
2 206 (14.00%) Analyst
3 184 (12.51%) Senior
4 130 (8.84%) Project Manager
5 124 (8.43%) Solutions Architect
6 117 (7.95%) Business Analyst
7 106 (7.21%) Lead
8 74 (5.03%) Developer
9 61 (4.15%) Senior Manager
10 52 (3.54%) Designer
11 45 (3.06%) Product Manager
12 42 (2.86%) Consultant
13 37 (2.52%) Data Analyst
13 37 (2.52%) Technical Manager
14 36 (2.45%) Enterprise Architect
15 35 (2.38%) Service Manager
16 34 (2.31%) Data Architect
16 34 (2.31%) Senior Project Manager
17 33 (2.24%) Programme Manager
18 31 (2.11%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 70 (4.76%) REST
2 38 (2.58%) React
3 34 (2.31%) Middleware
4 32 (2.18%) Spring
5 29 (1.97%) Kafka
6 25 (1.70%) Node.js
7 24 (1.63%) Spring Boot
8 21 (1.43%) RESTful
8 21 (1.43%) VML
9 19 (1.29%) Django
10 18 (1.22%) HTML
11 17 (1.16%) CSS
11 17 (1.16%) SOAP
12 14 (0.95%) MACH
12 14 (0.95%) OAuth
13 13 (0.88%) Jakarta EE
14 11 (0.75%) .NET
15 9 (0.61%) AngularJS
15 9 (0.61%) JSON
15 9 (0.61%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 80 (5.44%) Product Ownership
2 64 (4.35%) FMCG
3 57 (3.87%) EPoS
4 46 (3.13%) Driving Licence
5 45 (3.06%) Onboarding
6 44 (2.99%) Cloud Native
7 30 (2.04%) Mobile App
8 29 (1.97%) Legacy Systems
9 27 (1.84%) Data Centre
10 22 (1.50%) Marketing Technology
11 21 (1.43%) Data Structures
11 21 (1.43%) Greenfield Project
11 21 (1.43%) Operational Technology
11 21 (1.43%) Self-Motivation
12 17 (1.16%) AI Agents
12 17 (1.16%) Mainframe
13 16 (1.09%) IoT
14 13 (0.88%) Management Information System
15 12 (0.82%) Distributed Systems
15 12 (0.82%) Graphic Design
Operating Systems
1 56 (3.81%) Windows
2 24 (1.63%) Linux
3 12 (0.82%) Unix
4 11 (0.75%) Android
5 7 (0.48%) Apple iOS
5 7 (0.48%) zOS
6 6 (0.41%) Mac OS
6 6 (0.41%) Ubuntu
7 5 (0.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 5 (0.34%) Windows 10
7 5 (0.34%) Windows Server
8 2 (0.14%) Debian
9 1 (0.068%) SUSE
9 1 (0.068%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
9 1 (0.068%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 362 (24.61%) Agile
2 357 (24.27%) Stakeholder Management
3 235 (15.98%) E-Commerce
4 199 (13.53%) Problem-Solving
5 180 (12.24%) Migration
6 177 (12.03%) Roadmaps
7 152 (10.33%) Analytics
8 149 (10.13%) AI
9 148 (10.06%) Customer Experience
10 128 (8.70%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 116 (7.89%) Project Management
12 114 (7.75%) CI/CD
13 113 (7.68%) Decision-Making
13 113 (7.68%) Logistics
14 111 (7.55%) Continuous Improvement
15 107 (7.27%) CRM
16 105 (7.14%) ERP
17 104 (7.07%) Project Delivery
18 102 (6.93%) User Acceptance Testing
19 94 (6.39%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 122 (8.29%) SQL
2 96 (6.53%) Python
3 58 (3.94%) Java
4 29 (1.97%) JavaScript
5 28 (1.90%) TypeScript
6 11 (0.75%) C#
7 9 (0.61%) PowerShell
8 8 (0.54%) ABAP
9 7 (0.48%) Apex Code
9 7 (0.48%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 7 (0.48%) PL/SQL
9 7 (0.48%) SOQL
10 6 (0.41%) Bash
10 6 (0.41%) Bicep
10 6 (0.41%) Kotlin
10 6 (0.41%) R
10 6 (0.41%) Scala
11 5 (0.34%) Groovy
11 5 (0.34%) Shell Script
11 5 (0.34%) SOSL
Qualifications
1 62 (4.21%) Degree
2 38 (2.58%) Security Cleared
3 22 (1.50%) PMP
3 22 (1.50%) SC Cleared
4 13 (0.88%) DBS Check
5 11 (0.75%) BPSS Clearance
6 10 (0.68%) PMI Certification
7 9 (0.61%) CISSP
8 6 (0.41%) Cisco Certification
8 6 (0.41%) CISM
8 6 (0.41%) Computer Science Degree
8 6 (0.41%) ITIL Certification
9 5 (0.34%) CCNP
9 5 (0.34%) CCSE
9 5 (0.34%) CCSM
9 5 (0.34%) CSPO
10 4 (0.27%) Azure Certification
10 4 (0.27%) City & Guilds
10 4 (0.27%) PhD
11 3 (0.20%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 72 (4.89%) QA
2 62 (4.21%) Data Quality
3 41 (2.79%) GDPR
4 31 (2.11%) PMO
5 24 (1.63%) Accessibility
6 16 (1.09%) PCI DSS
7 14 (0.95%) SLA
8 8 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 6 (0.41%) NIST
10 5 (0.34%) WCAG
11 4 (0.27%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 3 (0.20%) Actionable Recommendations
12 3 (0.20%) GAAP
12 3 (0.20%) IFRS
12 3 (0.20%) PSD2
13 2 (0.14%) GRC
13 2 (0.14%) ISO 8583
13 2 (0.14%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 1 (0.068%) COBIT
14 1 (0.068%) GxP
System Software
1 35 (2.38%) Docker
2 34 (2.31%) Active Directory
3 13 (0.88%) Virtual Desktop
4 7 (0.48%) Virtual Machines
4 7 (0.48%) VMware Infrastructure
5 5 (0.34%) VMware ESXi
6 4 (0.27%) Firmware
7 2 (0.14%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 45 (3.06%) Terraform
2 35 (2.38%) Kubernetes
3 14 (0.95%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
4 11 (0.75%) Ansible
5 6 (0.41%) FortiGate
5 6 (0.41%) Microsoft Intune
5 6 (0.41%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (0.34%) Grafana
7 4 (0.27%) SCCM
8 3 (0.20%) Bosun
9 2 (0.14%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 2 (0.14%) AirWatch
9 2 (0.14%) CA Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.14%) CloudHub
9 2 (0.14%) MOM
9 2 (0.14%) PingFederate
10 1 (0.068%) Argo
10 1 (0.068%) Istio
10 1 (0.068%) Nagios
10 1 (0.068%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 117 (7.95%) Microsoft
2 105 (7.14%) SAP
3 73 (4.96%) Oracle
4 65 (4.42%) Salesforce
5 58 (3.94%) Databricks
6 52 (3.54%) Google
7 37 (2.52%) Adobe
8 24 (1.63%) Zscaler
9 19 (1.29%) MuleSoft
9 19 (1.29%) ServiceNow
10 16 (1.09%) Cisco
11 15 (1.02%) Workday
12 14 (0.95%) IBM
12 14 (0.95%) IFS
12 14 (0.95%) Splunk
13 13 (0.88%) Fortinet
13 13 (0.88%) Palo Alto
14 12 (0.82%) VMware
15 11 (0.75%) Braze
16 10 (0.68%) Informatica