Coronavirus lockdown: Online grocers to hire in bulk as demand rises

Online grocery firms like BigBasket and Grofers are on a hiring spree as the demand rises amid the coronavirus lockdown.

People have been ordering more and more online, and e-Grocers are unable to meet the demand.

BigBasket is hiring 10,000 permanent staff who will work at warehouses and distribution centres. They will also operate as delivery personnel.

"We are looking to hire 10,000 people for our warehouses and last-mile delivery. This hiring will happen across all 26 cities that we are present in," BigBasket Vice President-Human Resources Tanuja Tewari told PTI.

A large part of the workers from the unorganised sector has migrated to their native places due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, most online grocery firms are now short-staffed. Also, they are offering fewer items on their website.

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“At present, 70 percent of our warehouse staff is operational and we are hiring an additional 2,000 people from the industries that have been deeply impacted by the current crisis such as textile, manufacturing, and services," said Rohit Sharma, Head of Supply Chain, Grofers, as quoted in a report by Mint.

As per the report, the e-Grocer is now offering around 600 items on its app while it was more than 3,500 earlier.

On April 9, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) said that full operations of e-commerce companies should be resumed while moving towards normalcy as these services could help in supporting social distancing by delivering products at the door.

As per IAMAI - whose members include Flipkart, Amazon Seller Services, eBay among others - e-commerce services can facilitate delivery from producers and sellers to more than 75-100 million active customers on various platforms across 19,000 PIN code areas.

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"E-commerce services are the only means to ensure social distancing while still maintaining economic operations in the country. For every one e-commerce delivery person, the country can help 350 people avoid a trip to a physical retail outlet daily. Therefore, a fully functional e-commerce delivery chain is the best means to ensure social distancing and ensuring a restricted congregation of the population," IAMAI said.

Most businesses in India have been struggling during the 21-day lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Two leading FMCG companies Godrej Consumer Products and Marico have reported disruptions in their domestic and global businesses and expect a decline in their Q1 (January-March) revenue due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) said it would report "high teens revenue decline" in the January-March quarter. While Marico said its Q1 EBITDA might see "modest decline" following disruptions in trade impacted by a dip in the revenue of the company on account of COVID-19 and lockdown.

Marico has started an "aggressive cost management exercise" to mitigate the impact of reduced sales in such "unprecedented times".

"Revenue decline (both in India and International business), coupled with an unfavourable mix in the India business, will translate into a modest decline in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in this quarter vs the corresponding quarter last year, Marico said in an quarterly update.

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(With PTI inputs)