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

6 months to
26 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 84 126 89
Rank change year-on-year +42 -37 +13
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,593 747 955
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.97% 2.28% 2.46%
As % of the General category 5.40% 3.60% 4.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 922 392 530
10th Percentile £319 £281 £300
25th Percentile £456 £400 £411
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £513 £505
Median % change year-on-year +7.32% +1.49% -4.72%
75th Percentile £660 £631 £625
90th Percentile £738 £725 £713
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £500 £500
% change year-on-year +5.00% - -1.23%
Number of hourly rates quoted 119 52 53
10th Percentile £12.76 £14.58 £12.15
25th Percentile £13.51 £15.25 £12.50
Median hourly rate £16.92 £16.32 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year +3.69% +0.11% -17.72%
75th Percentile £22.50 £25.15 £21.37
90th Percentile £43.75 £31.99 £23.69
UK excluding London median hourly rate £13.86 £16.30 £16.00
% change year-on-year -15.00% +1.88% -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 29,505 20,771 22,278
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 55.01% 63.48% 57.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,438 12,920 13,838
10th Percentile £313 £275 £288
25th Percentile £415 £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 £738 £745 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £494
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.89% -1.15%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,281 1,174 1,263
10th Percentile £13.81 £13.46 £14.06
25th Percentile £17.11 £16.17 £16.80
Median hourly rate £31.50 £25.15 £35.36
Median % change year-on-year +25.25% -28.87% +27.47%
75th Percentile £56.00 £50.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £69.90 £70.36
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.00 £22.14 £35.00
% change year-on-year +44.53% -36.74% +34.62%

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 26 August 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 26 August 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 26 August 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 1,462 £550 +7.32% 1,187
London +47 830 £569 +3.41% 426
UK excluding London +18 650 £525 +5.00% 880
Work from Home +7 347 £525 +5.00% 400
North of England -17 191 £550 +10.00% 251
South East +6 174 £525 -4.55% 186
Midlands +24 138 £500 +16.14% 195
North West +6 118 £550 +10.00% 132
East Midlands +19 78 £500 +14.68% 100
East of England +11 70 £575 +9.52% 87
West Midlands -19 59 £550 +29.41% 95
Yorkshire -37 56 £500 - 95
South West -32 46 £375 +15.38% 95
Scotland -3 25 £402 -23.43% 57
North East -30 17 £525 +18.64% 27
Wales -12 4 - - 40
Northern Ireland +2 3 £203 -63.18% 4

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 51 (3.20%) Confluence
2 19 (1.19%) CMS
3 11 (0.69%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 10 (0.63%) Apache Airflow
4 10 (0.63%) SharePoint
5 6 (0.38%) SAS
6 4 (0.25%) WebSphere
7 3 (0.19%) Anypoint
8 2 (0.13%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.13%) CICS
8 2 (0.13%) Mule
9 1 (0.063%) Apache
9 1 (0.063%) Mendix
9 1 (0.063%) Microsoft Exchange
9 1 (0.063%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 57 (3.58%) Microsoft Excel
2 41 (2.57%) Microsoft Office
3 21 (1.32%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 16 (1.00%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 15 (0.94%) Microsoft Project
6 10 (0.63%) Photoshop
7 9 (0.56%) Adobe Illustrator
8 8 (0.50%) MS Visio
8 8 (0.50%) Spreadsheet
9 7 (0.44%) InDesign
10 6 (0.38%) Chatbot
11 4 (0.25%) CPLEX
11 4 (0.25%) Notion
12 1 (0.063%) 3ds Max
12 1 (0.063%) PlantUML
12 1 (0.063%) Siemens NX
12 1 (0.063%) SOLIDWORKS
12 1 (0.063%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 50 (3.14%) SAP S/4HANA
2 28 (1.76%) Shopify
3 14 (0.88%) SAP Retail
4 11 (0.69%) Dynamics CRM
5 10 (0.63%) SAP CRM
6 9 (0.56%) Oracle Retail
7 8 (0.50%) Magento
8 6 (0.38%) Salesforce CRM
9 5 (0.31%) NetSuite
9 5 (0.31%) Oracle EBS
9 5 (0.31%) Payment Gateway
9 5 (0.31%) SAP MDG
10 4 (0.25%) SAP SD
11 3 (0.19%) OpenText VIM for SAP
11 3 (0.19%) Oracle Payables
11 3 (0.19%) Oracle Receivables
11 3 (0.19%) SAP IBP
11 3 (0.19%) SAP MM
11 3 (0.19%) Workday HCM
12 2 (0.13%) SAP EWM
Cloud Services
1 192 (12.05%) Azure
2 143 (8.98%) AWS
3 79 (4.96%) Power Platform
4 70 (4.39%) GCP
5 54 (3.39%) Snowflake
6 38 (2.39%) GitHub
7 33 (2.07%) Entra ID
8 30 (1.88%) Azure DevOps
9 26 (1.63%) Dynamics 365
10 24 (1.51%) GitHub Actions
11 23 (1.44%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
12 20 (1.26%) Figma
12 20 (1.26%) SaaS
13 16 (1.00%) Azure Data Factory
13 16 (1.00%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 15 (0.94%) Microsoft 365
15 13 (0.82%) dbt
16 12 (0.75%) OCI
17 11 (0.69%) Salesforce Service Cloud
18 9 (0.56%) Algolia
Communications & Networking
1 22 (1.38%) Firewall
1 22 (1.38%) WAN
2 18 (1.13%) VPN
3 16 (1.00%) ATM
3 16 (1.00%) Wireless
4 15 (0.94%) Network Security
5 14 (0.88%) LAN
6 11 (0.69%) Wi-Fi
7 8 (0.50%) BGP
7 8 (0.50%) IPsec
7 8 (0.50%) OSPF
8 7 (0.44%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
8 7 (0.44%) SD-WAN
8 7 (0.44%) Structured Cabling
8 7 (0.44%) VLAN
9 6 (0.38%) Cisco Firepower
9 6 (0.38%) Internet
9 6 (0.38%) VSAN
10 5 (0.31%) Cisco ASA
10 5 (0.31%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 79 (4.96%) Power BI
2 41 (2.57%) Data Warehouse
3 32 (2.01%) BigQuery
4 24 (1.51%) Data Lake
5 23 (1.44%) Metadata
6 20 (1.26%) NoSQL
7 19 (1.19%) MongoDB
8 18 (1.13%) Tableau
9 17 (1.07%) SQL Server
10 13 (0.82%) MySQL
11 12 (0.75%) Amazon Redshift
11 12 (0.75%) Power Query
11 12 (0.75%) Relational Database
12 11 (0.69%) PostgreSQL
13 10 (0.63%) Redis
13 10 (0.63%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 8 (0.50%) Couchbase
14 8 (0.50%) Star Schema
15 7 (0.44%) SAP HANA
15 7 (0.44%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 80 (5.02%) JIRA
2 26 (1.63%) Git
3 19 (1.19%) Jenkins
4 8 (0.50%) Subversion
5 7 (0.44%) Claude Code
6 5 (0.31%) Cypress.io
6 5 (0.31%) GitLab
6 5 (0.31%) JMeter
7 4 (0.25%) Eclipse
7 4 (0.25%) Hudson
8 3 (0.19%) Selenium
9 2 (0.13%) git-flow
9 2 (0.13%) Maven
9 2 (0.13%) MLflow
9 2 (0.13%) Oracle Forms
9 2 (0.13%) Postman
9 2 (0.13%) Terragrunt
9 2 (0.13%) Visual Studio
9 2 (0.13%) webpack
10 1 (0.063%) REST Assured
General
1 440 (27.62%) Social Skills
2 382 (23.98%) Finance
3 167 (10.48%) Analytical Skills
4 132 (8.29%) Banking
5 104 (6.53%) Marketing
6 101 (6.34%) Manufacturing
7 67 (4.21%) Retail Banking
8 64 (4.02%) Organisational Skills
9 46 (2.89%) Investment Banking
10 44 (2.76%) Corporate Banking
11 39 (2.45%) Public Sector
12 31 (1.95%) Influencing Skills
13 30 (1.88%) Telecoms
14 29 (1.82%) Legal
15 27 (1.69%) Advertising
16 25 (1.57%) Presentation Skills
17 23 (1.44%) French Language
18 20 (1.26%) Documentation Skills
19 18 (1.13%) Spanish Language
20 17 (1.07%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 259 (16.26%) Architect
2 237 (14.88%) Analyst
3 175 (10.99%) Senior
4 143 (8.98%) Solutions Architect
5 135 (8.47%) Business Analyst
6 125 (7.85%) Project Manager
7 113 (7.09%) Lead
8 85 (5.34%) Developer
9 54 (3.39%) Consultant
10 49 (3.08%) Product Manager
11 47 (2.95%) Designer
12 46 (2.89%) Data Analyst
13 45 (2.82%) Senior Manager
14 40 (2.51%) Supply Chain Architect
15 39 (2.45%) Service Manager
16 37 (2.32%) Data Architect
17 36 (2.26%) Senior Developer
18 35 (2.20%) Enterprise Architect
18 35 (2.20%) Technical Manager
19 34 (2.13%) Transition Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 66 (4.14%) REST
2 51 (3.20%) Terraform
3 41 (2.57%) React
4 35 (2.20%) Kafka
5 29 (1.82%) Node.js
5 29 (1.82%) Spring
6 28 (1.76%) Middleware
7 23 (1.44%) Spring Boot
8 21 (1.32%) VML
9 20 (1.26%) Django
9 20 (1.26%) RESTful
10 19 (1.19%) MACH
11 18 (1.13%) SOAP
12 15 (0.94%) HTML
13 14 (0.88%) Next.js
13 14 (0.88%) OAuth
14 12 (0.75%) CSS
15 11 (0.69%) Jakarta EE
16 10 (0.63%) .NET
16 10 (0.63%) SAP Fiori
Miscellaneous
1 84 (5.27%) Product Ownership
2 69 (4.33%) FMCG
3 58 (3.64%) EPoS
4 57 (3.58%) Onboarding
5 46 (2.89%) Cloud Native
6 34 (2.13%) Legacy Systems
7 31 (1.95%) Data Centre
8 30 (1.88%) Driving Licence
9 27 (1.69%) Mobile App
10 24 (1.51%) Greenfield Project
11 23 (1.44%) Data Structures
11 23 (1.44%) Marketing Technology
12 22 (1.38%) Mainframe
13 21 (1.32%) Management Information System
13 21 (1.32%) Operational Technology
14 19 (1.19%) Self-Motivation
14 19 (1.19%) Smartphone
15 18 (1.13%) AI Agents
16 16 (1.00%) Distributed Systems
17 15 (0.94%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 55 (3.45%) Windows
2 21 (1.32%) Linux
3 11 (0.69%) Android
4 10 (0.63%) Unix
5 8 (0.50%) Apple iOS
6 7 (0.44%) Mac OS
7 6 (0.38%) Ubuntu
8 5 (0.31%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 5 (0.31%) Windows 10
8 5 (0.31%) Windows Server
9 4 (0.25%) zOS
10 2 (0.13%) Debian
11 1 (0.063%) SUSE
11 1 (0.063%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
11 1 (0.063%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 403 (25.30%) Stakeholder Management
2 377 (23.67%) Agile
3 236 (14.81%) E-Commerce
4 196 (12.30%) Problem-Solving
5 192 (12.05%) Migration
6 180 (11.30%) Analytics
7 171 (10.73%) Roadmaps
8 170 (10.67%) Logistics
9 167 (10.48%) AI
10 141 (8.85%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 140 (8.79%) Customer Experience
12 131 (8.22%) Decision-Making
13 129 (8.10%) Continuous Improvement
14 120 (7.53%) Project Management
15 118 (7.41%) CI/CD
16 114 (7.16%) CRM
17 113 (7.09%) Business Intelligence
18 108 (6.78%) User Acceptance Testing
19 105 (6.59%) ERP
19 105 (6.59%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 142 (8.91%) SQL
2 105 (6.59%) Python
3 53 (3.33%) Java
4 34 (2.13%) TypeScript
5 29 (1.82%) JavaScript
6 12 (0.75%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 10 (0.63%) C#
7 10 (0.63%) R
8 9 (0.56%) ABAP
8 9 (0.56%) Apex Code
8 9 (0.56%) PowerShell
8 9 (0.56%) SOQL
9 8 (0.50%) Bash
10 7 (0.44%) SOSL
11 6 (0.38%) PL/SQL
11 6 (0.38%) Scala
12 5 (0.31%) Bicep
12 5 (0.31%) Groovy
13 4 (0.25%) Shell Script
14 3 (0.19%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 64 (4.02%) Degree
2 46 (2.89%) Security Cleared
3 22 (1.38%) PMP
3 22 (1.38%) SC Cleared
4 13 (0.82%) DBS Check
5 12 (0.75%) PMI Certification
6 9 (0.56%) BPSS Clearance
7 7 (0.44%) ITIL Certification
8 6 (0.38%) Cisco Certification
8 6 (0.38%) CISSP
8 6 (0.38%) Computer Science Degree
9 5 (0.31%) CCNP
9 5 (0.31%) CCSE
9 5 (0.31%) CCSM
9 5 (0.31%) CISM
9 5 (0.31%) CSPO
9 5 (0.31%) Six Sigma Green Belt
10 4 (0.25%) City & Guilds
11 3 (0.19%) Azure Certification
11 3 (0.19%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 77 (4.83%) Data Quality
1 77 (4.83%) QA
2 40 (2.51%) GDPR
3 26 (1.63%) PMO
4 23 (1.44%) Accessibility
5 14 (0.88%) SLA
6 13 (0.82%) PCI DSS
7 9 (0.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 7 (0.44%) NIST
9 5 (0.31%) WCAG
10 3 (0.19%) Actionable Recommendations
10 3 (0.19%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 3 (0.19%) GRC
10 3 (0.19%) PSD2
11 2 (0.13%) GAAP
11 2 (0.13%) IFRS
11 2 (0.13%) ISO 8583
11 2 (0.13%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.063%) GxP
12 1 (0.063%) IASME
System Software
1 36 (2.26%) Docker
2 32 (2.01%) Active Directory
3 13 (0.82%) Virtual Desktop
4 8 (0.50%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (0.38%) Virtual Machines
6 5 (0.31%) Firmware
6 5 (0.31%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.19%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.063%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 40 (2.51%) Kubernetes
2 11 (0.69%) Ansible
3 10 (0.63%) Single Sign-On
4 8 (0.50%) Microsoft Intune
5 7 (0.44%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
6 6 (0.38%) FortiGate
7 4 (0.25%) SCCM
8 3 (0.19%) Bosun
9 2 (0.13%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 2 (0.13%) AirWatch
9 2 (0.13%) CA Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.13%) CloudHub
9 2 (0.13%) Jamf Pro
9 2 (0.13%) logstash
9 2 (0.13%) MOM
9 2 (0.13%) PingFederate
9 2 (0.13%) vCenter Server
10 1 (0.063%) Nagios
10 1 (0.063%) vMotion
10 1 (0.063%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 142 (8.91%) Microsoft
2 124 (7.78%) SAP
3 80 (5.02%) Salesforce
4 76 (4.77%) Databricks
5 73 (4.58%) Oracle
6 44 (2.76%) Google
7 39 (2.45%) Adobe
8 25 (1.57%) Zscaler
9 21 (1.32%) MuleSoft
10 17 (1.07%) ServiceNow
10 17 (1.07%) Workday
11 16 (1.00%) Cisco
12 14 (0.88%) IBM
13 13 (0.82%) Fortinet
13 13 (0.82%) IFS
13 13 (0.82%) Palo Alto
13 13 (0.82%) VMware
14 12 (0.75%) Apple
15 11 (0.69%) Informatica
15 11 (0.69%) New Relic