E-comm majors gear up for festival sale
E-commerce majors are gearing up for ensuing festival season to online shoppers with Walmart-backed Flipkart and US giant Amazon ramping up hiring of thousands of workers to handle the massive jump in orders during the sale season. Across offices and warehouses of the two ecommerce majors — Flipkart and Amazon — preparations are on a war scale as the companies try to beat each other in getting the largest share of the pie.
Flipkart on Monday said it has added 30,000 jobs in its supply chain and logistics operations.
Amazon India said it has created over 50,000 seasonal positions across its network of fulfilment centres in the country this year ahead to meet the increased demand during the festive season.
In the last few months, both Flipkart and Amazon have directly hired about 80,000 people, including temporary workers, to handle the massive jump in orders. If indirect jobs are taken into account then the number of new jobs run into a few lakhs.
Flipkart, which will hold the fifth edition of its Big Billion Days (BBD) sale from October 10-14, also expects its seller partners to have added over five lakh indirect jobs at their locations.
“...ensuring that our customers have a seamless shopping experience, we want the economy too, to benefit from the increased activity. By generating employment and enabling our sellers to scale their businesses during this time, we're playing an important role in driving the industry and subsequently, the economy,” Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said.
The seasonal hiring by Flipkart is spread across the entire supply chain -- from warehouses, to mother hubs, and delivery hubs. The additional indirect jobs created at seller locations are in packaging and warehouse management.
Amazon is making special offers for the season to online shoppers from Wednesday, the company said.
"Our six-day Great Indian Festival Sale starts on October 10 at 12 a.m. and ends on October 15 at 11.59 p.m.," said the city-based firm in a statement. For Amazon's prime members, e-sale, however, will begin on Tuesday at noon. About 20 million people are expected to shop on various e-commerce platforms during the festive sale next month, translating into sales of around $3 billion for players like Amazon and Flipkart, according to a report by research firm RedSeer.
E-tailers usually hire thousands of temporary workers in delivery and support roles to handle the high volume of orders during the festive sale.
Like in offline retail, ecommerce companies see a significant jump in sales during Dussehra and Diwali. The September-November period typically generates a majority of the annual sales of these companies, which prepare months in advance for the sale event.
"Customers buying a smartphone during the festive sale will get free mobile screen replacement and one-year extended warranty for purchasing refrigerator, washing machine or television set," Amazon said its statement.