The festive season is upon India and if RedSeer’s projections become a reality, the gross merchandise value (GMV) of eTailing during 2023’s month-long festive season will reach approximately ₹90,000 crore, a jump of 18-20 percent growth compared to the previous year.
“This growth is expected to be fueled by a significant user base of around 140 million shoppers who are projected to make online transactions during this festive month,” strategy consulting firm Redseer said in its latest report.
Walmart-owned online fashion retailer Myntra has said it will increase women hiring, taking it to over 21 percent higher than last year's festive season while Meesho claims it would enable nearly five lakh seasonal job opportunities within its seller and logistics network. Amazon, on the other hand, claims it has created more than 100,000 seasonal job opportunities across its operations network, directly and indirectly.
It must be noted that this year’s festive season — Navratri, Durga Puja, Diwali, followed by Christmas and New Year’s — is clubbed with the World Cup, which started on October 5.
Who will bring you your food and shopping orders?
Enter gig economy workers.
Balasubramanian A, Vice President and Business Head, Teamlease Services, said that with July opening up the festive season hiring, the e-commerce sector alone has 200,000 open positions, which will eventually increase and reach about 700,000 by December.
According to industry reports, it is anticipated that India's gig workforce will reach 2.35 crore by 2029-30, which clearly indicates the growing demand for this talent pool, he added.
Over the last five years, there has been 20% year-on-year increase in the demand for gig workers, he said, adding that he expects the trend to persist for the next two to three years.
“The hiring of gig workers offers a multitude of advantages, allowing corporations to optimise spending, enhance scalability, and embrace agility. Moreover, it empowers the Indian workforce to earn on their own terms, providing a great sense of flexibility and comfort,” he added.
Lohit Bhatia, President-Workforce Management, Quess Corp, told CNBC-TV18 that this year the demand for gig workers is nearly 27% higher than the previous year same time and this translates into an open mandate across industries of nearly 32,000 workforce.
Which job roles are in demand?
Festive season is a time when many people travel and this time it is alongside the World Cup happening across cities in India. Therefore, apart from delivery personnel employed by logistics and food delivery companies, staffing firm NLB Services indicated a surge in the demand for roles like receptionist, maintenance staff, chef, cab driver, room attendant, riders, delivery executives, and customer support executives.
“Furthermore, travellers will be inclined to extend their stays to explore these lively host cities, consequently providing a substantial boost for roles like tour operator, guest relation executive, travel specialist, receptionist, housekeeping and chef, etc.,” NLB Services CEO Sachin Alug said.
How much do delivery personnel and other gig workers make during the festive season?
Balasubramanian of Teamlease said, there is a 62% increase in gig workers earning between ₹85,000 and ₹150,000, reflecting a prospering middle-income bracket. The statistics also show a remarkable 69% surge in gig workers earning more than ₹150,000, indicating a thriving high-income segment, he said.
However, it is essential to acknowledge the challenges faced by the lower income bracket, as evidenced by the slower 26% increase in salary among gig workers earning less than ₹20,000, he explained.
“On a more positive note, the 20% increase in salary for workers earning between ₹20,000 and ₹40,000 points towards a promising middle-income group,” he added.
Bhatia of Quess Corp, meanwhile, noted that his firm’s hiring is predominantly in e-commerce and logistics during festive season, where it has seen average salary increments of 7% for loaders, 5-6% for sorters at warehouses, 5% for delivery associates while management information system (MIS) executives have seen an average of 28% jump in salary.
He added that sales personnel hired at retail outlets, and for financial companies in lending, will particularly earn handsome incentives that are both determined by total sales done as well as focused model/focused product sales achieved.
“Brands including modern retail outlets come out with very unique high incentives for sales staff particularly during this time and many such personnel can earn upto 100% of their fixed compensation average between Rs 15,000-22,000 per month as additional incentives for each month of working, which is also what attracts youth who particularly join for 2-3 months to do such flexi staffing temp roles,” he told CNBC-TV18.
What happens to contract workforce after the festive season?
Quess’ Workforce Management President asserted that after the festive season, demand doesn’t drop to pre festive levels and instead continues.
Given the scenario, at least 30-40% of the workers are likely to get absorbed, the rest of the workers join the festive hiring trend for the season and are likely to go back to their previous jobs and hometowns since a large number of the workforce are migrant workers, he explained.
Some seasonal flexi staff also transition to other roles, for instance, retail sales of luxury brands increase during the festive period after which the staff transitions towards compressor based sales (i.e. ACs and refrigerators, wherein the season is between Jan-June each year ), he pointed out.
Such transitions occur all the time, many young students also go back to education and final exams that happen between January and April period after completing their seasonal festive assignment, he added.
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