Brands and manufacturers have also initiated recruitment significantly earlier this year, moving away from reactive, last-minute hiring towards a more structured pipeline initiated 12-14 weeks ahead of the festive peak, said Yeshab Giri, chief com...
NEW DELHI: Hiring of temporary and seasonal workers for festive season sales of smartphones are expected to be 34% higher than 2025, reaching around 39,600 in 2026 driven by the need for assisted selling, financing-led conversions, and stronger product demonstrations amidst steep price hikes denting demand, staffing firms said.
According to Quess Staffing Solutions, hiring in smartphone retail increased 36.3% year-on-year in the January-August 2026 period, with August alone seeing the highest monthly level on record.
"This momentum is also reflected in the festive outlook, with July-December hiring expected to reach around 39,600, approximately 34% higher than 2025," said Nitin Dave, CEO, Quess Staffing Solutions.
Brands and manufacturers have also initiated recruitment significantly earlier this year, moving away from reactive, last-minute hiring towards a more structured pipeline initiated 12-14 weeks ahead of the festive peak, said Yeshab Giri, chief commercial officer, operational talent solutions, Randstad India. Randstad expects seasonal hiring to grow 12-15% increase over last festive season, led by targeted deployment across retail counters, field sales, and consumer engagement roles. "While higher device prices are creating some pressure on volumes, they are also increasing the importance of assisted selling, financing-led conversions, and stronger product demonstrations," Giri said.
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Staffing firm Teamlease said ecommerce and logistics players have already started large-scale onboarding of seasonal workers, with one platform alone targeting over 1,000,000 seasonal roles this cycle, split across its seller network and logistics ecosystem.
Workers being hired well ahead of the festive period this year ties directly to the longer festive runway this year, with the promotional window starting from August through mid-November, said Balasubramanian A, senior vice-president and business head, TeamLease. However, TeamLease said hiring activity for the smartphone sector is expected to lag behind the overall electronics and consumer durables segment due to the steep price hikes eating into sales volumes, with the industry prioritising certain regions and sectors where sales are expected to be higher.
Large-format retail is seeing stronger hiring demand this season, TeamLease said, while general trade-linked field sales and distribution roles are focused on areas where higher volumes of sales are expected.
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"This tracks with tier-1 metros' rising share of frontline hiring (40.5% in 2026, up from 33.1% in 2024), driven by organised retail and quick-commerce scaling," TeamLease said, adding that brands are also prioritising roles such as area sales managers, in-store promoters, and feet-on-street sales roles which is expected to grow 9-10% in FY27, among the highest in electronics sector.
Festive hiring boom shifts to tier II and III cities as demand surges
