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 November 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 135 93 109
Rank change year-on-year -42 +16 -36
Contract jobs citing Retail 766 920 1,066
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.14% 2.49% 2.29%
As % of the General category 3.41% 4.20% 3.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 442 487 620
10th Percentile £208 £263 £285
25th Percentile £400 £400 £424
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £644
90th Percentile £735 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -1.96%
Number of hourly rates quoted 59 12 32
10th Percentile £14.29 £16.44 £15.64
25th Percentile £15.25 £18.13 £19.06
Median hourly rate £16.34 £33.00 £19.81
Median % change year-on-year -50.50% +66.58% -
75th Percentile £19.50 £50.31 £20.75
90th Percentile £25.15 £59.50 £29.08
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.34 £18.13 £19.81
% change year-on-year -9.90% -8.48% -

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 common skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for common skills 22,461 21,891 27,669
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 62.86% 59.25% 59.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 14,046 12,909 18,439
10th Percentile £273 £292 £281
25th Percentile £400 £410 £419
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £756 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -2.56% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,469 836 1,125
10th Percentile £13.80 £15.00 £14.25
25th Percentile £16.89 £17.50 £17.00
Median hourly rate £24.21 £28.00 £31.76
Median % change year-on-year -13.55% -11.84% +27.04%
75th Percentile £45.46 £53.75 £58.75
90th Percentile £70.00 £70.25 £71.01
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.14 £26.50 £28.96
% change year-on-year -16.45% -8.49% +31.64%

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 November 2025.

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 November 2025.

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 November 2025. 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 -42 704 £500 -4.71% 934
London -21 364 £525 -4.55% 226
UK excluding London -23 346 £500 - 835
Work from Home -44 203 £550 +4.76% 398
South East -9 103 £525 -4.55% 273
North of England -39 83 £500 +8.11% 159
Midlands -36 60 £425 -15.00% 170
East Midlands +4 41 £425 -15.00% 82
East of England -13 41 £579 +7.67% 83
North West -23 39 £500 +11.11% 82
Yorkshire -30 39 £563 +18.42% 59
South West +12 33 £183 -55.38% 85
Scotland -8 20 £500 - 60
West Midlands -40 18 £400 -25.58% 84
North East -4 6 £206 -65.63% 19
Wales +1 5 £625 +331.03% 29
Northern Ireland -5 1 - - 5

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 32 (4.18%) Confluence
2 18 (2.35%) CMS
3 12 (1.57%) SharePoint
4 8 (1.04%) Apache Airflow
5 6 (0.78%) Camunda
6 5 (0.65%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 5 (0.65%) Jupyter
6 5 (0.65%) Microsoft Exchange
7 4 (0.52%) WordPress
8 3 (0.39%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.13%) Apache
9 1 (0.13%) Appian
9 1 (0.13%) SharePoint Server
9 1 (0.13%) WebLogic
Applications
1 30 (3.92%) Microsoft Excel
2 15 (1.96%) Microsoft Office
3 13 (1.70%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 6 (0.78%) Chatbot
5 3 (0.39%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.39%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.39%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.26%) UserZoom
7 1 (0.13%) Adobe Illustrator
7 1 (0.13%) InDesign
7 1 (0.13%) Photoshop
7 1 (0.13%) Trello
Business Applications
1 31 (4.05%) SAP S/4HANA
2 15 (1.96%) Shopify
3 9 (1.17%) Dynamics CRM
3 9 (1.17%) Oracle Retail
4 8 (1.04%) SAP Retail
5 6 (0.78%) Dynamics AX
5 6 (0.78%) Payment Gateway
6 5 (0.65%) SAP Payroll
7 4 (0.52%) ResourceLink
7 4 (0.52%) SAP GTS
7 4 (0.52%) Sprinklr
8 3 (0.39%) Avolution ABACUS
8 3 (0.39%) Magento
8 3 (0.39%) NetSuite
8 3 (0.39%) Oracle Payables
8 3 (0.39%) Salesforce CRM
8 3 (0.39%) SAP MM
9 2 (0.26%) SAP Oil and Gas
9 2 (0.26%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
9 2 (0.26%) Temenos T24
Cloud Services
1 96 (12.53%) Azure
2 57 (7.44%) AWS
3 55 (7.18%) Power Platform
4 35 (4.57%) GCP
5 31 (4.05%) Dynamics 365
6 26 (3.39%) Azure DevOps
7 20 (2.61%) SaaS
8 12 (1.57%) Microsoft 365
9 11 (1.44%) Power Automate
10 10 (1.31%) Figma
10 10 (1.31%) GitHub
10 10 (1.31%) OCI
10 10 (1.31%) Snowflake
11 9 (1.17%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
11 9 (1.17%) Serverless
11 9 (1.17%) Vertex AI
12 8 (1.04%) Entra ID
12 8 (1.04%) SuccessFactors
13 7 (0.91%) GitHub Actions
14 6 (0.78%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 19 (2.48%) RFID
1 19 (2.48%) Wireless
2 18 (2.35%) NFC
3 11 (1.44%) Firewall
4 7 (0.91%) VPN
5 6 (0.78%) Wi-Fi
6 5 (0.65%) LAN
7 4 (0.52%) WAN
8 3 (0.39%) Broadband
8 3 (0.39%) DNS
9 2 (0.26%) Cisco Nexus
9 2 (0.26%) Network Security
9 2 (0.26%) SAN
9 2 (0.26%) TCP/IP
10 1 (0.13%) Intranet
10 1 (0.13%) MPLS
10 1 (0.13%) Multicast
10 1 (0.13%) OSPF
10 1 (0.13%) SD-WAN
10 1 (0.13%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 46 (6.01%) Power BI
2 17 (2.22%) Data Warehouse
3 16 (2.09%) Metadata
4 13 (1.70%) BigQuery
5 12 (1.57%) SQL Server
6 11 (1.44%) Tableau
7 10 (1.31%) Data Lake
8 6 (0.78%) Power Query
8 6 (0.78%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 5 (0.65%) Big Data
10 4 (0.52%) MongoDB
10 4 (0.52%) Redis
11 3 (0.39%) Data Vault
11 3 (0.39%) Relational Database
11 3 (0.39%) SAP BW
11 3 (0.39%) Snowflake Schema
11 3 (0.39%) Star Schema
12 2 (0.26%) Amazon Redshift
12 2 (0.26%) Delta Lake
12 2 (0.26%) Looker
Development Applications
1 57 (7.44%) JIRA
2 17 (2.22%) Git
3 13 (1.70%) Jenkins
4 4 (0.52%) Artifactory
4 4 (0.52%) Selenium
4 4 (0.52%) Storybook
4 4 (0.52%) Xcode
5 3 (0.39%) Android Studio
5 3 (0.39%) Bitbucket
5 3 (0.39%) Gradle
5 3 (0.39%) Postman
6 2 (0.26%) ERwin
6 2 (0.26%) JUnit
6 2 (0.26%) MLflow
6 2 (0.26%) PowerDesigner
6 2 (0.26%) SoapUI
7 1 (0.13%) Dreamweaver
7 1 (0.13%) LoadRunner
7 1 (0.13%) Oracle Forms
7 1 (0.13%) Visual Studio
General
1 279 (36.42%) Social Skills
2 172 (22.45%) Finance
3 87 (11.36%) Analytical Skills
4 77 (10.05%) Banking
5 56 (7.31%) Marketing
6 45 (5.87%) Manufacturing
6 45 (5.87%) Public Sector
6 45 (5.87%) Retail Banking
7 41 (5.35%) Investment Banking
8 40 (5.22%) Corporate Banking
9 35 (4.57%) Organisational Skills
10 28 (3.66%) Legal
11 24 (3.13%) Documentation Skills
12 18 (2.35%) Influencing Skills
13 17 (2.22%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 16 (2.09%) Presentation Skills
15 11 (1.44%) Telecoms
16 10 (1.31%) Automotive
16 10 (1.31%) Financial Institution
16 10 (1.31%) French Language
Job Titles
1 153 (19.97%) Analyst
2 88 (11.49%) Architect
3 78 (10.18%) Project Manager
4 65 (8.49%) Business Analyst
5 54 (7.05%) Senior
6 50 (6.53%) Lead
7 45 (5.87%) Solutions Architect
8 34 (4.44%) Consultant
9 32 (4.18%) Developer
10 22 (2.87%) Senior Manager
11 21 (2.74%) Administrator
11 21 (2.74%) Programme Manager
12 20 (2.61%) Product Manager
13 18 (2.35%) Data Analyst
14 15 (1.96%) Product Owner
15 13 (1.70%) SAP Consultant
15 13 (1.70%) Senior Analyst
16 12 (1.57%) Enterprise Architect
16 12 (1.57%) Field Engineer
16 12 (1.57%) Help Desk Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (2.74%) React
1 21 (2.74%) REST
2 17 (2.22%) HTML
3 14 (1.83%) Node.js
4 13 (1.70%) PySpark
5 12 (1.57%) CSS
6 10 (1.31%) .NET
6 10 (1.31%) React Native
7 9 (1.17%) Kafka
8 8 (1.04%) Oracle Fusion
8 8 (1.04%) VML
9 7 (0.91%) EDI
9 7 (0.91%) Redux
9 7 (0.91%) RESTful
9 7 (0.91%) scikit-learn
10 6 (0.78%) FastAPI
10 6 (0.78%) XML
11 5 (0.65%) HTML5
11 5 (0.65%) Matplotlib
11 5 (0.65%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 42 (5.48%) Product Ownership
2 32 (4.18%) Legacy Systems
3 26 (3.39%) EPoS
4 23 (3.00%) IoT
5 22 (2.87%) Mobile App
6 21 (2.74%) Self-Motivation
7 20 (2.61%) Onboarding
8 18 (2.35%) FMCG
9 12 (1.57%) Analytical Mindset
9 12 (1.57%) Cloud Native
9 12 (1.57%) Data Structures
10 11 (1.44%) Greenfield Project
10 11 (1.44%) Management Information System
11 10 (1.31%) Algorithms
11 10 (1.31%) Driving Licence
12 8 (1.04%) Data Centre
13 7 (0.91%) Enterprise Software
13 7 (0.91%) Social Media
14 6 (0.78%) Hybrid Cloud
14 6 (0.78%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 43 (5.61%) Windows
2 8 (1.04%) Apple iOS
3 7 (0.91%) Linux
4 5 (0.65%) Mac OS
5 4 (0.52%) Android
6 3 (0.39%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.26%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.13%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.13%) Mac OS X
8 1 (0.13%) VMS
8 1 (0.13%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 179 (23.37%) Agile
2 175 (22.85%) Stakeholder Management
3 111 (14.49%) Problem-Solving
4 91 (11.88%) E-Commerce
5 83 (10.84%) Analytics
6 78 (10.18%) Project Management
7 67 (8.75%) Roadmaps
8 66 (8.62%) Migration
9 64 (8.36%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 60 (7.83%) Continuous Improvement
10 60 (7.83%) CRM
11 58 (7.57%) Customer Experience
12 55 (7.18%) DevOps
13 53 (6.92%) Business Intelligence
14 52 (6.79%) Data Modelling
15 51 (6.66%) AI
15 51 (6.66%) Workshop Facilitation
16 49 (6.40%) Decision-Making
17 47 (6.14%) Requirements Gathering
18 46 (6.01%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 71 (9.27%) Python
2 60 (7.83%) SQL
3 22 (2.87%) JavaScript
4 13 (1.70%) TypeScript
5 12 (1.57%) Java
6 11 (1.44%) Bash
6 11 (1.44%) PowerShell
7 8 (1.04%) C#
8 7 (0.91%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 6 (0.78%) Kusto Query Language
10 3 (0.39%) PL/SQL
10 3 (0.39%) X++
11 2 (0.26%) ABAP
11 2 (0.26%) Go
11 2 (0.26%) JSX
11 2 (0.26%) PHP
11 2 (0.26%) R
11 2 (0.26%) Swift
12 1 (0.13%) CLIST
12 1 (0.13%) Scala
Qualifications
1 37 (4.83%) Degree
2 20 (2.61%) PMP
3 16 (2.09%) PMI Certification
4 13 (1.70%) Computer Science Degree
5 12 (1.57%) Security Cleared
6 7 (0.91%) Master's Degree
7 6 (0.78%) ITIL Certification
8 5 (0.65%) CISSP
8 5 (0.65%) Microsoft Certification
9 3 (0.39%) ACCA
9 3 (0.39%) CISM
9 3 (0.39%) Six Sigma Green Belt
10 2 (0.26%) BPSS Clearance
10 2 (0.26%) Cisco Certification
10 2 (0.26%) CRISC
10 2 (0.26%) GIAC
10 2 (0.26%) MBA
10 2 (0.26%) SAP Certification
10 2 (0.26%) SC Cleared
10 2 (0.26%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (3.26%) QA
2 23 (3.00%) GDPR
3 22 (2.87%) Data Quality
4 12 (1.57%) Accessibility
5 11 (1.44%) SLA
6 6 (0.78%) COBIT
6 6 (0.78%) PMO
7 5 (0.65%) Actionable Recommendations
7 5 (0.65%) GRC
8 4 (0.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 3 (0.39%) NIST
9 3 (0.39%) PCI DSS
9 3 (0.39%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 2 (0.26%) MiFID
10 2 (0.26%) NCSC
11 1 (0.13%) Cyber Essentials
11 1 (0.13%) FATCA
11 1 (0.13%) PSD2
11 1 (0.13%) SEPA
11 1 (0.13%) WCAG
System Software
1 13 (1.70%) Active Directory
2 11 (1.44%) Docker
3 2 (0.26%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (0.26%) VMware NSX
4 1 (0.13%) RACF
4 1 (0.13%) Varnish
4 1 (0.13%) Virtual Desktop
4 1 (0.13%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.13%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 26 (3.39%) Terraform
2 17 (2.22%) Kubernetes
3 13 (1.70%) Ansible
4 5 (0.65%) Grafana
5 4 (0.52%) Microsoft Intune
5 4 (0.52%) SCCM
6 3 (0.39%) Jamf Pro
6 3 (0.39%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.39%) Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.13%) AirWatch
7 1 (0.13%) Cacti
7 1 (0.13%) HP ALM
7 1 (0.13%) Nmap
7 1 (0.13%) vCenter Server
7 1 (0.13%) ZABBIX
7 1 (0.13%) zSecure
Vendors
1 91 (11.88%) Microsoft
2 73 (9.53%) SAP
3 43 (5.61%) Oracle
3 43 (5.61%) Salesforce
4 24 (3.13%) Google
5 18 (2.35%) Adobe
6 17 (2.22%) HP
7 16 (2.09%) Databricks
8 10 (1.31%) Dynatrace
9 9 (1.17%) Dell
9 9 (1.17%) Splunk
10 8 (1.04%) ServiceNow
11 7 (0.91%) CheckPoint
11 7 (0.91%) F5
11 7 (0.91%) Sitecore
11 7 (0.91%) Workday
12 5 (0.65%) Apple
12 5 (0.65%) Cisco
12 5 (0.65%) Planview
12 5 (0.65%) VMware