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 30 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 88 122 97
Rank change year-on-year +34 -25 +7
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,634 760 879
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.98% 2.31% 2.34%
As % of the General category 5.31% 3.64% 4.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 952 411 465
10th Percentile £325 £300 £275
25th Percentile £456 £428 £409
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 £525 £500 £500
% change year-on-year +5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 131 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 £43.75 £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 30,767 20,862 21,960
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.05% 63.53% 58.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,965 12,966 12,972
10th Percentile £313 £275 £281
25th Percentile £419 £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 2,633 1,214 1,008
10th Percentile £13.50 £13.50 £14.73
25th Percentile £16.25 £16.17 £17.21
Median hourly rate £29.00 £25.15 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +15.31% -28.14% +27.27%
75th Percentile £53.75 £46.94 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £67.00 £71.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.01 £21.39 £35.00
% change year-on-year +35.62% -38.89% +29.68%

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 30 September 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 30 September 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 30 September 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 1,499 £550 +4.76% 3,771
London +43 833 £575 +4.55% 1,801
UK excluding London +8 681 £525 +5.00% 2,102
Work from Home +7 367 £550 +4.76% 1,506
North of England -18 197 £550 +10.00% 589
South East -3 164 £575 +4.55% 520
Midlands +42 160 £525 +23.53% 434
North West +9 124 £550 +10.00% 327
East Midlands +18 91 £500 +17.86% 198
East of England +9 77 £550 -12.00% 205
West Midlands +3 68 £575 +35.29% 236
Yorkshire -42 55 £500 -4.76% 226
South West -17 53 £428 +35.71% 181
Scotland -11 24 £261 -48.99% 111
North East -25 18 £525 +288.89% 44
Wales -12 4 - - 59
Northern Ireland +5 3 £203 - 47

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 51 (3.12%) Confluence
2 22 (1.35%) CMS
3 20 (1.22%) SharePoint
4 18 (1.10%) Apache Airflow
5 9 (0.55%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 5 (0.31%) SAS
7 4 (0.24%) Apache
7 4 (0.24%) Apache Spark
7 4 (0.24%) WebSphere
8 3 (0.18%) Anypoint
9 2 (0.12%) CICS
9 2 (0.12%) Mule
9 2 (0.12%) WordPress
10 1 (0.061%) Mendix
10 1 (0.061%) Microsoft Exchange
10 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 58 (3.55%) SAP S/4HANA
2 27 (1.65%) Shopify
3 16 (0.98%) SAP Retail
4 14 (0.86%) Dynamics CRM
5 11 (0.67%) SAP CRM
6 10 (0.61%) Oracle Retail
7 8 (0.49%) Magento
8 6 (0.37%) NetSuite
8 6 (0.37%) Salesforce CRM
9 5 (0.31%) Payment Gateway
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%) Dynamics AX
11 3 (0.18%) OpenText VIM for SAP
11 3 (0.18%) SAP ERP
11 3 (0.18%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 217 (13.28%) Azure
2 154 (9.42%) AWS
3 82 (5.02%) Power Platform
4 75 (4.59%) GCP
5 55 (3.37%) Snowflake
6 49 (3.00%) GitHub
7 38 (2.33%) Azure DevOps
8 35 (2.14%) Entra ID
9 30 (1.84%) Dynamics 365
9 30 (1.84%) GitHub Actions
10 27 (1.65%) SaaS
11 24 (1.47%) dbt
11 24 (1.47%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
12 23 (1.41%) Azure Data Factory
13 20 (1.22%) Figma
14 18 (1.10%) Azure Synapse Analytics
15 16 (0.98%) Microsoft 365
16 15 (0.92%) OCI
17 12 (0.73%) Salesforce Service Cloud
18 11 (0.67%) Algolia
Communications & Networking
1 22 (1.35%) WAN
2 21 (1.29%) Firewall
3 17 (1.04%) VPN
4 16 (0.98%) ATM
5 14 (0.86%) Network Security
6 13 (0.80%) LAN
6 13 (0.80%) 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 81 (4.96%) Power BI
2 59 (3.61%) Data Warehouse
3 33 (2.02%) Data Lake
4 28 (1.71%) BigQuery
5 24 (1.47%) Metadata
6 22 (1.35%) SQL Server
6 22 (1.35%) Tableau
7 19 (1.16%) MongoDB
8 18 (1.10%) NoSQL
9 15 (0.92%) PostgreSQL
10 14 (0.86%) Amazon Redshift
10 14 (0.86%) Relational Database
10 14 (0.86%) SAP BW
11 13 (0.80%) MySQL
11 13 (0.80%) SAP HANA
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 22 (1.35%) Jenkins
4 8 (0.49%) Subversion
5 7 (0.43%) Claude Code
6 5 (0.31%) Cypress.io
6 5 (0.31%) Hudson
6 5 (0.31%) JMeter
7 4 (0.24%) Eclipse
7 4 (0.24%) GitLab
8 3 (0.18%) Postman
9 2 (0.12%) git-flow
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%) JUnit
10 1 (0.061%) Pylint
General
1 468 (28.64%) Social Skills
2 373 (22.83%) Finance
3 160 (9.79%) Analytical Skills
4 134 (8.20%) Marketing
5 118 (7.22%) Banking
6 112 (6.85%) Manufacturing
7 70 (4.28%) Organisational Skills
8 61 (3.73%) Retail Banking
9 41 (2.51%) Corporate Banking
10 40 (2.45%) Investment Banking
11 38 (2.33%) Influencing Skills
12 35 (2.14%) Public Sector
13 28 (1.71%) Advertising
13 28 (1.71%) Legal
13 28 (1.71%) Telecoms
14 21 (1.29%) French Language
15 19 (1.16%) Back Office
15 19 (1.16%) Presentation Skills
16 17 (1.04%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 17 (1.04%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 268 (16.40%) Architect
2 237 (14.50%) Analyst
3 174 (10.65%) Senior
4 151 (9.24%) Solutions Architect
5 137 (8.38%) Business Analyst
6 119 (7.28%) Project Manager
7 114 (6.98%) Lead
8 85 (5.20%) Developer
9 60 (3.67%) Consultant
10 54 (3.30%) Product Manager
11 50 (3.06%) Data Analyst
11 50 (3.06%) Designer
12 42 (2.57%) Supply Chain Architect
13 41 (2.51%) Senior Manager
14 35 (2.14%) Service Manager
15 34 (2.08%) Senior Developer
15 34 (2.08%) Service Transition Manager
15 34 (2.08%) Transition Manager
16 33 (2.02%) Enterprise Architect
17 32 (1.96%) Data Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 70 (4.28%) REST
2 49 (3.00%) Terraform
3 43 (2.63%) React
4 42 (2.57%) Kafka
5 30 (1.84%) Node.js
6 29 (1.77%) Spring
7 26 (1.59%) Middleware
7 26 (1.59%) Spring Boot
8 23 (1.41%) RESTful
9 22 (1.35%) Django
9 22 (1.35%) SOAP
10 21 (1.29%) MACH
11 17 (1.04%) VML
12 16 (0.98%) Next.js
12 16 (0.98%) SAP Fiori
13 15 (0.92%) HTML
14 12 (0.73%) SAPUI5
15 11 (0.67%) .NET
15 11 (0.67%) CSS
15 11 (0.67%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 83 (5.08%) Product Ownership
2 72 (4.41%) FMCG
3 64 (3.92%) EPoS
4 56 (3.43%) Onboarding
5 53 (3.24%) Cloud Native
6 41 (2.51%) Driving Licence
7 34 (2.08%) Legacy Systems
7 34 (2.08%) Management Information System
8 31 (1.90%) Mobile App
9 30 (1.84%) Marketing Technology
10 28 (1.71%) Greenfield Project
11 26 (1.59%) Data Centre
12 23 (1.41%) Data Structures
13 21 (1.29%) Distributed Systems
13 21 (1.29%) Operational Technology
14 19 (1.16%) Mainframe
14 19 (1.16%) Smartphone
15 18 (1.10%) AI Agents
16 17 (1.04%) Credit Risk
16 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 (26.01%) Stakeholder Management
2 370 (22.64%) Agile
3 249 (15.24%) E-Commerce
4 191 (11.69%) Migration
5 189 (11.57%) Analytics
6 187 (11.44%) Logistics
7 172 (10.53%) Problem-Solving
8 170 (10.40%) AI
9 168 (10.28%) Roadmaps
10 151 (9.24%) Decision-Making
11 137 (8.38%) Customer Experience
12 136 (8.32%) Continuous Improvement
12 136 (8.32%) CRM
13 127 (7.77%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 125 (7.65%) CI/CD
15 115 (7.04%) Customer Service
16 114 (6.98%) Business Intelligence
17 112 (6.85%) Project Management
18 110 (6.73%) Data Modelling
18 110 (6.73%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 155 (9.49%) SQL
2 114 (6.98%) Python
3 51 (3.12%) Java
4 36 (2.20%) TypeScript
5 27 (1.65%) JavaScript
6 13 (0.80%) 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 61 (3.73%) Degree
2 42 (2.57%) Security Cleared
3 23 (1.41%) PMP
4 20 (1.22%) SC Cleared
5 13 (0.80%) 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 3 (0.18%) APMG
11 3 (0.18%) AWS Certification
11 3 (0.18%) CCNP
11 3 (0.18%) CCSE
11 3 (0.18%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
11 3 (0.18%) SAP Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 84 (5.14%) Data Quality
2 75 (4.59%) QA
3 33 (2.02%) GDPR
4 24 (1.47%) Accessibility
4 24 (1.47%) PMO
5 13 (0.80%) PCI DSS
6 10 (0.61%) SLA
7 6 (0.37%) Actionable Recommendations
7 6 (0.37%) NIST
8 5 (0.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 5 (0.31%) WCAG
9 3 (0.18%) California Consumer Privacy Act
9 3 (0.18%) PSD2
10 2 (0.12%) GAAP
10 2 (0.12%) GRC
10 2 (0.12%) IFRS
10 2 (0.12%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.061%) Cyber Essentials
11 1 (0.061%) IASME
11 1 (0.061%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 35 (2.14%) Docker
2 27 (1.65%) Active Directory
3 13 (0.80%) 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 13 (0.80%) 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%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 1 (0.061%) Argo
10 1 (0.061%) CSIRT
10 1 (0.061%) Grafana
10 1 (0.061%) Kubeflow
10 1 (0.061%) PingFederate
10 1 (0.061%) vMotion
Vendors
1 165 (10.10%) Microsoft
2 138 (8.45%) SAP
3 90 (5.51%) Salesforce
4 82 (5.02%) Databricks
5 70 (4.28%) Oracle
6 50 (3.06%) Google
7 37 (2.26%) Adobe
8 30 (1.84%) MuleSoft
9 24 (1.47%) Zscaler
10 21 (1.29%) IBM
11 20 (1.22%) Cisco
12 18 (1.10%) Workday
13 13 (0.80%) New Relic
13 13 (0.80%) ServiceNow
13 13 (0.80%) Splunk
14 12 (0.73%) Apple
15 11 (0.67%) Braze
15 11 (0.67%) Fortinet
16 10 (0.61%) Palo Alto
16 10 (0.61%) VMware