SoftBank-backed e-commerce firm Meesho said it would enable nearly 5 lakh seasonal job opportunities within its seller and logistics network to fulfil growing demand during the upcoming festive season. This is a 50 per cent increase compared to the seasonal jobs generated by Meesho last year.
Meesho aims to enable approximately 2 lakh job opportunities through its partnership with third-party logistics players such as Ecom Express, DTDC, Elastic Run, Loadshare, Delhivery, Shadowfax and Xpressbees. Over 60 per cent of these opportunities will be from Tier-III and Tier-IV regions. These roles will primarily encompass first-mile and delivery associates responsible for tasks such as delivery picking, sorting, loading, unloading and return inspections.
“We are anticipating a substantial uptick in demand during this festive season,” said Sourabh Pandey, chief experience officer, Fulfilment and Experience. “The creation of these opportunities is focused on enhancing the overall customer experience during the festive season and empowering countless small businesses.”
In addition to this, Meesho sellers are projected to hire over 3 lakh seasonal workers as part of their requirements for the festive season. These seasonal workers will assist Meesho’s sellers in various capacities, including manufacturing, packaging, and sorting, to fulfil the rising customer demand. Further, over 80 per cent of Meesho’s sellers intend to introduce new products and venture into new categories such as fashion accessories and festive decor. To ensure they are well-prepared for the heightened demand, more than 30 per cent of Meesho’s sellers are investing in renting additional storage space for their inventory.
“The festive season is going to see phenomenal growth opportunities fuelled by Tier-III+ regions,” said Abhishek Bansal, co-founder and chief executive officer, Shadowfax. “Some of the most underpenetrated markets have seen a transformation into dense seller clusters. In the past year, Shadowfax has invested in large pick-up centres in cities like Lucknow, Surat, Ludhiana and Sagar.”
Meesho is also a major contributor to India’s third-party logistics (3PL) ecosystem, with ambitious plans to double its 3PL shipments to over 1.2 billion in FY23.
As e-commerce companies gear up to tackle high demand in the upcoming festive season, India is likely to see 500,000 new jobs for gig workers, according to the staffing solutions company TeamLease. The country had around 200,000 open positions for gig workers primarily in last-mile delivery space and warehouse operations. This is expected to touch 700,000 by December.
TeamLease said this year’s festive hiring is anticipated to witness a remarkable 25 per cent increase in gig jobs compared to the same period last year, reflecting the sector’s optimistic outlook and aspirations to boost positive sentiments.
Interestingly, the demand for warehousing operations, last-mile delivery personnel and call centre operators is higher in Tier-II and Tier-III cities as compared to Tier-I cities like Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.
Ahead of the festive season, Walmart-owned e-commerce firm Flipkart recently said it will generate over 1,00,000 new job opportunities across its supply chain, including fulfilment and sortation centres, and delivery hubs.
Flipkart is gearing up to mark the 10th edition of its annual flagship event, The Big Billion Days (TBBD), by the start of next month. In the run-up to the festive season, Flipkart is looking at hiring and creating lakhs of seasonal jobs across its pan-India supply chain to cater to customer demand during the festive season.
Online fashion retailer Myntra will scale up women hiring in its supply chain and contact centre operations. This is being done in the run-up to the festive season when Myntra hosts its annual marquee event, the Big Fashion Festival (BFF). As part of the festive hiring ramp-up, Myntra will increase women hiring, taking it to over 21 per cent higher than last year’s festive season.
E-commerce retailers are expected to garner sales worth Rs 90,000 crore this festive season, 18-20 per cent higher than last year, according to a report by Redseer Strategy Consultants.
