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

6 months to
31 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 140 89 92
Rank change year-on-year -51 +3 -4
Contract jobs citing Retail 850 801 1,055
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.91% 2.76% 2.38%
As % of the General category 3.39% 4.39% 4.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 532 424 603
10th Percentile £191 £294 £288
25th Percentile £350 £409 £395
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £600 £629 £638
90th Percentile £711 £734 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £456 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -8.75% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 17 74
10th Percentile £12.87 £16.98 £11.13
25th Percentile £14.75 £21.25 £12.15
Median hourly rate £16.50 £32.50 £15.95
Median % change year-on-year -49.23% +103.76% -19.49%
75th Percentile £29.19 £55.25 £21.37
90th Percentile £50.05 £81.50 £21.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.34 £22.50 £14.62
% change year-on-year -27.40% +53.95% -26.22%

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 25,049 18,249 25,765
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.25% 62.77% 58.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,606 11,703 16,405
10th Percentile £300 £300 £268
25th Percentile £406 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £644 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £500
% change year-on-year - -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,562 716 1,848
10th Percentile £13.69 £15.00 £12.78
25th Percentile £17.12 £19.00 £15.38
Median hourly rate £25.38 £29.07 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year -12.69% +11.81% -25.71%
75th Percentile £59.00 £58.46 £50.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.13 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.00 £27.57 £25.00
% change year-on-year -12.95% +10.28% -18.71%

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 31 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 31 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 31 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 -46 769 £500 -4.76% 1,108
London -33 426 £525 -4.55% 362
UK excluding London -37 354 £456 -8.75% 867
Work from Home -65 208 £500 -4.76% 379
South East -27 108 £416 -22.56% 242
North of England -45 89 £500 +11.11% 224
Midlands -40 73 £495 -1.00% 186
East Midlands -12 44 £495 -1.00% 118
North West -33 43 £500 +11.11% 111
Yorkshire -30 42 £513 +33.12% 91
East of England -23 38 £475 -9.52% 88
West Midlands -54 28 £529 +8.48% 68
Scotland +6 23 £331 -37.79% 41
South West -21 19 £288 -15.44% 84
North East -10 4 £206 -72.50% 25
Northern Ireland -1 2 £190 -44.48% 9
Wales -13 2 £235 +60.19% 22

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 37 (4.35%) Confluence
2 15 (1.76%) SharePoint
3 13 (1.53%) CMS
4 12 (1.41%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 10 (1.18%) Apache Airflow
6 4 (0.47%) WordPress
7 3 (0.35%) Microsoft Exchange
7 3 (0.35%) SAS
8 2 (0.24%) Jupyter
8 2 (0.24%) Magnolia
9 1 (0.12%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.12%) SharePoint Server
9 1 (0.12%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.12%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 27 (3.18%) Microsoft Excel
2 18 (2.12%) Microsoft Project
3 14 (1.65%) Microsoft Office
4 13 (1.53%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 11 (1.29%) Chatbot
6 10 (1.18%) MS Visio
7 4 (0.47%) Photoshop
8 3 (0.35%) Adobe Illustrator
9 2 (0.24%) InDesign
9 2 (0.24%) Trello
10 1 (0.12%) 3ds Max
10 1 (0.12%) Adobe After Effects
10 1 (0.12%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 1 (0.12%) Adobe XD
10 1 (0.12%) Maya
10 1 (0.12%) SOLIDWORKS
10 1 (0.12%) Spreadsheet
10 1 (0.12%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 17 (2.00%) SAP S/4HANA
1 17 (2.00%) Shopify
2 13 (1.53%) Dynamics CRM
3 12 (1.41%) SAP Retail
4 9 (1.06%) Oracle Retail
5 6 (0.71%) Finacle
5 6 (0.71%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 5 (0.59%) SAP Payroll
7 4 (0.47%) ResourceLink
7 4 (0.47%) SAP MDG
7 4 (0.47%) Temenos T24
8 3 (0.35%) SAP MM
8 3 (0.35%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
9 2 (0.24%) BambooHR
9 2 (0.24%) Dynamics AX
9 2 (0.24%) NetSuite
9 2 (0.24%) Oracle EBS
9 2 (0.24%) Sage X3
9 2 (0.24%) Sprinklr
10 1 (0.12%) Oracle Receivables
Cloud Services
1 90 (10.59%) Azure
2 56 (6.59%) AWS
2 56 (6.59%) Power Platform
3 52 (6.12%) GCP
4 25 (2.94%) Dynamics 365
5 24 (2.82%) Snowflake
6 23 (2.71%) Azure DevOps
7 21 (2.47%) GitHub
8 18 (2.12%) Microsoft 365
9 15 (1.76%) SaaS
10 14 (1.65%) GitHub Actions
11 12 (1.41%) Entra ID
11 12 (1.41%) Google Workspace
12 11 (1.29%) Cloud Run
12 11 (1.29%) Figma
13 10 (1.18%) Azure Data Factory
13 10 (1.18%) BigCommerce
13 10 (1.18%) Miro
13 10 (1.18%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
14 9 (1.06%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 16 (1.88%) RFID
2 14 (1.65%) VPN
3 11 (1.29%) WAN
3 11 (1.29%) Wireless
4 10 (1.18%) Firewall
5 8 (0.94%) NFC
6 7 (0.82%) LAN
7 6 (0.71%) Cisco Nexus
7 6 (0.71%) Wi-Fi
8 5 (0.59%) BGP
8 5 (0.59%) OSPF
9 4 (0.47%) EIGRP
9 4 (0.47%) VoIP
10 3 (0.35%) MPLS
11 2 (0.24%) Cisco Firepower
11 2 (0.24%) Network Security
11 2 (0.24%) SAN
11 2 (0.24%) SSL
11 2 (0.24%) VSAN
11 2 (0.24%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 48 (5.65%) Power BI
2 26 (3.06%) BigQuery
3 16 (1.88%) Data Warehouse
4 13 (1.53%) SQL Server
4 13 (1.53%) Tableau
5 12 (1.41%) MySQL
6 9 (1.06%) Metadata
7 7 (0.82%) Data Lake
7 7 (0.82%) Data Vault
8 6 (0.71%) Delta Lake
8 6 (0.71%) PostgreSQL
9 5 (0.59%) NoSQL
9 5 (0.59%) Oracle Reports
9 5 (0.59%) Relational Database
10 4 (0.47%) Redis
10 4 (0.47%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 3 (0.35%) MongoDB
11 3 (0.35%) Oracle OLAP
11 3 (0.35%) SAP BW
11 3 (0.35%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 70 (8.24%) JIRA
2 14 (1.65%) Git
3 10 (1.18%) GitLab
4 9 (1.06%) Jenkins
5 5 (0.59%) ERwin
6 4 (0.47%) Maven
6 4 (0.47%) MLflow
7 3 (0.35%) Selenium
7 3 (0.35%) Terragrunt
8 2 (0.24%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 2 (0.24%) PowerDesigner
8 2 (0.24%) WebDriver
9 1 (0.12%) Cucumber
9 1 (0.12%) HP UFT
9 1 (0.12%) JMeter
9 1 (0.12%) Mockito
9 1 (0.12%) Oracle APEX
9 1 (0.12%) Oracle Forms
9 1 (0.12%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.12%) Xcode
General
1 294 (34.59%) Social Skills
2 205 (24.12%) Finance
3 99 (11.65%) Analytical Skills
4 77 (9.06%) Banking
5 58 (6.82%) Marketing
6 39 (4.59%) Manufacturing
7 37 (4.35%) Organisational Skills
7 37 (4.35%) Public Sector
8 31 (3.65%) Retail Banking
9 29 (3.41%) Investment Banking
10 27 (3.18%) Corporate Banking
11 26 (3.06%) Documentation Skills
12 23 (2.71%) Presentation Skills
13 22 (2.59%) Influencing Skills
14 14 (1.65%) Legal
15 13 (1.53%) Telecoms
16 9 (1.06%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 8 (0.94%) Pharmaceutical
17 8 (0.94%) Private Banking
18 7 (0.82%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 155 (18.24%) Analyst
2 106 (12.47%) Project Manager
3 101 (11.88%) Senior
4 96 (11.29%) Architect
5 85 (10.00%) Business Analyst
6 67 (7.88%) Lead
7 42 (4.94%) Senior Manager
8 38 (4.47%) Consultant
9 36 (4.24%) Solutions Architect
10 32 (3.76%) Technical Manager
11 22 (2.59%) Developer
11 22 (2.59%) Senior Project Manager
12 20 (2.35%) Data Architect
12 20 (2.35%) Programme Manager
13 18 (2.12%) Data Analyst
13 18 (2.12%) Service Manager
14 15 (1.76%) Designer
14 15 (1.76%) Product Manager
15 14 (1.65%) Data Engineer
15 14 (1.65%) Delivery Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (2.94%) Middleware
2 23 (2.71%) REST
2 23 (2.71%) VML
3 17 (2.00%) Spring
4 12 (1.41%) AngularJS
4 12 (1.41%) React
4 12 (1.41%) Spring Boot
5 11 (1.29%) PySpark
6 9 (1.06%) CSS
6 9 (1.06%) HTML
6 9 (1.06%) scikit-learn
7 8 (0.94%) .NET
7 8 (0.94%) Node.js
8 7 (0.82%) PyTorch
9 6 (0.71%) jQuery
9 6 (0.71%) JSON
9 6 (0.71%) Kafka
9 6 (0.71%) LangChain
9 6 (0.71%) OpenTelemetry
10 5 (0.59%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 55 (6.47%) Product Ownership
2 39 (4.59%) Driving Licence
3 27 (3.18%) EPoS
3 27 (3.18%) Self-Motivation
4 25 (2.94%) Cloud Native
5 23 (2.71%) Onboarding
6 20 (2.35%) FMCG
6 20 (2.35%) Management Information System
7 19 (2.24%) Data Centre
7 19 (2.24%) Legacy Systems
8 15 (1.76%) Data Structures
8 15 (1.76%) Mainframe
9 14 (1.65%) Mobile App
10 9 (1.06%) IoT
10 9 (1.06%) Virtual Team
11 8 (0.94%) Algorithms
11 8 (0.94%) Analytical Mindset
11 8 (0.94%) Reference Data
12 7 (0.82%) Enterprise Software
12 7 (0.82%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 37 (4.35%) Windows
2 19 (2.24%) Linux
3 9 (1.06%) Mac OS
4 5 (0.59%) Android
4 5 (0.59%) zOS
5 4 (0.47%) Apple iOS
5 4 (0.47%) Unix
6 3 (0.35%) Windows Server
7 1 (0.12%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.12%) VMS
7 1 (0.12%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 201 (23.65%) Stakeholder Management
2 190 (22.35%) Agile
3 169 (19.88%) Problem-Solving
4 113 (13.29%) E-Commerce
5 100 (11.76%) Migration
5 100 (11.76%) Project Management
6 91 (10.71%) Analytics
7 88 (10.35%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 86 (10.12%) Roadmaps
9 75 (8.82%) Customer Experience
10 72 (8.47%) AI
11 71 (8.35%) ERP
12 70 (8.24%) Workshop Facilitation
13 69 (8.12%) Continuous Improvement
14 68 (8.00%) Project Delivery
15 67 (7.88%) Change Management
16 63 (7.41%) DevOps
16 63 (7.41%) Scrum
17 62 (7.29%) Decision-Making
18 61 (7.18%) Customer Service
Programming Languages
1 76 (8.94%) SQL
2 64 (7.53%) Python
3 30 (3.53%) Java
4 19 (2.24%) JavaScript
5 14 (1.65%) PowerShell
6 11 (1.29%) Bash
7 9 (1.06%) Shell Script
8 8 (0.94%) Kusto Query Language
9 7 (0.82%) C#
10 5 (0.59%) Kotlin
10 5 (0.59%) PL/SQL
11 4 (0.47%) TypeScript
11 4 (0.47%) VBA
12 3 (0.35%) Apex Code
12 3 (0.35%) Scala
12 3 (0.35%) SOQL
12 3 (0.35%) SOSL
13 2 (0.24%) Bicep
13 2 (0.24%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 2 (0.24%) R
Qualifications
1 49 (5.76%) Degree
2 24 (2.82%) Security Cleared
3 20 (2.35%) PMP
4 15 (1.76%) PMI Certification
5 10 (1.18%) SC Cleared
6 8 (0.94%) BPSS Clearance
6 8 (0.94%) Master's Degree
7 7 (0.82%) APMP
7 7 (0.82%) CISSP
7 7 (0.82%) MBA
8 6 (0.71%) CCNP
8 6 (0.71%) Cisco Certification
8 6 (0.71%) Computer Science Degree
8 6 (0.71%) CSPO
9 4 (0.47%) CCIE
9 4 (0.47%) CISM
9 4 (0.47%) CRISC
10 3 (0.35%) ITIL Certification
10 3 (0.35%) Microsoft Certification
10 3 (0.35%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 45 (5.29%) QA
2 44 (5.18%) Data Quality
3 30 (3.53%) PMO
4 25 (2.94%) GDPR
5 19 (2.24%) SLA
6 12 (1.41%) Accessibility
7 7 (0.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 6 (0.71%) PCI DSS
9 4 (0.47%) IFRS
9 4 (0.47%) NIST
10 3 (0.35%) Actionable Recommendations
11 2 (0.24%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.24%) GRC
11 2 (0.24%) NCSC
11 2 (0.24%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.12%) GAAP
12 1 (0.12%) IFRS 9
12 1 (0.12%) ISO 8583
12 1 (0.12%) Solvency II
12 1 (0.12%) WCAG
System Software
1 17 (2.00%) Active Directory
1 17 (2.00%) Docker
2 4 (0.47%) RACF
2 4 (0.47%) VMware NSX
3 3 (0.35%) Virtual Machines
3 3 (0.35%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.24%) Virtual Desktop
4 2 (0.24%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (0.12%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 23 (2.71%) Terraform
2 15 (1.76%) Kubernetes
3 9 (1.06%) Grafana
4 7 (0.82%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 6 (0.71%) Argo
5 6 (0.71%) Istio
5 6 (0.71%) Microsoft Intune
6 5 (0.59%) Single Sign-On
7 4 (0.47%) SCCM
8 2 (0.24%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 2 (0.24%) CA Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.24%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.24%) MOM
8 2 (0.24%) PingFederate
9 1 (0.12%) Ansible
9 1 (0.12%) Control-M
9 1 (0.12%) FortiGate
9 1 (0.12%) HP ALM
9 1 (0.12%) Prometheus
9 1 (0.12%) zSecure
Vendors
1 80 (9.41%) Microsoft
2 66 (7.76%) SAP
3 53 (6.24%) Google
3 53 (6.24%) Oracle
4 37 (4.35%) Salesforce
5 32 (3.76%) Databricks
6 24 (2.82%) Adobe
7 19 (2.24%) ServiceNow
8 12 (1.41%) Sitecore
9 11 (1.29%) Cisco
10 9 (1.06%) IBM
11 8 (0.94%) IFS
11 8 (0.94%) Temenos
12 7 (0.82%) CheckPoint
12 7 (0.82%) Splunk
12 7 (0.82%) VMware
12 7 (0.82%) Workday
13 6 (0.71%) Apple
13 6 (0.71%) Avaloq
13 6 (0.71%) GoldenSource