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 8 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 90 124 98
Rank change year-on-year +34 -26 +3
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,628 760 895
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.98% 2.30% 2.36%
As % of the General category 5.29% 3.63% 4.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 948 417 463
10th Percentile £313 £300 £285
25th Percentile £450 £431 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% - -
75th Percentile £663 £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 134 65 20
10th Percentile £12.76 - £12.35
25th Percentile £13.45 £15.25 £15.75
Median hourly rate £14.75 £16.34 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year -9.70% +0.21% -17.72%
75th Percentile £22.50 £19.50 £21.37
90th Percentile £42.25 £25.15 £55.50
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 30,759 20,913 22,159
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.39% 63.27% 58.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,866 13,017 13,104
10th Percentile £313 £275 £281
25th Percentile £420 £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 £740 £738 £767
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £483
% change year-on-year +5.26% -1.66% -3.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,720 1,230 965
10th Percentile £13.48 £13.57 £14.73
25th Percentile £16.01 £16.19 £17.00
Median hourly rate £27.50 £25.08 £33.00
Median % change year-on-year +9.67% -24.02% +20.00%
75th Percentile £53.75 £45.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £67.00 £71.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £21.39 £31.97
% change year-on-year +28.56% -33.09% +21.79%

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 8 October 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 8 October 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 8 October 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 +34 1,487 £550 +4.76% 4,202
London +40 822 £575 +4.55% 2,090
UK excluding London +16 683 £525 +5.00% 2,231
Work from Home +10 357 £550 +0.92% 1,616
North of England -6 191 £538 +7.50% 648
Midlands +35 163 £525 +18.51% 430
South East -6 161 £575 +6.98% 551
North West +18 121 £550 +10.00% 347
East Midlands +21 88 £500 +14.68% 194
East of England +6 83 £538 -8.51% 231
West Midlands +11 74 £575 +27.78% 236
Yorkshire -39 52 £463 -19.57% 256
South West -20 50 £500 +177.78% 186
Scotland -11 25 £180 -64.00% 134
North East -24 18 £525 +288.89% 54
Wales -4 7 £180 -71.20% 55
Northern Ireland +12 4 £191 - 43

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 52 (3.19%) Confluence
2 25 (1.54%) CMS
3 20 (1.23%) SharePoint
4 19 (1.17%) Apache Airflow
5 8 (0.49%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 4 (0.25%) Apache
6 4 (0.25%) SAS
6 4 (0.25%) WebSphere
7 3 (0.18%) Anypoint
7 3 (0.18%) Apache Spark
7 3 (0.18%) Sitecore CMS
8 2 (0.12%) CICS
8 2 (0.12%) Mule
8 2 (0.12%) WordPress
9 1 (0.061%) HCL Notes
9 1 (0.061%) Jupyter
9 1 (0.061%) Mendix
9 1 (0.061%) Microsoft Exchange
9 1 (0.061%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 77 (4.73%) Microsoft Excel
2 57 (3.50%) Microsoft Office
3 26 (1.60%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 14 (0.86%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 13 (0.80%) Spreadsheet
6 11 (0.68%) MS Visio
7 10 (0.61%) Microsoft Project
8 7 (0.43%) Photoshop
9 6 (0.37%) Adobe Illustrator
9 6 (0.37%) CPLEX
10 5 (0.31%) InDesign
11 4 (0.25%) Notion
12 2 (0.12%) Chatbot
13 1 (0.061%) 3ds Max
13 1 (0.061%) PlantUML
13 1 (0.061%) Siemens NX
13 1 (0.061%) SOLIDWORKS
13 1 (0.061%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 61 (3.75%) SAP S/4HANA
2 28 (1.72%) Shopify
3 15 (0.92%) SAP Retail
4 13 (0.80%) Dynamics CRM
5 11 (0.68%) SAP CRM
6 9 (0.55%) Magento
6 9 (0.55%) Oracle Retail
7 6 (0.37%) NetSuite
7 6 (0.37%) SAP MM
8 5 (0.31%) Payment Gateway
8 5 (0.31%) Salesforce CRM
8 5 (0.31%) SAP MDG
8 5 (0.31%) Workday HCM
9 4 (0.25%) Dynamics NAV
9 4 (0.25%) SAP CAR
9 4 (0.25%) SAP SD
10 3 (0.18%) Oracle BPM
10 3 (0.18%) Oracle EBS
10 3 (0.18%) Oracle Payables
10 3 (0.18%) Oracle Receivables
Cloud Services
1 217 (13.33%) Azure
2 151 (9.28%) AWS
3 79 (4.85%) Power Platform
4 74 (4.55%) GCP
5 54 (3.32%) Snowflake
6 51 (3.13%) GitHub
7 38 (2.33%) Azure DevOps
8 34 (2.09%) Entra ID
9 30 (1.84%) GitHub Actions
10 28 (1.72%) SaaS
11 26 (1.60%) dbt
12 24 (1.47%) Azure Data Factory
12 24 (1.47%) Dynamics 365
12 24 (1.47%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
13 20 (1.23%) Figma
14 18 (1.11%) Azure Synapse Analytics
15 16 (0.98%) Microsoft 365
16 15 (0.92%) OCI
17 12 (0.74%) Salesforce Service Cloud
18 11 (0.68%) Algolia
Communications & Networking
1 21 (1.29%) WAN
2 19 (1.17%) Firewall
3 16 (0.98%) ATM
4 14 (0.86%) Network Security
4 14 (0.86%) VPN
5 13 (0.80%) LAN
5 13 (0.80%) Wireless
6 12 (0.74%) Wi-Fi
7 8 (0.49%) Structured Cabling
8 7 (0.43%) BGP
8 7 (0.43%) Internet
8 7 (0.43%) IPsec
8 7 (0.43%) OSPF
9 6 (0.37%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
9 6 (0.37%) SD-WAN
9 6 (0.37%) VLAN
10 5 (0.31%) DNS
11 4 (0.25%) Broadband
11 4 (0.25%) SMS
11 4 (0.25%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 77 (4.73%) Power BI
2 59 (3.62%) Data Warehouse
3 33 (2.03%) Data Lake
4 27 (1.66%) BigQuery
5 23 (1.41%) SQL Server
6 22 (1.35%) Metadata
6 22 (1.35%) Tableau
7 19 (1.17%) MongoDB
8 18 (1.11%) NoSQL
9 15 (0.92%) PostgreSQL
9 15 (0.92%) SAP BW
10 14 (0.86%) Amazon Redshift
10 14 (0.86%) Relational Database
10 14 (0.86%) SAP HANA
11 13 (0.80%) MySQL
12 12 (0.74%) Power Query
13 11 (0.68%) Redis
13 11 (0.68%) Star Schema
14 10 (0.61%) SQL Server Integration Services
15 9 (0.55%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 76 (4.67%) JIRA
2 24 (1.47%) Git
3 23 (1.41%) Jenkins
4 8 (0.49%) Subversion
5 7 (0.43%) Claude Code
6 5 (0.31%) Cypress.io
6 5 (0.31%) JMeter
7 4 (0.25%) Eclipse
7 4 (0.25%) GitLab
7 4 (0.25%) Hudson
8 3 (0.18%) Postman
9 2 (0.12%) git-flow
9 2 (0.12%) LSMW
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%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 463 (28.44%) Social Skills
2 363 (22.30%) Finance
3 156 (9.58%) Analytical Skills
4 137 (8.42%) Marketing
5 118 (7.25%) Banking
6 116 (7.13%) Manufacturing
7 73 (4.48%) Organisational Skills
8 60 (3.69%) Retail Banking
9 39 (2.40%) Corporate Banking
9 39 (2.40%) Influencing Skills
10 38 (2.33%) Investment Banking
11 33 (2.03%) Public Sector
12 30 (1.84%) Advertising
13 28 (1.72%) Legal
14 27 (1.66%) Telecoms
15 20 (1.23%) French Language
16 17 (1.04%) Back Office
16 17 (1.04%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 16 (0.98%) Presentation Skills
17 16 (0.98%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 253 (15.54%) Architect
2 237 (14.56%) Analyst
3 171 (10.50%) Senior
4 144 (8.85%) Solutions Architect
5 135 (8.29%) Business Analyst
6 115 (7.06%) Lead
7 114 (7.00%) Project Manager
8 86 (5.28%) Developer
9 59 (3.62%) Consultant
10 54 (3.32%) Product Manager
11 50 (3.07%) Data Analyst
12 45 (2.76%) Designer
13 42 (2.58%) Supply Chain Architect
14 41 (2.52%) Senior Manager
15 35 (2.15%) Service Manager
16 34 (2.09%) Senior Developer
16 34 (2.09%) Service Transition Manager
16 34 (2.09%) Transition Manager
17 32 (1.97%) EPoS Engineer
18 31 (1.90%) Data Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 72 (4.42%) REST
2 48 (2.95%) Terraform
3 43 (2.64%) Kafka
4 41 (2.52%) React
5 30 (1.84%) Node.js
5 30 (1.84%) Spring
6 26 (1.60%) Spring Boot
7 24 (1.47%) Middleware
8 23 (1.41%) RESTful
8 23 (1.41%) SOAP
9 22 (1.35%) Django
10 19 (1.17%) MACH
10 19 (1.17%) Next.js
11 18 (1.11%) SAP Fiori
12 15 (0.92%) .NET
12 15 (0.92%) HTML
12 15 (0.92%) VML
13 13 (0.80%) SAPUI5
14 11 (0.68%) CSS
14 11 (0.68%) SAP Basis
Miscellaneous
1 84 (5.16%) Product Ownership
2 81 (4.98%) EPoS
3 72 (4.42%) FMCG
4 62 (3.81%) Driving Licence
5 58 (3.56%) Onboarding
6 53 (3.26%) Cloud Native
7 35 (2.15%) Management Information System
8 33 (2.03%) Legacy Systems
9 31 (1.90%) Mobile App
10 30 (1.84%) Marketing Technology
11 28 (1.72%) Greenfield Project
11 28 (1.72%) Smartphone
12 24 (1.47%) Data Centre
13 23 (1.41%) Data Structures
14 21 (1.29%) Distributed Systems
14 21 (1.29%) Operational Technology
15 18 (1.11%) AI Agents
16 17 (1.04%) Credit Risk
16 17 (1.04%) Mainframe
17 16 (0.98%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 51 (3.13%) Windows
2 17 (1.04%) Linux
3 12 (0.74%) Android
4 9 (0.55%) 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 (0.25%) Windows 10
7 4 (0.25%) zOS
8 2 (0.12%) Debian
9 1 (0.061%) OS/2
9 1 (0.061%) SUSE
9 1 (0.061%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
9 1 (0.061%) VMS
9 1 (0.061%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 427 (26.23%) Stakeholder Management
2 368 (22.60%) Agile
3 261 (16.03%) E-Commerce
4 190 (11.67%) Logistics
5 189 (11.61%) Analytics
5 189 (11.61%) Migration
6 171 (10.50%) AI
7 167 (10.26%) Problem-Solving
8 165 (10.14%) Roadmaps
9 147 (9.03%) Decision-Making
10 138 (8.48%) CRM
10 138 (8.48%) Customer Experience
11 133 (8.17%) Continuous Improvement
12 126 (7.74%) CI/CD
13 124 (7.62%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 121 (7.43%) Customer Service
15 112 (6.88%) DevOps
16 110 (6.76%) Business Intelligence
16 110 (6.76%) Data Modelling
17 105 (6.45%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 158 (9.71%) SQL
2 116 (7.13%) Python
3 52 (3.19%) Java
4 34 (2.09%) TypeScript
5 28 (1.72%) JavaScript
6 14 (0.86%) ABAP
7 12 (0.74%) C#
7 12 (0.74%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 10 (0.61%) R
9 9 (0.55%) Apex Code
9 9 (0.55%) Bash
10 7 (0.43%) PL/SQL
10 7 (0.43%) PowerShell
10 7 (0.43%) SOQL
11 5 (0.31%) Groovy
11 5 (0.31%) Shell Script
11 5 (0.31%) SOSL
12 4 (0.25%) Bicep
12 4 (0.25%) T-SQL
13 3 (0.18%) Scala
Qualifications
1 63 (3.87%) Degree
2 33 (2.03%) Security Cleared
3 22 (1.35%) PMP
4 14 (0.86%) ITIL Certification
5 11 (0.68%) PMI Certification
5 11 (0.68%) SC Cleared
6 10 (0.61%) DBS Check
7 9 (0.55%) Computer Science Degree
8 8 (0.49%) BPSS Clearance
9 6 (0.37%) CISSP
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 4 (0.25%) SAP Certification
12 3 (0.18%) APMG
12 3 (0.18%) AWS Certification
12 3 (0.18%) CCNP
12 3 (0.18%) CCSE
12 3 (0.18%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 87 (5.34%) Data Quality
2 75 (4.61%) QA
3 29 (1.78%) GDPR
4 25 (1.54%) PMO
5 24 (1.47%) Accessibility
6 13 (0.80%) PCI DSS
7 10 (0.61%) SLA
8 6 (0.37%) Actionable Recommendations
9 5 (0.31%) NIST
9 5 (0.31%) WCAG
10 4 (0.25%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 4 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 3 (0.18%) PSD2
12 2 (0.12%) GAAP
12 2 (0.12%) GRC
12 2 (0.12%) IFRS
13 1 (0.061%) Basel III
13 1 (0.061%) HL7
13 1 (0.061%) ISO 8583
13 1 (0.061%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 34 (2.09%) Docker
2 25 (1.54%) Active Directory
3 13 (0.80%) Virtual Desktop
4 6 (0.37%) VMware Infrastructure
5 5 (0.31%) Firmware
6 4 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (0.18%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.061%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.061%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 41 (2.52%) Kubernetes
2 11 (0.68%) Single Sign-On
3 10 (0.61%) Ansible
4 7 (0.43%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 5 (0.31%) FortiGate
5 5 (0.31%) Microsoft Intune
6 4 (0.25%) Bosun
7 3 (0.18%) SCCM
8 2 (0.12%) AirWatch
8 2 (0.12%) CloudHub
8 2 (0.12%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.12%) Kubeflow
8 2 (0.12%) logstash
8 2 (0.12%) vCenter Server
9 1 (0.061%) Argo
9 1 (0.061%) CSIRT
9 1 (0.061%) Grafana
9 1 (0.061%) Nagios
9 1 (0.061%) vMotion
9 1 (0.061%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 163 (10.01%) Microsoft
2 141 (8.66%) SAP
3 87 (5.34%) Salesforce
4 76 (4.67%) Databricks
5 68 (4.18%) Oracle
6 53 (3.26%) Google
7 34 (2.09%) Adobe
8 31 (1.90%) MuleSoft
9 23 (1.41%) Zscaler
10 21 (1.29%) IBM
11 19 (1.17%) Cisco
12 18 (1.11%) Workday
13 13 (0.80%) New Relic
14 12 (0.74%) Apple
14 12 (0.74%) ServiceNow
14 12 (0.74%) Splunk
15 11 (0.68%) Braze
16 10 (0.61%) Fortinet
16 10 (0.61%) JDA
17 9 (0.55%) VMware