With the festive season approaching, e-commerce, quick commerce and logistics firms are ramping up hiring to meet extended demand windows. Amazon has created more than 1.6 lakh seasonal work opportunities across its pan-India operations network, with new hiring opportunities in picking, packing, shipping and delivery roles across 400 cities. The company's Vice President of Operations, Abhinav Singh, stated that "This expanded workforce will help us strengthen our fulfillment and logistics capabilities and ensure we can handle the festive season seamlessly. Many of these associates continue their journey with Amazon beyond the festive period, while several others return year after year to work with us." Meesho aims to enable over 10 lakh jobs, including nearly 6.5 lakh across its seller network and around 3.75 lakh across the logistics ecosystem. The company added that nearly 1.3 lakh sellers are expected to hire seasonal workers across packaging, manufacturing, production, warehousing and inventory management. According to TeamLease Services, festive season temporary hiring is expected to rise around 15-20 per cent over last year, with employers increasingly hiring for specialised profiles like quick commerce dark store associates and quality check executives.
India's e-commerce sector is projected to grow nearly three times to $345 billion by 2030 from $125 billion in 2024, according to a report titled 'Smart Growth in a Fast Market' by research consultancy Infisum. The market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.4 per cent through 2030, as reported by Business Standard. The report, prepared with support from public-policy think tank Empower India, examines the structural shifts, competitive dynamics and policy changes expected to shape India's digital-commerce market through the end of the decade.
In the competitive quick commerce segment, Blinkit leads with a 44 per cent market share, having processed 900 million orders in FY26. It is followed by Zepto and Swiggy Instamart with market shares of 25 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively, as reported by Business Standard. However, the landscape is evolving as traditional e-commerce giants enter the space. Amazon Now and Flipkart Minutes are positioned to be preferred players, with Amazon Now by converting just 20-25 per cent of their existing consumer base potentially leapfrogging pure-play competitors through established trust and rapid delivery capabilities. The quick commerce segment is valued at an estimated $65-70 billion by 2030 and is expected to contribute 45-50 per cent of incremental e-retail growth over the next five years.
The country's dark store network is set to nearly triple from 2,525 in 2025 to approximately 7,500 by 2030 to meet the surging demand for rapid deliveries, according to the Infisum report. This expansion reflects the growing infrastructure requirements for quick commerce operations and rapid delivery services across India. The report notes that while competition remains intense, the sector is increasingly shifting from aggressive customer acquisition towards sustainable unit economics and long-term infrastructure investments.
The expansion is moving beyond metropolitan areas, with 66 per cent of new direct-to-consumer (D2C) orders now originating from Tier II and Tier III cities, as reported by Business Standard. According to Apna CEO Kartik Narayan, opportunities in Tier-II and Tier-III cities now account for nearly 55 per cent of gig jobs, up from about 39 per cent two years ago. E-commerce and parcel delivery remain the largest categories in smaller cities, while quick commerce is growing the fastest, with postings up more than 600 per cent year-on-year. Companies like Skye Air expect to add close to 200 people this festive season, with 150 pilot roles for DGCA-certified remote pilots and drone technicians, while TrucksUp aims to triple its gig partner count over the next two years. The TeamLease Festive Season Workforce Report 2026 projected that South India will account for 36.3 per cent of festive frontline job opportunities this year, with roughly 45 per cent of workforce demand expected from tier II and tier III cities including Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur and Coimbatore.
By the end of the decade, e-commerce is expected to account for 10-12 per cent of India's total retail spending and contribute 2.5 per cent to the national GDP, serving an estimated 420-440 million online shoppers. Traditional business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce is expected to remain the largest segment, accounting for nearly two-thirds of total e-retail gross merchandise value (GMV). On the technological front, AI and machine learning are projected to improve retail productivity by 35-37 per cent by 2030, with innovations such as conversational commerce, AI-powered shopping assistants, virtual try-ons, personalised recommendations and voice-enabled shopping fundamentally changing consumer discovery and purchase patterns. The festive season usually acts as a major growth driver for e-commerce and quick-commerce platforms, with consumer spending, order volumes, and transaction values rising during this time, as reported by PTI.
