Festive hiring: Retail, e-commerce defy AI jitters, boost mid-senior level white-collar recruitment

A rejig in GST, the rise of D2C startups, and demand for premium products have fueled a surge in white-collar hiring this festive season. Online commerce platforms, large retailers, and logistics companies are recruiting experienced professionals to manage the festive rush and strong consumer demand.

According to job platform Naukri's JobSpeak Index, the white-collar job market ended the second quarter of fiscal year 2025-2026 on a strong note, with hiring activity in September rising 10% year-on-year.

"Festive hiring is not just about headcount—it's about more specialized roles," said Shantanu Rooj, Founder and CEO, TeamLease Edtech. "Retail and e-commerce firms seek operations managers, digital marketers, supply chain planners, and category specialists to enhance customer experience during the busiest months."

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Other high-demand roles include program management, software engineering, data analytics, procurement strategy, and operations management.

'Mid and senior-level talent in demand'

While Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) has disrupted several industries and posed challenges to mid-and senior-level jobs, this experienced cohort is still highly sought after by e-commerce, quick commerce and retail players during the festive season, given the fast-paced & high-action state of work. "This talent pool requires less training and almost no handholding," Divya Kurup, Business Head - Sales Staffing at specialist staffing firm Xpheno.

"Hiring freshers is expensive and effort-intensive, and enterprises during the festive season rarely have the bandwidth to train and onboard them".

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Logistic firm Zippee has increased its white-collar headcount by nearly 200% year-on-year, according to Angad Singh, one of the founding members. "We’re also planning to double our current headcount by March, expanding across multiple functions and levels to support our growing operations and business demand," he said.

Singh added that actively promotes high-performing Management Trainee program, designed to give young freshers hands-on exposure to variousaspects if running an early-stage quick commerce startup.

Grooming young professionals for hybrid roles-blending customer operations with data-driven insights--has also become equally crucial for firms during festive season.

At Myntra, Chief Human Resource Office Govindraj MK said the company is strengthening its entry-level talent pipeline through structured internship programs, which have emerged as a pathway for campus hiring. "Recently, the fourth edition of Phoenix, our returnship program for women professionals, welcomed 15 new interns, while 6 interns joined the second edition of Udaan, our internship program for Persons with Disabilities," he added.

'Campus hiring during festive season'

Given the high-cost and time commitment, experts said only large enterprises are hiring from college campuses this season. "Companies like Amazon and Flipkart have been actively engaging with campuses for operations and strategy roles," Kurup said.

However, the last two to three campus hiring cycles have been sluggish across sectors. For students, though, festive hiring offers a doorway not just to seasonal roles but to sustained employability in India’s expanding consumer economy.

'Uptick in remuneration'

With demand spiking for mid-level professionals, Anupama Bhimrajka, VP, Marketing at foundit, said the average salaries for this segment range between Rs 8.6–14.3 lakh and Rs 10.2–15.2 lakh, depending on role and experience.

Entry- and mid-level job roles in digital marketing and operations have also witnessed strong traction, offering salaries of Rs 3.5–6.4 lakh and Rs 7.5–10.6 lakh for digital profile and Rs 3.2–5.7 lakh to Rs 10.4 lakh for operations managers. Entry-level procurement specialists may fetch a package ranging from Rs 2.8–5.1 lakh.

TeamLease's career outlook report H2 2025 noted that hiring intent in retail and e-commerce climbed 7–9% year-on-year, reaffirming sustained optimism in India's consumer-led sectors. The trend underscores that even in AI era, disruption, human expertise in operations, strategy, and customer experience remains a key growth driver.