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

6 months to
4 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 90 119 98
Rank change year-on-year +29 -21 +4
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,637 763 901
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.00% 2.30% 2.37%
As % of the General category 5.33% 3.63% 4.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 951 414 474
10th Percentile £319 £300 £285
25th Percentile £450 £425 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% - -
75th Percentile £675 £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 135 65 23
10th Percentile £12.76 - £12.75
25th Percentile £13.45 £15.25 £16.00
Median hourly rate £15.04 £16.34 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year -7.93% +0.21% -17.72%
75th Percentile £22.50 £19.50 £21.37
90th Percentile £41.75 £25.15 £51.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £13.81 £16.34 £16.15
% change year-on-year -15.46% +1.15% -18.48%

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 general skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 30,700 21,001 22,220
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.19% 63.28% 58.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,860 13,046 13,160
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 £744 £738 £770
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,691 1,238 993
10th Percentile £13.48 £13.51 £14.78
25th Percentile £16.21 £16.17 £17.25
Median hourly rate £28.00 £25.08 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +11.67% -28.36% +27.27%
75th Percentile £53.75 £45.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £67.00 £71.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.09 £21.39 £33.00
% change year-on-year +31.32% -35.18% +23.23%

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 4 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 4 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 4 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 +35 1,496 £550 +4.76% 4,742
London +38 826 £575 +4.55% 2,117
UK excluding London +18 690 £525 +5.00% 3,090
Work from Home +10 363 £550 +2.80% 2,375
North of England -3 200 £550 +10.00% 795
Midlands +40 161 £550 +27.76% 548
South East -7 161 £581 +5.68% 720
North West +17 127 £550 +10.00% 388
East Midlands +23 89 £500 +14.68% 256
East of England +15 81 £550 -6.38% 296
West Midlands +6 71 £575 +35.29% 291
Yorkshire -38 55 £500 -4.76% 319
South West -12 52 £475 +91.92% 268
Scotland -18 25 £180 -64.00% 279
North East -24 18 £525 +288.89% 98
Wales -10 7 £180 -71.20% 168
Northern Ireland +7 4 £191 - 69

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 24 (1.47%) CMS
3 20 (1.22%) Apache Airflow
3 20 (1.22%) SharePoint
4 8 (0.49%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 5 (0.31%) SAS
6 4 (0.24%) Apache
6 4 (0.24%) Apache Spark
6 4 (0.24%) WebSphere
7 3 (0.18%) Anypoint
8 2 (0.12%) CICS
8 2 (0.12%) Mule
8 2 (0.12%) Sitecore CMS
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 79 (4.83%) Microsoft Excel
2 55 (3.36%) Microsoft Office
3 28 (1.71%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 14 (0.86%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 13 (0.79%) Spreadsheet
6 11 (0.67%) Microsoft Project
6 11 (0.67%) MS Visio
7 8 (0.49%) Photoshop
8 7 (0.43%) Adobe Illustrator
9 6 (0.37%) CPLEX
10 5 (0.31%) InDesign
11 4 (0.24%) 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 59 (3.60%) SAP S/4HANA
2 28 (1.71%) Shopify
3 15 (0.92%) SAP Retail
4 13 (0.79%) 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%) Salesforce CRM
8 5 (0.31%) SAP MDG
8 5 (0.31%) Workday HCM
9 4 (0.24%) Dynamics NAV
9 4 (0.24%) Oracle EBS
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%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 217 (13.26%) Azure
2 153 (9.35%) AWS
3 79 (4.83%) Power Platform
4 74 (4.52%) GCP
5 54 (3.30%) Snowflake
6 50 (3.05%) GitHub
7 39 (2.38%) Azure DevOps
8 34 (2.08%) Entra ID
9 31 (1.89%) GitHub Actions
10 28 (1.71%) SaaS
11 27 (1.65%) Dynamics 365
12 26 (1.59%) dbt
13 24 (1.47%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
14 23 (1.41%) Azure Data Factory
15 20 (1.22%) Figma
16 18 (1.10%) Azure Synapse Analytics
17 16 (0.98%) Microsoft 365
18 15 (0.92%) OCI
19 11 (0.67%) Algolia
19 11 (0.67%) Salesforce Service Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 22 (1.34%) WAN
2 20 (1.22%) Firewall
3 16 (0.98%) ATM
3 16 (0.98%) VPN
4 14 (0.86%) Network Security
5 13 (0.79%) LAN
5 13 (0.79%) Wireless
6 12 (0.73%) 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
8 7 (0.43%) SD-WAN
9 6 (0.37%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
9 6 (0.37%) VLAN
10 5 (0.31%) DNS
11 4 (0.24%) Broadband
11 4 (0.24%) SMS
11 4 (0.24%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 78 (4.76%) Power BI
2 59 (3.60%) Data Warehouse
3 33 (2.02%) Data Lake
4 27 (1.65%) BigQuery
5 22 (1.34%) Metadata
5 22 (1.34%) SQL Server
5 22 (1.34%) Tableau
6 19 (1.16%) MongoDB
7 18 (1.10%) NoSQL
8 15 (0.92%) Amazon Redshift
8 15 (0.92%) PostgreSQL
8 15 (0.92%) SAP BW
9 14 (0.86%) Relational Database
9 14 (0.86%) SAP HANA
10 13 (0.79%) MySQL
11 12 (0.73%) Power Query
12 11 (0.67%) Redis
12 11 (0.67%) Star Schema
13 10 (0.61%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 9 (0.55%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 77 (4.70%) 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 (0.24%) Eclipse
7 4 (0.24%) GitLab
7 4 (0.24%) 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%) Maven
General
1 465 (28.41%) Social Skills
2 366 (22.36%) Finance
3 159 (9.71%) Analytical Skills
4 137 (8.37%) Marketing
5 116 (7.09%) Banking
5 116 (7.09%) Manufacturing
6 74 (4.52%) Organisational Skills
7 59 (3.60%) Retail Banking
8 39 (2.38%) Corporate Banking
9 38 (2.32%) Influencing Skills
9 38 (2.32%) Investment Banking
10 33 (2.02%) Public Sector
11 30 (1.83%) Advertising
12 28 (1.71%) Legal
12 28 (1.71%) Telecoms
13 21 (1.28%) French Language
14 19 (1.16%) Back Office
15 17 (1.04%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 17 (1.04%) Pharmaceutical
15 17 (1.04%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 259 (15.82%) Architect
2 235 (14.36%) Analyst
3 176 (10.75%) Senior
4 148 (9.04%) Solutions Architect
5 135 (8.25%) Business Analyst
6 118 (7.21%) Project Manager
7 115 (7.03%) Lead
8 85 (5.19%) Developer
9 59 (3.60%) Consultant
10 54 (3.30%) Product Manager
11 49 (2.99%) Data Analyst
11 49 (2.99%) Designer
12 43 (2.63%) Senior Manager
13 42 (2.57%) Supply Chain Architect
14 35 (2.14%) Service Manager
15 34 (2.08%) Senior Developer
15 34 (2.08%) Service Transition Manager
15 34 (2.08%) Transition Manager
16 32 (1.95%) Data Engineer
17 28 (1.71%) Data Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 71 (4.34%) REST
2 49 (2.99%) Terraform
3 43 (2.63%) Kafka
4 42 (2.57%) React
5 30 (1.83%) Node.js
5 30 (1.83%) Spring
6 26 (1.59%) Spring Boot
7 25 (1.53%) Middleware
8 23 (1.41%) RESTful
8 23 (1.41%) SOAP
9 22 (1.34%) Django
10 20 (1.22%) MACH
11 18 (1.10%) Next.js
11 18 (1.10%) SAP Fiori
12 17 (1.04%) VML
13 15 (0.92%) HTML
14 13 (0.79%) .NET
14 13 (0.79%) SAPUI5
15 11 (0.67%) CSS
15 11 (0.67%) SAP Basis
Miscellaneous
1 83 (5.07%) Product Ownership
2 77 (4.70%) EPoS
3 73 (4.46%) FMCG
4 58 (3.54%) Onboarding
5 55 (3.36%) Driving Licence
6 53 (3.24%) Cloud Native
7 35 (2.14%) Management Information System
8 33 (2.02%) Legacy Systems
9 31 (1.89%) Mobile App
10 30 (1.83%) Marketing Technology
11 28 (1.71%) Greenfield Project
12 26 (1.59%) Smartphone
13 25 (1.53%) Data Centre
14 23 (1.41%) Data Structures
15 21 (1.28%) Distributed Systems
15 21 (1.28%) Operational Technology
16 18 (1.10%) AI Agents
17 17 (1.04%) Credit Risk
17 17 (1.04%) Mainframe
17 17 (1.04%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 52 (3.18%) Windows
2 17 (1.04%) Linux
3 12 (0.73%) Android
4 8 (0.49%) 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 (0.24%) Windows 10
7 4 (0.24%) 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
1 428 (26.15%) Stakeholder Management
2 370 (22.60%) Agile
3 260 (15.88%) E-Commerce
4 189 (11.55%) Analytics
4 189 (11.55%) Migration
5 187 (11.42%) Logistics
6 173 (10.57%) AI
7 170 (10.38%) Problem-Solving
8 166 (10.14%) Roadmaps
9 148 (9.04%) Decision-Making
10 139 (8.49%) Customer Experience
11 138 (8.43%) CRM
12 137 (8.37%) Continuous Improvement
13 127 (7.76%) CI/CD
14 124 (7.57%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 119 (7.27%) Customer Service
16 112 (6.84%) DevOps
16 112 (6.84%) Project Management
17 111 (6.78%) Business Intelligence
18 110 (6.72%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 157 (9.59%) SQL
2 115 (7.03%) Python
3 52 (3.18%) Java
4 35 (2.14%) TypeScript
5 27 (1.65%) JavaScript
6 14 (0.86%) ABAP
7 12 (0.73%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 11 (0.67%) C#
9 10 (0.61%) R
10 9 (0.55%) Apex Code
10 9 (0.55%) Bash
11 7 (0.43%) PowerShell
11 7 (0.43%) SOQL
12 6 (0.37%) PL/SQL
13 5 (0.31%) Groovy
13 5 (0.31%) SOSL
14 4 (0.24%) Bicep
14 4 (0.24%) Shell Script
14 4 (0.24%) T-SQL
15 3 (0.18%) Scala
Qualifications
1 62 (3.79%) Degree
2 35 (2.14%) Security Cleared
3 23 (1.41%) PMP
4 14 (0.86%) ITIL Certification
5 13 (0.79%) SC Cleared
6 12 (0.73%) PMI Certification
7 10 (0.61%) DBS Check
8 8 (0.49%) BPSS Clearance
8 8 (0.49%) Computer Science Degree
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 (0.24%) 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 85 (5.19%) Data Quality
2 74 (4.52%) QA
3 31 (1.89%) 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
7 6 (0.37%) NIST
8 5 (0.31%) WCAG
9 4 (0.24%) California Consumer Privacy Act
9 4 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 3 (0.18%) PSD2
11 2 (0.12%) GAAP
11 2 (0.12%) GRC
11 2 (0.12%) IFRS
11 2 (0.12%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.061%) GxP
12 1 (0.061%) HL7
12 1 (0.061%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 35 (2.14%) Docker
2 25 (1.53%) Active Directory
3 13 (0.79%) Virtual Desktop
4 6 (0.37%) VMware Infrastructure
5 5 (0.31%) Firmware
5 5 (0.31%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.18%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.12%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.061%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 41 (2.50%) Kubernetes
2 12 (0.73%) 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 (0.24%) 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
1 165 (10.08%) Microsoft
2 141 (8.61%) SAP
3 87 (5.31%) Salesforce
4 77 (4.70%) Databricks
5 68 (4.15%) Oracle
6 52 (3.18%) Google
7 35 (2.14%) Adobe
8 30 (1.83%) MuleSoft
9 24 (1.47%) Zscaler
10 21 (1.28%) IBM
11 20 (1.22%) Cisco
12 18 (1.10%) Workday
13 13 (0.79%) New Relic
13 13 (0.79%) Splunk
14 12 (0.73%) Apple
14 12 (0.73%) ServiceNow
15 11 (0.67%) Braze
15 11 (0.67%) Fortinet
16 10 (0.61%) Palo Alto
16 10 (0.61%) VMware