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

6 months to
15 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 95 126 97
Rank change year-on-year +31 -29 +6
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,637 748 914
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.96% 2.25% 2.43%
As % of the General category 5.22% 3.56% 4.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 962 422 469
10th Percentile £300 £283 £283
25th Percentile £447 £425 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% - -
75th Percentile £659 £638 £638
90th Percentile £738 £737 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £500 £500
% change year-on-year +5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 135 63 17
10th Percentile £12.76 £15.25 £13.50
25th Percentile £13.45 £15.37 £16.00
Median hourly rate £14.50 £16.34 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year -11.23% +0.21% -17.72%
75th Percentile £22.50 £19.50 £38.75
90th Percentile £41.75 £25.15 £57.00
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 31,386 21,013 22,089
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.76% 63.28% 58.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 18,231 13,114 13,043
10th Percentile £313 £275 £280
25th Percentile £420 £400 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £649
90th Percentile £740 £738 £763
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £478
% change year-on-year +5.26% -0.52% -4.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,837 1,247 919
10th Percentile £13.46 £13.59 £15.00
25th Percentile £16.01 £16.30 £17.08
Median hourly rate £27.38 £25.00 £32.28
Median % change year-on-year +9.52% -22.55% +8.50%
75th Percentile £53.75 £44.42 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £67.10 £71.30
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.08 £21.39 £30.00
% change year-on-year +26.59% -28.70% +11.11%

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 15 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 15 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 15 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 +40 1,497 £550 +4.76% 2,293
London +43 829 £575 +4.55% 1,220
UK excluding London +13 688 £525 +5.00% 1,106
Work from Home +15 356 £550 +0.46% 986
North of England -17 186 £525 +5.00% 308
Midlands +36 169 £500 +17.65% 248
South East -10 162 £575 +6.98% 272
North West +6 116 £550 +10.00% 171
East Midlands +15 88 £488 +14.71% 123
East of England +16 83 £538 -2.27% 104
West Midlands +17 80 £550 +20.55% 125
South West -19 52 £475 +163.89% 92
Yorkshire -41 52 £475 -19.15% 117
Scotland -14 26 £168 -66.47% 63
North East -21 18 £525 +288.89% 21
Wales -9 7 £180 -71.20% 21
Northern Ireland +6 4 £191 - 17

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 (3.18%) Confluence
2 27 (1.65%) CMS
3 21 (1.28%) SharePoint
4 20 (1.22%) Apache Airflow
5 7 (0.43%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 5 (0.31%) Apache
7 4 (0.24%) SAS
7 4 (0.24%) Sitecore CMS
7 4 (0.24%) WebSphere
8 3 (0.18%) Anypoint
8 3 (0.18%) Apache Spark
9 2 (0.12%) Mule
9 2 (0.12%) WordPress
10 1 (0.061%) CICS
10 1 (0.061%) HCL Notes
10 1 (0.061%) Jupyter
10 1 (0.061%) Mendix
10 1 (0.061%) Microsoft Exchange
10 1 (0.061%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 79 (4.83%) Microsoft Excel
2 59 (3.60%) Microsoft Office
3 25 (1.53%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 14 (0.86%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 13 (0.79%) Spreadsheet
6 11 (0.67%) Microsoft Project
7 10 (0.61%) MS Visio
8 8 (0.49%) Photoshop
9 6 (0.37%) Adobe Illustrator
9 6 (0.37%) CPLEX
10 5 (0.31%) InDesign
11 4 (0.24%) Notion
12 1 (0.061%) 3ds Max
12 1 (0.061%) AutoCAD
12 1 (0.061%) Chatbot
12 1 (0.061%) PlantUML
12 1 (0.061%) Revit
12 1 (0.061%) Siemens NX
12 1 (0.061%) SOLIDWORKS
12 1 (0.061%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 62 (3.79%) SAP S/4HANA
2 27 (1.65%) Shopify
3 15 (0.92%) SAP Retail
4 12 (0.73%) Dynamics CRM
5 11 (0.67%) 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%) SAP MDG
8 5 (0.31%) Workday HCM
9 4 (0.24%) Dynamics NAV
9 4 (0.24%) Salesforce CRM
9 4 (0.24%) SAP CAR
9 4 (0.24%) SAP SD
10 3 (0.18%) Oracle BPM
10 3 (0.18%) Oracle Payables
10 3 (0.18%) Oracle Receivables
10 3 (0.18%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 220 (13.44%) Azure
2 152 (9.29%) AWS
3 78 (4.76%) Power Platform
4 75 (4.58%) GCP
5 53 (3.24%) GitHub
6 52 (3.18%) Snowflake
7 40 (2.44%) Azure DevOps
8 33 (2.02%) Entra ID
9 30 (1.83%) GitHub Actions
10 28 (1.71%) SaaS
11 26 (1.59%) dbt
12 24 (1.47%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
13 23 (1.41%) Azure Data Factory
13 23 (1.41%) Dynamics 365
14 20 (1.22%) Figma
15 17 (1.04%) Azure Synapse Analytics
15 17 (1.04%) Microsoft 365
16 15 (0.92%) OCI
17 13 (0.79%) Serverless
18 12 (0.73%) Salesforce Service Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 20 (1.22%) WAN
2 18 (1.10%) Firewall
3 16 (0.98%) ATM
4 14 (0.86%) VPN
5 13 (0.79%) Network Security
5 13 (0.79%) Wireless
6 12 (0.73%) LAN
6 12 (0.73%) Wi-Fi
7 9 (0.55%) 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
10 5 (0.31%) SMS
11 4 (0.24%) Broadband
11 4 (0.24%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 75 (4.58%) Power BI
2 56 (3.42%) Data Warehouse
3 34 (2.08%) Data Lake
4 27 (1.65%) BigQuery
5 23 (1.41%) SQL Server
6 22 (1.34%) Metadata
7 21 (1.28%) Tableau
8 19 (1.16%) MongoDB
9 18 (1.10%) NoSQL
10 17 (1.04%) PostgreSQL
11 15 (0.92%) Relational Database
11 15 (0.92%) SAP BW
12 14 (0.86%) Amazon Redshift
12 14 (0.86%) MySQL
12 14 (0.86%) SAP HANA
13 12 (0.73%) Power Query
14 11 (0.67%) Redis
14 11 (0.67%) Star Schema
15 10 (0.61%) SQL Server Integration Services
16 9 (0.55%) Azure SQL Database
Development Applications
1 74 (4.52%) JIRA
2 25 (1.53%) 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 (0.24%) Eclipse
7 4 (0.24%) GitLab
8 3 (0.18%) Hudson
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%) Pylint
9 2 (0.12%) Selenium
9 2 (0.12%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 2 (0.12%) Terragrunt
9 2 (0.12%) Visual Studio
9 2 (0.12%) webpack
General
1 460 (28.10%) Social Skills
2 360 (21.99%) Finance
3 152 (9.29%) Analytical Skills
4 141 (8.61%) Marketing
5 119 (7.27%) Banking
6 114 (6.96%) Manufacturing
7 75 (4.58%) Organisational Skills
8 58 (3.54%) Retail Banking
9 38 (2.32%) Influencing Skills
10 37 (2.26%) Corporate Banking
11 36 (2.20%) Investment Banking
12 33 (2.02%) Advertising
12 33 (2.02%) Public Sector
13 25 (1.53%) Legal
13 25 (1.53%) Telecoms
14 19 (1.16%) French Language
15 18 (1.10%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 15 (0.92%) Automotive
16 15 (0.92%) Presentation Skills
16 15 (0.92%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 246 (15.03%) Architect
2 232 (14.17%) Analyst
3 167 (10.20%) Senior
4 143 (8.74%) Solutions Architect
5 131 (8.00%) Business Analyst
6 115 (7.03%) Lead
7 112 (6.84%) Project Manager
8 85 (5.19%) Developer
9 60 (3.67%) Consultant
10 55 (3.36%) Product Manager
11 50 (3.05%) Data Analyst
12 46 (2.81%) Designer
13 44 (2.69%) EPoS Engineer
14 43 (2.63%) Supply Chain Architect
15 38 (2.32%) Senior Manager
16 35 (2.14%) IT Engineer
16 35 (2.14%) Service Manager
17 34 (2.08%) Senior Developer
17 34 (2.08%) Service Transition Manager
17 34 (2.08%) Transition Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 75 (4.58%) REST
2 49 (2.99%) Terraform
3 42 (2.57%) Kafka
4 40 (2.44%) React
5 31 (1.89%) Spring
6 30 (1.83%) Node.js
7 27 (1.65%) Spring Boot
8 25 (1.53%) RESTful
9 23 (1.41%) Django
9 23 (1.41%) Middleware
9 23 (1.41%) SOAP
10 20 (1.22%) Next.js
11 18 (1.10%) .NET
11 18 (1.10%) MACH
11 18 (1.10%) SAP Fiori
12 16 (0.98%) HTML
13 13 (0.79%) SAPUI5
13 13 (0.79%) VML
14 11 (0.67%) CSS
14 11 (0.67%) SAP Basis
Miscellaneous
1 91 (5.56%) EPoS
2 84 (5.13%) Product Ownership
3 73 (4.46%) Driving Licence
4 72 (4.40%) FMCG
5 61 (3.73%) Onboarding
6 54 (3.30%) Cloud Native
7 37 (2.26%) Management Information System
8 33 (2.02%) Legacy Systems
9 30 (1.83%) Marketing Technology
9 30 (1.83%) Mobile App
10 28 (1.71%) Smartphone
11 27 (1.65%) Greenfield Project
12 23 (1.41%) Data Centre
13 22 (1.34%) Data Structures
13 22 (1.34%) Distributed Systems
14 21 (1.28%) Operational Technology
15 17 (1.04%) AI Agents
15 17 (1.04%) Credit Risk
16 16 (0.98%) Data Protection Act
16 16 (0.98%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 50 (3.05%) Windows
2 17 (1.04%) Linux
3 13 (0.79%) Android
4 9 (0.55%) Unix
5 8 (0.49%) Apple iOS
6 7 (0.43%) macOS
7 6 (0.37%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 6 (0.37%) Ubuntu
8 4 (0.24%) Windows 10
9 3 (0.18%) zOS
10 2 (0.12%) Debian
11 1 (0.061%) OS/2
11 1 (0.061%) SUSE
11 1 (0.061%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
11 1 (0.061%) VMS
11 1 (0.061%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 426 (26.02%) Stakeholder Management
2 367 (22.42%) Agile
3 265 (16.19%) E-Commerce
4 188 (11.48%) Analytics
4 188 (11.48%) Logistics
5 185 (11.30%) Migration
6 169 (10.32%) AI
7 161 (9.84%) Problem-Solving
7 161 (9.84%) Roadmaps
8 151 (9.22%) Decision-Making
9 137 (8.37%) CRM
10 135 (8.25%) Customer Experience
11 133 (8.12%) Continuous Improvement
12 129 (7.88%) CI/CD
13 122 (7.45%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 120 (7.33%) Customer Service
15 116 (7.09%) DevOps
16 112 (6.84%) Data Modelling
17 106 (6.48%) Business Intelligence
18 103 (6.29%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 161 (9.84%) SQL
2 120 (7.33%) Python
3 54 (3.30%) Java
4 33 (2.02%) TypeScript
5 29 (1.77%) JavaScript
6 14 (0.86%) ABAP
6 14 (0.86%) C#
7 12 (0.73%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 10 (0.61%) R
9 9 (0.55%) Apex Code
9 9 (0.55%) Bash
10 7 (0.43%) PowerShell
10 7 (0.43%) SOQL
11 6 (0.37%) PL/SQL
12 5 (0.31%) Groovy
12 5 (0.31%) Shell Script
12 5 (0.31%) SOSL
13 4 (0.24%) Bicep
13 4 (0.24%) T-SQL
14 3 (0.18%) Scala
Qualifications
1 64 (3.91%) Degree
2 29 (1.77%) Security Cleared
3 22 (1.34%) PMP
4 14 (0.86%) ITIL Certification
5 11 (0.67%) PMI Certification
6 10 (0.61%) Computer Science Degree
7 9 (0.55%) DBS Check
8 8 (0.49%) BPSS Clearance
8 8 (0.49%) SC Cleared
9 6 (0.37%) CISSP
10 5 (0.31%) AWS Certification
10 5 (0.31%) Cisco Certification
10 5 (0.31%) CISM
10 5 (0.31%) City & Guilds
11 4 (0.24%) SAP Certification
11 4 (0.24%) Six Sigma Green Belt
12 3 (0.18%) CCNP
12 3 (0.18%) CCSE
12 3 (0.18%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
12 3 (0.18%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 86 (5.25%) Data Quality
2 75 (4.58%) QA
3 26 (1.59%) GDPR
4 25 (1.53%) Accessibility
4 25 (1.53%) PMO
5 13 (0.79%) PCI DSS
6 10 (0.61%) SLA
7 6 (0.37%) Actionable Recommendations
8 5 (0.31%) California Consumer Privacy Act
8 5 (0.31%) NIST
8 5 (0.31%) WCAG
9 4 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 3 (0.18%) GRC
10 3 (0.18%) PSD2
11 2 (0.12%) GAAP
11 2 (0.12%) IFRS
12 1 (0.061%) Cyber Essentials
12 1 (0.061%) IASME
12 1 (0.061%) ISO 8583
12 1 (0.061%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 36 (2.20%) Docker
2 24 (1.47%) Active Directory
3 13 (0.79%) Virtual Desktop
4 6 (0.37%) VMware Infrastructure
5 5 (0.31%) Firmware
6 4 (0.24%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (0.18%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.061%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.061%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 42 (2.57%) Kubernetes
2 10 (0.61%) Ansible
2 10 (0.61%) Single Sign-On
3 7 (0.43%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
4 5 (0.31%) FortiGate
4 5 (0.31%) Microsoft Intune
5 4 (0.24%) Bosun
6 3 (0.18%) Kubeflow
6 3 (0.18%) SCCM
7 2 (0.12%) AirWatch
7 2 (0.12%) CloudHub
7 2 (0.12%) Jamf Pro
7 2 (0.12%) logstash
7 2 (0.12%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.061%) Argo
8 1 (0.061%) CSIRT
8 1 (0.061%) Grafana
8 1 (0.061%) Nagios
8 1 (0.061%) vMotion
8 1 (0.061%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 166 (10.14%) Microsoft
2 137 (8.37%) SAP
3 84 (5.13%) Salesforce
4 76 (4.64%) Databricks
5 64 (3.91%) Oracle
6 56 (3.42%) Google
7 32 (1.95%) Adobe
8 31 (1.89%) MuleSoft
9 23 (1.41%) Zscaler
10 20 (1.22%) IBM
11 18 (1.10%) Cisco
11 18 (1.10%) Workday
12 13 (0.79%) New Relic
12 13 (0.79%) Splunk
13 12 (0.73%) Apple
14 11 (0.67%) Braze
14 11 (0.67%) ServiceNow
15 10 (0.61%) Fortinet
15 10 (0.61%) Informatica
15 10 (0.61%) JDA