Amazon India Creates 100K Seasonal Jobs Ahead of Its Festive Season Sale

Ecommerce giant Amazon on Friday (October 6) said it has created over 1 Lakh direct and indirect seasonal jobs to cater to the surge in demand during its flagship festive season sale, the ‘Great Indian Festival’, starting on October 8.

The new hirings took place across Indian cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Chennai, the company said in a statement.

Amazon’s Prime customers will have early access to the sales from October 7. The company said it has already onboarded the majority of the new hires into its existing network, where they will pick, pack, ship, and deliver customer orders safely, Amazon said in its statement.

The new hires also include customer service associates, some of them being a part of the virtual customer service model.

“We are welcoming an additional workforce of over 100K to strengthen our fulfilment, delivery, and customer service capabilities and ensure a great shopping experience for millions of customers who are looking forward to shopping with us,” said Akhil Saxena, vice president of operations, APAC/MENA/LATAM, and WW customer service head at Amazon.

“Beyond elevating customer satisfaction, seasonal hiring plays a vital role in empowering individuals with work opportunities and financial independence, and more importantly, boosting the festive economy,” Saxena added. 

As festive fever kicks in, the company claims to have fulfilment centres spread across 15 states, offering 43 Mn cubic feet of storage space for seller inventory that benefits over 1.3 Mn sellers in the country. Amazon India has sortation centres in 19 states, along with a network of close to 2,000 Amazon-operated and partner delivery stations. 

In an effort to expedite shipping across the country, Amazon India recently signed an MoU with India Post and Indian Railways.

It is pertinent to note that Amazon India’s archrival Flipkart’s ‘The Big Billion Days’ will also begin on October 8. Last week Amazon revised the starting date of its ‘Great Indian Festival’ sale to October 8 from October 10.  

Ahead of the festive rush, Walmart-owned Flipkart also announced that it would create 1 Lakh direct and indirect seasonal jobs to strengthen its supply chain to meet customer demand during its flagship season sale.

Over the years, festive season sales have emerged as an important event for Indian ecommerce companies. To make the most of the festive season sales, the ecommerce dole out attractive deals and discounts. 

On Thursday, Meesho said it received approximately 1 Cr orders from its pre-festive season sale and claimed to have added over 50 Lakh new customers. 

The gross merchandise value (GMV) of the country’s ecommerce sector is expected to grow 18-20% to INR 90,000 Cr during the festive season this year from INR 76,000 Cr last year, as per consulting firm Redseer.