Companies such as Licious, Noise, and Wakefit.co are looking to hire those with hyperlocal understanding, knowledge of online and offline landscapes, and experience in digital, ecommerce, and supply chain, besides sales and on-ground staff.
Meat and seafood retail platform Licious, which earlier this month announced that it plans to open 500 stores over the next five years, is looking for those with hyperlocal understanding, the ability to identify consumer needs in key catchment areas for new stores, along with knowledge of online and offline landscapes.
Sleep and home company Wakefit.co, which is looking to open 110-odd stores by the end of 2024-25, is looking to hire and train sales staff in product lifecycles, visual merchandising, retail planning, and general management.
“We’re actively hiring freshers, with around 70% of our recruitment following a ‘train and hire’ model,” said Dibyendu Panda, AVP – retail at Wakefit.co. “These new hires undergo training and evaluation in our factories, gaining the certifications and product knowledge necessary before they begin work in our stores.”At wearables startup Noise, which has expanded its offline network to around 20,000 outlets covering metros and tier 1, 2, 3, and 4 cities, sales executives as well as strategy leads and division heads have been brought in to engage with customers and partners.Leadership hiring at these companies, too, is on the upswing, with search firms seeing a rise in mandates.
Compensation at the leadership levels can range from Rs 80 lakh to Rs 2 crore per year, depending on the experience and background of the individual.
Many pure-play D2C businesses are seeing brick-and-mortar as a growth driver, said Jyoti Bowen Nath, managing partner of executive search and talent advisory firm Claricent Partners.
“We’re seeing a rise in demand for C-suite roles with a heavy focus on growing businesses and brands, fairly niche roles that have a very high level of customer interface, roles that cut across strategy planning, operational excellence, cross-functional collaboration, and stakeholder engagement, in sectors like beauty, personal care, fashion, lifestyle, etc.,” Nath said.
Companies are also on the lookout for roles like head of brands, head of strategy and chief retail officer, and large FMCG and retail firms are tapped for this talent, she added.
D2C brands focusing on offline expansion are looking to strengthen their retail operations and marketing and supply chain teams, especially at leadership levels, said Anuj Roy, managing partner at executive search firm Fidius Advisory.
“When talent moves from established set-ups, they evaluate the D2C brand’s business model, funding situation, stability and growth plans,” Roy said.
Wakefit.co’s Panda said the firm is working on appointing regional heads, head of L&D (learning and development), head of business development, head of business management, and a few more roles.
