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

6 months to
8 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 147 90 102
Rank change year-on-year -57 +12 -21
Contract jobs citing Retail 704 849 938
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.91% 2.63% 2.21%
As % of the General category 3.16% 4.28% 3.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 411 445 529
10th Percentile £206 £264 £275
25th Percentile £400 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £635
90th Percentile £725 £750 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -3.15%
Number of hourly rates quoted 43 8 28
10th Percentile £14.65 £17.57 £13.00
25th Percentile £16.17 £18.13 £15.33
Median hourly rate £18.00 £32.50 £19.81
Median % change year-on-year -44.62% +64.06% -
75th Percentile £19.50 £36.13 £21.46
90th Percentile £25.04 £41.75 £29.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.34 £25.32 £19.81
% change year-on-year -35.47% +27.79% -

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 22,267 19,837 25,030
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 60.34% 61.47% 59.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,986 11,827 16,442
10th Percentile £284 £285 £275
25th Percentile £401 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £543
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -3.23% -1.36%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £728 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -2.56% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,380 673 1,123
10th Percentile £13.80 £15.48 £14.16
25th Percentile £16.50 £19.00 £16.25
Median hourly rate £23.50 £27.39 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -14.19% -15.74% +30.00%
75th Percentile £46.00 £53.75 £58.75
90th Percentile £70.00 £73.75 £70.62
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.50 £26.23 £30.05
% change year-on-year -18.03% -12.71% +33.56%

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 January 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 January 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 January 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 -51 653 £500 -4.76% 1,528
London -43 334 £550 - 289
UK excluding London -46 318 £475 -5.00% 1,374
Work from Home -73 171 £534 +1.62% 521
South East -24 95 £517 -6.09% 374
North of England -44 79 £485 +4.86% 304
Midlands -35 67 £463 -7.50% 213
East Midlands -1 46 £495 -1.00% 125
Yorkshire -37 41 £500 +17.65% 140
East of England -23 39 £529 -3.86% 238
North West -21 34 £495 +8.49% 130
West Midlands -57 20 £375 -28.57% 87
South West -5 17 £180 -56.57% 146
Scotland -5 17 £450 -14.29% 52
North East -10 5 £200 -66.67% 35
Wales -1 3 £625 +331.03% 58
Northern Ireland -8 1 - - 23

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 34 (4.83%) Confluence
2 18 (2.56%) CMS
3 16 (2.27%) SharePoint
4 8 (1.14%) Apache Airflow
5 6 (0.85%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 5 (0.71%) Camunda
6 5 (0.71%) Jupyter
7 4 (0.57%) Microsoft Exchange
7 4 (0.57%) WordPress
8 2 (0.28%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.28%) Magnolia
9 1 (0.14%) SAS
9 1 (0.14%) SharePoint Server
9 1 (0.14%) WebLogic
9 1 (0.14%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.14%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 26 (3.69%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (1.56%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 9 (1.28%) Microsoft Project
4 8 (1.14%) Microsoft Office
4 8 (1.14%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.71%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.28%) Trello
7 1 (0.14%) Adobe After Effects
7 1 (0.14%) Adobe XD
7 1 (0.14%) Photoshop
7 1 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 25 (3.55%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (1.56%) SAP Retail
2 11 (1.56%) Shopify
3 9 (1.28%) Dynamics CRM
4 6 (0.85%) Oracle Retail
4 6 (0.85%) Payment Gateway
5 5 (0.71%) SAP Payroll
6 4 (0.57%) Dynamics AX
6 4 (0.57%) NetSuite
6 4 (0.57%) ResourceLink
6 4 (0.57%) Temenos T24
7 3 (0.43%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 3 (0.43%) Salesforce CRM
7 3 (0.43%) SAP MDG
7 3 (0.43%) SAP MM
8 2 (0.28%) BambooHR
8 2 (0.28%) Finacle
8 2 (0.28%) Magento
8 2 (0.28%) SAP GTS
8 2 (0.28%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 84 (11.93%) Azure
2 47 (6.68%) Power Platform
3 41 (5.82%) AWS
4 29 (4.12%) GCP
5 23 (3.27%) Dynamics 365
6 22 (3.13%) Azure DevOps
7 16 (2.27%) Microsoft 365
8 14 (1.99%) GitHub
8 14 (1.99%) SaaS
9 12 (1.70%) Snowflake
10 11 (1.56%) Figma
10 11 (1.56%) OCI
11 10 (1.42%) GitHub Actions
11 10 (1.42%) Power Automate
11 10 (1.42%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
11 10 (1.42%) SuccessFactors
12 8 (1.14%) Entra ID
12 8 (1.14%) Vertex AI
13 7 (0.99%) Serverless
14 6 (0.85%) BigCommerce
Communications & Networking
1 19 (2.70%) RFID
2 18 (2.56%) NFC
2 18 (2.56%) Wireless
3 12 (1.70%) Firewall
4 10 (1.42%) VPN
5 7 (0.99%) WAN
6 6 (0.85%) Wi-Fi
7 4 (0.57%) BGP
7 4 (0.57%) Cisco Nexus
7 4 (0.57%) EIGRP
7 4 (0.57%) OSPF
7 4 (0.57%) VoIP
8 3 (0.43%) LAN
9 2 (0.28%) MPLS
9 2 (0.28%) SAN
9 2 (0.28%) WLAN
10 1 (0.14%) DNS
10 1 (0.14%) HTTPS
10 1 (0.14%) Intranet
10 1 (0.14%) Multicast
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (5.54%) Power BI
2 17 (2.41%) BigQuery
3 15 (2.13%) Data Warehouse
4 12 (1.70%) Metadata
5 11 (1.56%) Tableau
6 10 (1.42%) SQL Server
7 7 (0.99%) Data Lake
8 5 (0.71%) MongoDB
8 5 (0.71%) Power Query
8 5 (0.71%) Relational Database
9 4 (0.57%) Data Vault
9 4 (0.57%) Delta Lake
9 4 (0.57%) Redis
9 4 (0.57%) Snowflake Schema
9 4 (0.57%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 3 (0.43%) Oracle Reports
10 3 (0.43%) SAP BW
10 3 (0.43%) SAP HANA
10 3 (0.43%) Star Schema
11 2 (0.28%) NoSQL
Development Applications
1 68 (9.66%) JIRA
2 11 (1.56%) Jenkins
3 9 (1.28%) Git
4 7 (0.99%) GitLab
5 4 (0.57%) Selenium
5 4 (0.57%) Storybook
6 3 (0.43%) Postman
7 2 (0.28%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.28%) ERwin
7 2 (0.28%) JMeter
7 2 (0.28%) JUnit
7 2 (0.28%) MLflow
7 2 (0.28%) Mockito
7 2 (0.28%) PowerDesigner
7 2 (0.28%) SoapUI
7 2 (0.28%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.28%) Xcode
7 2 (0.28%) Zephyr
8 1 (0.14%) Oracle Forms
8 1 (0.14%) Visual Studio
General
1 253 (35.94%) Social Skills
2 143 (20.31%) Finance
3 76 (10.80%) Analytical Skills
4 57 (8.10%) Banking
5 48 (6.82%) Marketing
6 44 (6.25%) Public Sector
7 38 (5.40%) Organisational Skills
8 34 (4.83%) Manufacturing
9 28 (3.98%) Retail Banking
10 22 (3.13%) Corporate Banking
10 22 (3.13%) Documentation Skills
10 22 (3.13%) Influencing Skills
10 22 (3.13%) Legal
11 21 (2.98%) Investment Banking
12 16 (2.27%) Presentation Skills
13 10 (1.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 10 (1.42%) Telecoms
14 6 (0.85%) Financial Institution
14 6 (0.85%) Publishing
15 4 (0.57%) Billing
Job Titles
1 138 (19.60%) Analyst
2 85 (12.07%) Project Manager
3 72 (10.23%) Architect
4 67 (9.52%) Senior
5 63 (8.95%) Business Analyst
6 56 (7.95%) Lead
7 32 (4.55%) Consultant
7 32 (4.55%) Solutions Architect
8 27 (3.84%) Senior Manager
9 19 (2.70%) Product Manager
9 19 (2.70%) Programme Manager
10 18 (2.56%) Developer
11 16 (2.27%) SAP Consultant
12 15 (2.13%) Technical Manager
13 14 (1.99%) Senior Analyst
14 13 (1.85%) Service Manager
14 13 (1.85%) Support Analyst
15 12 (1.70%) Data Analyst
15 12 (1.70%) Field Engineer
15 12 (1.70%) Senior Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (3.27%) React
2 16 (2.27%) Node.js
2 16 (2.27%) VML
3 15 (2.13%) PySpark
4 14 (1.99%) REST
5 10 (1.42%) HTML
6 8 (1.14%) .NET
6 8 (1.14%) AngularJS
7 7 (0.99%) React Native
7 7 (0.99%) scikit-learn
7 7 (0.99%) Spring
7 7 (0.99%) Spring Boot
8 6 (0.85%) FastAPI
8 6 (0.85%) Kafka
8 6 (0.85%) OpenTelemetry
8 6 (0.85%) XML
9 5 (0.71%) CSS
9 5 (0.71%) LangChain
9 5 (0.71%) Oracle Fusion
9 5 (0.71%) XGBoost
Miscellaneous
1 33 (4.69%) Product Ownership
2 30 (4.26%) Legacy Systems
3 24 (3.41%) Self-Motivation
4 22 (3.13%) IoT
5 20 (2.84%) EPoS
6 19 (2.70%) Onboarding
7 17 (2.41%) FMCG
8 14 (1.99%) Management Information System
9 11 (1.56%) Data Centre
9 11 (1.56%) Driving Licence
9 11 (1.56%) Mobile App
10 10 (1.42%) Cloud Native
10 10 (1.42%) Data Structures
11 9 (1.28%) Analytical Mindset
12 8 (1.14%) Algorithms
13 6 (0.85%) Enterprise Software
13 6 (0.85%) Greenfield Project
13 6 (0.85%) Mainframe
13 6 (0.85%) Replication
13 6 (0.85%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 41 (5.82%) Windows
2 8 (1.14%) Linux
3 6 (0.85%) Mac OS
4 5 (0.71%) Apple iOS
5 3 (0.43%) Android
5 3 (0.43%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.28%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.14%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.14%) Mac OS X
7 1 (0.14%) VMS
7 1 (0.14%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 169 (24.01%) Stakeholder Management
2 168 (23.86%) Agile
3 110 (15.63%) Problem-Solving
4 90 (12.78%) Project Management
5 77 (10.94%) E-Commerce
6 76 (10.80%) Analytics
7 63 (8.95%) Migration
8 60 (8.52%) Continuous Improvement
9 59 (8.38%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 55 (7.81%) Workshop Facilitation
11 53 (7.53%) AI
11 53 (7.53%) Roadmaps
12 50 (7.10%) Business Intelligence
13 49 (6.96%) Scrum
14 48 (6.82%) Customer Experience
14 48 (6.82%) Waterfall
15 46 (6.53%) Data Modelling
15 46 (6.53%) Decision-Making
16 45 (6.39%) ERP
16 45 (6.39%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 66 (9.38%) SQL
2 58 (8.24%) Python
3 15 (2.13%) Java
4 13 (1.85%) JavaScript
5 11 (1.56%) PowerShell
6 9 (1.28%) Bash
7 7 (0.99%) TypeScript
8 6 (0.85%) C#
8 6 (0.85%) Kusto Query Language
9 4 (0.57%) PL/SQL
9 4 (0.57%) Shell Script
10 2 (0.28%) ABAP
10 2 (0.28%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 2 (0.28%) PHP
10 2 (0.28%) R
10 2 (0.28%) Swift
10 2 (0.28%) VBA
11 1 (0.14%) JCL
11 1 (0.14%) ProC
11 1 (0.14%) VB
Qualifications
1 32 (4.55%) Degree
2 23 (3.27%) PMP
3 19 (2.70%) PMI Certification
3 19 (2.70%) Security Cleared
4 10 (1.42%) Master's Degree
5 6 (0.85%) ITIL Certification
5 6 (0.85%) MBA
5 6 (0.85%) SC Cleared
6 4 (0.57%) APMP
6 4 (0.57%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (0.57%) CCIE
6 4 (0.57%) CCNP
6 4 (0.57%) Cisco Certification
6 4 (0.57%) CISSP
6 4 (0.57%) Computer Science Degree
6 4 (0.57%) CSPO
6 4 (0.57%) Microsoft Certification
7 3 (0.43%) CISM
7 3 (0.43%) CRISC
7 3 (0.43%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (3.27%) Data Quality
1 23 (3.27%) QA
2 18 (2.56%) PMO
3 15 (2.13%) GDPR
4 13 (1.85%) SLA
5 12 (1.70%) Accessibility
6 6 (0.85%) COBIT
7 5 (0.71%) Actionable Recommendations
8 3 (0.43%) IFRS
8 3 (0.43%) NCSC
8 3 (0.43%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 2 (0.28%) NIST
10 1 (0.14%) Cyber Essentials
10 1 (0.14%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 1 (0.14%) IFRS 9
10 1 (0.14%) MiFID
10 1 (0.14%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.14%) Solvency II
System Software
1 11 (1.56%) Docker
2 10 (1.42%) Active Directory
3 4 (0.57%) RACF
4 3 (0.43%) Virtual Desktop
4 3 (0.43%) VMware NSX
5 1 (0.14%) Varnish
5 1 (0.14%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.14%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 22 (3.13%) Terraform
2 11 (1.56%) Kubernetes
3 6 (0.85%) Ansible
4 5 (0.71%) Argo
4 5 (0.71%) Istio
4 5 (0.71%) Microsoft Intune
5 4 (0.57%) Grafana
6 3 (0.43%) Jamf Pro
6 3 (0.43%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.28%) SCCM
8 1 (0.14%) AirWatch
8 1 (0.14%) Cacti
8 1 (0.14%) Control-M
8 1 (0.14%) HP ALM
8 1 (0.14%) Nmap
8 1 (0.14%) Prometheus
8 1 (0.14%) ZABBIX
8 1 (0.14%) zSecure
Vendors
1 79 (11.22%) Microsoft
2 66 (9.38%) SAP
3 44 (6.25%) Oracle
4 42 (5.97%) Salesforce
5 23 (3.27%) Google
6 20 (2.84%) Databricks
7 18 (2.56%) Adobe
8 14 (1.99%) HP
9 10 (1.42%) CheckPoint
9 10 (1.42%) Dell
9 10 (1.42%) F5
10 7 (0.99%) Dynatrace
10 7 (0.99%) Sitecore
11 5 (0.71%) Cisco
11 5 (0.71%) Meraki
11 5 (0.71%) ServiceNow
11 5 (0.71%) Zscaler
12 4 (0.57%) Apple
12 4 (0.57%) Planview
12 4 (0.57%) Temenos