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

6 months to
1 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 97 111 82
Rank change year-on-year +14 -29 +12
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,315 738 1,086
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.56% 2.40% 2.52%
As % of the General category 4.70% 3.80% 4.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 788 379 608
10th Percentile £265 £308 £278
25th Percentile £413 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -0.94%
75th Percentile £644 £625 £638
90th Percentile £738 £725 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £509 £500 £500
% change year-on-year +1.80% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 93 36 85
10th Percentile £12.99 £14.20 £11.85
25th Percentile £15.25 £15.25 £12.15
Median hourly rate £21.00 £16.30 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year +28.83% +1.88% -19.23%
75th Percentile £22.50 £41.31 £21.37
90th Percentile £43.75 £82.50 £21.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.92 £15.73 £15.95
% change year-on-year +7.57% -1.38% -19.49%

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 27,992 19,445 24,647
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 54.46% 63.23% 57.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 16,814 12,226 15,403
10th Percentile £313 £281 £275
25th Percentile £413 £401 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £517 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.34% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £470 £490
% change year-on-year +6.38% -4.08% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,924 958 1,974
10th Percentile £13.99 £13.46 £12.79
25th Percentile £18.23 £16.50 £15.62
Median hourly rate £32.00 £27.39 £31.61
Median % change year-on-year +16.84% -13.34% +4.48%
75th Percentile £60.00 £53.25 £53.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £72.50 £68.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.53 £23.00 £30.37
% change year-on-year +37.08% -24.27% +20.88%

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 1 July 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 1 July 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 1 July 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 +14 1,207 £538 +2.38% 1,519
London +15 694 £550 - 633
UK excluding London +5 527 £509 +1.80% 1,041
Work from Home -24 281 £500 - 532
South East +11 160 £550 - 326
North of England -30 144 £550 +8.64% 237
Midlands -11 100 £500 +8.11% 209
North West +4 95 £575 +15.00% 138
East of England +19 60 £550 +4.76% 114
East Midlands +5 55 £495 +7.03% 113
Yorkshire -49 46 £506 -3.57% 82
West Midlands -24 45 £514 +12.75% 96
South West -23 36 £325 -19.38% 74
Scotland +2 21 £496 -3.22% 37
Northern Ireland +4 3 £196 -64.32% 20
Wales -15 3 £190 +29.52% 54
North East -32 3 £173 -76.98% 21

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 40 (3.04%) Confluence
2 19 (1.44%) CMS
3 15 (1.14%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 12 (0.91%) Apache Airflow
5 7 (0.53%) SharePoint
6 5 (0.38%) SAS
7 4 (0.30%) WebSphere
8 2 (0.15%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.15%) CICS
9 1 (0.076%) Anypoint
9 1 (0.076%) Apache
9 1 (0.076%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 31 (2.36%) Microsoft Excel
2 25 (1.90%) Microsoft Office
3 18 (1.37%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 16 (1.22%) Microsoft Project
5 13 (0.99%) Chatbot
6 10 (0.76%) Photoshop
7 9 (0.68%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 9 (0.68%) Adobe Illustrator
8 8 (0.61%) MS Visio
9 6 (0.46%) InDesign
10 3 (0.23%) Notion
10 3 (0.23%) Spreadsheet
11 2 (0.15%) UserZoom
12 1 (0.076%) 3ds Max
12 1 (0.076%) CPLEX
12 1 (0.076%) Maya
12 1 (0.076%) PlantUML
12 1 (0.076%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 29 (2.21%) SAP S/4HANA
2 23 (1.75%) Shopify
3 13 (0.99%) Dynamics CRM
4 11 (0.84%) Oracle Retail
5 7 (0.53%) SAP CRM
5 7 (0.53%) SAP Retail
6 6 (0.46%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 5 (0.38%) Magento
7 5 (0.38%) Oracle EBS
8 4 (0.30%) Finacle
8 4 (0.30%) NetSuite
8 4 (0.30%) Payment Gateway
8 4 (0.30%) Salesforce CRM
8 4 (0.30%) SAP SD
9 3 (0.23%) SAP CAR
9 3 (0.23%) SAP ERP
9 3 (0.23%) SAP MDG
10 2 (0.15%) OpenText VIM for SAP
10 2 (0.15%) SAP IBP
10 2 (0.15%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 160 (12.17%) Azure
2 130 (9.89%) AWS
3 80 (6.08%) GCP
4 64 (4.87%) Power Platform
5 51 (3.88%) Snowflake
6 26 (1.98%) GitHub
7 23 (1.75%) Dynamics 365
8 22 (1.67%) Azure DevOps
9 21 (1.60%) Entra ID
10 18 (1.37%) Figma
10 18 (1.37%) GitHub Actions
10 18 (1.37%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
11 17 (1.29%) SaaS
12 14 (1.06%) dbt
13 13 (0.99%) Azure Data Factory
14 11 (0.84%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 11 (0.84%) Google Workspace
14 11 (0.84%) Microsoft 365
15 10 (0.76%) OCI
15 10 (0.76%) Salesforce Service Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 13 (0.99%) ATM
1 13 (0.99%) Firewall
1 13 (0.99%) WAN
2 12 (0.91%) Network Security
3 11 (0.84%) VPN
3 11 (0.84%) Wireless
4 9 (0.68%) RFID
5 8 (0.61%) Wi-Fi
6 7 (0.53%) LAN
7 6 (0.46%) Cisco Firepower
7 6 (0.46%) SD-WAN
8 5 (0.38%) BGP
8 5 (0.38%) Cisco ASA
8 5 (0.38%) Cisco Nexus
8 5 (0.38%) IPsec
8 5 (0.38%) OSPF
8 5 (0.38%) VSAN
9 4 (0.30%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
9 4 (0.30%) Internet
9 4 (0.30%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 62 (4.71%) Power BI
2 29 (2.21%) BigQuery
3 27 (2.05%) Data Warehouse
4 21 (1.60%) MySQL
4 21 (1.60%) Tableau
5 18 (1.37%) Metadata
6 17 (1.29%) Data Lake
7 16 (1.22%) SQL Server
8 15 (1.14%) NoSQL
9 12 (0.91%) Relational Database
10 8 (0.61%) Amazon Redshift
10 8 (0.61%) MongoDB
10 8 (0.61%) PostgreSQL
10 8 (0.61%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 6 (0.46%) Data Vault
11 6 (0.46%) Looker
11 6 (0.46%) Semantic Layer
12 5 (0.38%) Power Query
12 5 (0.38%) SAP HANA
12 5 (0.38%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 77 (5.86%) JIRA
2 26 (1.98%) Git
3 15 (1.14%) Jenkins
4 5 (0.38%) GitLab
4 5 (0.38%) Subversion
5 4 (0.30%) Eclipse
5 4 (0.30%) Maven
6 3 (0.23%) Cypress.io
6 3 (0.23%) ERwin
6 3 (0.23%) Hudson
6 3 (0.23%) JMeter
6 3 (0.23%) Oracle Forms
6 3 (0.23%) Selenium
7 2 (0.15%) git-flow
7 2 (0.15%) MLflow
7 2 (0.15%) Postman
7 2 (0.15%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.15%) WebDriver
7 2 (0.15%) webpack
8 1 (0.076%) Gatling
General
1 377 (28.67%) Social Skills
2 304 (23.12%) Finance
3 121 (9.20%) Analytical Skills
4 117 (8.90%) Banking
5 80 (6.08%) Marketing
6 76 (5.78%) Manufacturing
7 60 (4.56%) Retail Banking
8 58 (4.41%) Organisational Skills
9 47 (3.57%) Investment Banking
10 44 (3.35%) Corporate Banking
11 28 (2.13%) Public Sector
12 27 (2.05%) Telecoms
13 25 (1.90%) Documentation Skills
14 23 (1.75%) French Language
15 22 (1.67%) Influencing Skills
16 21 (1.60%) Legal
16 21 (1.60%) Presentation Skills
17 18 (1.37%) Spanish Language
18 17 (1.29%) Advertising
19 13 (0.99%) Private Banking
Job Titles
1 216 (16.43%) Architect
2 190 (14.45%) Analyst
3 163 (12.40%) Senior
4 117 (8.90%) Project Manager
5 109 (8.29%) Business Analyst
6 106 (8.06%) Solutions Architect
7 98 (7.45%) Lead
8 63 (4.79%) Senior Manager
9 55 (4.18%) Developer
10 45 (3.42%) Designer
11 40 (3.04%) Technical Manager
12 39 (2.97%) Consultant
13 38 (2.89%) Enterprise Architect
14 37 (2.81%) Product Manager
14 37 (2.81%) Senior Project Manager
15 30 (2.28%) Data Engineer
16 29 (2.21%) 2nd Line Support
16 29 (2.21%) Data Analyst
16 29 (2.21%) Data Architect
17 28 (2.13%) Programme Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 56 (4.26%) REST
2 36 (2.74%) Middleware
3 29 (2.21%) React
4 26 (1.98%) Spring
5 23 (1.75%) Kafka
5 23 (1.75%) VML
6 19 (1.44%) Spring Boot
7 17 (1.29%) HTML
7 17 (1.29%) Node.js
8 16 (1.22%) CSS
8 16 (1.22%) RESTful
9 15 (1.14%) MACH
10 14 (1.06%) OAuth
11 13 (0.99%) J2EE
12 12 (0.91%) Django
13 11 (0.84%) .NET
13 11 (0.84%) SOAP
14 9 (0.68%) AngularJS
14 9 (0.68%) JSON
14 9 (0.68%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 83 (6.31%) Product Ownership
2 50 (3.80%) FMCG
3 48 (3.65%) EPoS
4 41 (3.12%) Driving Licence
5 40 (3.04%) Onboarding
6 38 (2.89%) Cloud Native
7 25 (1.90%) Legacy Systems
8 23 (1.75%) Data Centre
9 21 (1.60%) Marketing Technology
9 21 (1.60%) Mobile App
10 20 (1.52%) Data Structures
11 18 (1.37%) Mainframe
12 17 (1.29%) Greenfield Project
12 17 (1.29%) Self-Motivation
13 15 (1.14%) AI Agents
13 15 (1.14%) Management Information System
14 13 (0.99%) Operational Technology
15 11 (0.84%) Smartphone
15 11 (0.84%) Taxonomies
15 11 (0.84%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 54 (4.11%) Windows
2 27 (2.05%) Linux
3 12 (0.91%) Android
3 12 (0.91%) Unix
4 7 (0.53%) Mac OS
4 7 (0.53%) zOS
5 6 (0.46%) Apple iOS
5 6 (0.46%) Ubuntu
6 5 (0.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 5 (0.38%) Windows 10
6 5 (0.38%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.15%) Debian
8 1 (0.076%) SUSE
8 1 (0.076%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
8 1 (0.076%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 317 (24.11%) Agile
2 308 (23.42%) Stakeholder Management
3 193 (14.68%) E-Commerce
4 189 (14.37%) Problem-Solving
5 174 (13.23%) Migration
6 161 (12.24%) Roadmaps
7 146 (11.10%) Analytics
8 125 (9.51%) Customer Experience
9 117 (8.90%) AI
10 113 (8.59%) Project Management
11 111 (8.44%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 97 (7.38%) Decision-Making
13 95 (7.22%) CI/CD
13 95 (7.22%) ERP
13 95 (7.22%) Logistics
13 95 (7.22%) Project Delivery
14 93 (7.07%) Continuous Improvement
15 91 (6.92%) Business Intelligence
16 87 (6.62%) Scrum
16 87 (6.62%) User Acceptance Testing
Programming Languages
1 120 (9.13%) SQL
2 86 (6.54%) Python
3 55 (4.18%) Java
4 26 (1.98%) JavaScript
5 20 (1.52%) TypeScript
6 11 (0.84%) C#
7 10 (0.76%) PowerShell
8 9 (0.68%) Shell Script
9 7 (0.53%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 7 (0.53%) PL/SQL
9 7 (0.53%) SOQL
10 6 (0.46%) Apex Code
10 6 (0.46%) Bash
10 6 (0.46%) Bicep
10 6 (0.46%) Kotlin
11 5 (0.38%) ABAP
11 5 (0.38%) Groovy
11 5 (0.38%) R
11 5 (0.38%) Scala
11 5 (0.38%) SOSL
Qualifications
1 58 (4.41%) Degree
2 38 (2.89%) Security Cleared
3 24 (1.83%) SC Cleared
4 18 (1.37%) PMP
5 10 (0.76%) DBS Check
6 9 (0.68%) CISSP
6 9 (0.68%) Computer Science Degree
6 9 (0.68%) PMI Certification
7 7 (0.53%) BPSS Clearance
8 6 (0.46%) Cisco Certification
8 6 (0.46%) CISM
9 5 (0.38%) CCNP
9 5 (0.38%) CCSE
9 5 (0.38%) CCSM
9 5 (0.38%) CSPO
9 5 (0.38%) Master's Degree
10 4 (0.30%) APMP
10 4 (0.30%) Azure Certification
10 4 (0.30%) City & Guilds
10 4 (0.30%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 63 (4.79%) QA
2 59 (4.49%) Data Quality
3 40 (3.04%) GDPR
4 29 (2.21%) PMO
5 19 (1.44%) Accessibility
6 17 (1.29%) PCI DSS
7 12 (0.91%) SLA
8 9 (0.68%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 7 (0.53%) NIST
10 3 (0.23%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 3 (0.23%) GAAP
10 3 (0.23%) IFRS
10 3 (0.23%) PSD2
11 2 (0.15%) Actionable Recommendations
11 2 (0.15%) GRC
11 2 (0.15%) ISO 8583
11 2 (0.15%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.15%) WCAG
12 1 (0.076%) COBIT
12 1 (0.076%) GxP
System Software
1 25 (1.90%) Active Directory
1 25 (1.90%) Docker
2 7 (0.53%) Virtual Machines
2 7 (0.53%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (0.46%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (0.38%) VMware ESXi
5 3 (0.23%) Firmware
6 2 (0.15%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 34 (2.59%) Terraform
2 26 (1.98%) Kubernetes
3 14 (1.06%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
4 9 (0.68%) Ansible
5 6 (0.46%) Microsoft Intune
5 6 (0.46%) SCCM
5 6 (0.46%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (0.38%) Grafana
7 4 (0.30%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.15%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 2 (0.15%) AirWatch
8 2 (0.15%) CA Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.15%) MOM
8 2 (0.15%) PingFederate
9 1 (0.076%) Argo
9 1 (0.076%) CSIRT
9 1 (0.076%) Istio
9 1 (0.076%) Nagios
9 1 (0.076%) vCenter Server
9 1 (0.076%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 103 (7.83%) Microsoft
2 89 (6.77%) SAP
3 80 (6.08%) Oracle
4 60 (4.56%) Salesforce
5 55 (4.18%) Google
6 53 (4.03%) Databricks
7 36 (2.74%) Adobe
8 22 (1.67%) ServiceNow
9 16 (1.22%) Cisco
9 16 (1.22%) IBM
10 14 (1.06%) IFS
10 14 (1.06%) MuleSoft
10 14 (1.06%) Splunk
11 13 (0.99%) Zscaler
12 12 (0.91%) VMware
13 11 (0.84%) Fortinet
13 11 (0.84%) Palo Alto
13 11 (0.84%) Sitecore
14 9 (0.68%) Apple
14 9 (0.68%) Dynatrace