Ecommerce cos' focus on small towns to fuel job opportunities

Ecommerce companies are betting big on small towns to explore the opportunities offered by a large customer base and are expanding their talent pool in these cities to fuel growth, experts say.

They expect recruitment to go up by 15 percent in this space.

Small towns are becoming the driving force behind ecommerce growth in the country as online retailers are targeting last mile connectivity and are increasingly focusing on getting the small-town Indian customer to shop online.

Experts said in order to deal with the rising demands of consumers, ecommerce companies have been setting up warehouses in small towns and have also been expanding their talent base in these towns.

The sectors that are expected to grow include logistics, e-wallets, FMCG, and retail as these industries have been focusing on tier II and tier III cities growth and have seen customer base grow faster in comparison to metro cities.

"Last year Diwali festive sales showed 40 percent contribution from tier II and III cities. This is a remarkable change and an indication of the reach of ecommerce. Companies are focusing on warehouse, logistics, and last-mile connectivity. The job market is growing in these cities and will see a growth of 15 percent in these cities," Teamlease Services Head of Digital & IT Mayur Saraswat said.

With competition in metro cities reaching saturation, companies have to look for new markets and hence chasing organic growth in these small towns is a natural option, Saraswat noted.

Indeed India Managing Director Sashi Kumar said that as per Indeed data, some of the country's leading unicorns are seeking talent in tier II and tier III locations.

"Haryana sees over 18 percent of job postings from these companies, as does Uttar Pradesh with eight percent of all such job postings. Gujarat (two percent) and Rajasthan (two percent) also see job postings from these companies," he said.

Some of the job roles that are being posted by these companies include 'delivery person', 'guest service agent', 'sales manager', and 'field executive', among others.

Kunal Sen, India Managing Director, Korn Ferry RPO and Professional Search noted that "it (hiring in small towns) would be around 30 percent of the overall hiring share but growing faster than the larger towns".

Experts believe that small cities are future centres of retail growth in the country as there is availability of land at cheaper rates, lower rentals and customers are ready to experiment with new format stores.

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