Non-metro cities & e-commerce fuelling surge in festive season temporary staff hiring

Non-metro cities and online sales are fuelling the surge in temporary staff hiring for the upcoming festive season as India’s e-commerce sector is expected to add a projected 700,000 additional jobs between July and December.  

“The growth in hiring demand is more in the non-metro cities compared to the metros as retailers are expanding more into the mid-level cities in the country,” said Alok Kumar, Senior Director – Global Accounts and Sales, Manpower, a subsidiary of Manpower Group. Saying that there is a surge in both offline and online retail, he adds that in-shop demonstrators, logistics and warehousing roles, point of salespeople for BFSI products in malls are among the roles in demand. 

India has around six crore formal sector jobs. Even if the number increase by 2-3% during the festive season, its amounts to 10-12 lakh new jobs, says Aditya Narayan Mishra, Managing Director & CEO - CIEL HR Services. Besides, he adds, a lot of indirect jobs also get created.  

A recent study by staffing company TeamLease Services said that e-commerce shopping is projected to generate almost 7,00,000 gig jobs in the second half of 2023, with the sector currently having 2,00,000 open positions for temporary workers primarily in the last mile delivery space and warehouse operations jobs. This year's festive hiring is anticipated to witness a 25% increase in gig jobs compared to the same period last year, it adds.

Agreeing that the hiring numbers are better this year than the last, Mishra estimates that e-commerce may see a 12-15% increase in jobs, while offline may see a 7-10% rise. “But remember that the offline retail base is huge, so even that number is significant,” he adds. He sees more jobs in supply chain management such as warehousing and logistics, digital marketing, customer service and partner-seller network services to address the concerns of the sellers as well. 

Kumar has also noticed the demand for beauty advisors and beauty consultants strengthening this year. “While traditional beauty & personal companies have existed, the last two years has seen online beauty brands also expanding their offline presence. This has led to the emergence of this new role. The good part is that only women are preferred for this role.”   

They account for a few thousands in the whole pool of 5-6 new temporary jobs, but this segment is likely to grow, he adds.  

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