The booming e-commerce space in India is likely to be the game changer for job market as online retailers have bullish hiring plans this financial year, say industry players. “With the growing e-commerce industry in the country and major international players entering the market, the number of job offers would certainly look up.”

The online retail segment is expected to report strong growth in the coming years owing to growing Internet consumer base thanks to increased use of smart phones, laptops/PCs and availability of Internet in the remotest part of the country.

“The e-commerce space is a booming space as Internet audience is likely to double in the next two-three years and this industry will require talent from various sectors like technology, product, analytics, sourcing, general management talent, merchandising and marketing.”

Meanwhile, e-commerce major  Snapdeal.com co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl said Snapdeal.com has added a lot of resources to its team in recent months to sustain the rapid growth and plans to have a headcount of 1500- plus this year. Another e-commerce player HomeShop18.com has grown by over 70 per cent in headcount terms in 2011 over the previous year and is further poised to grow by a similar percentage this year, including an augmentation of the technology team.

Further, Fashionandyou.com, which has current staff strength of 800 people, is likely to strengthen its employee base by hiring more than 400 new members in this fiscal year. Snapdeal.com’s Bahl further said compared to 35 per cent Internet transactor penetration out of all Internet users in China, the number is just 5 per cent in India. Also, in spite of accounting for 17 per cent of the world population, only 4 per cent of the Internet users account from India.

“Given that the Internet consumer base is also growing rapidly, and companies within the ecommerce space can scale very fast, it is a great opportunity,” Bahl added. Meanwhile, the e-commerce sector is fast hiring the best talent available in the country and this placement season saw e-commerce companies recruiting big numbers at premier institutions like the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian Institute of Technology (IITs).

According to a report by industry body Assocham, online retail segment is likely to be worth Rs 7,000 crore by 2015 due to rising broadband availability and increasing Internet penetration, from the Rs 2,000 crore at present. It is growing at an annual rate of 35 per cent. Leading e-commerce portals in the country include Flipkart.com, Futurebazaar.com, Ebay.In, Homeshop18.com, Snapdeal.com,Indiaplaza.com, Starcj.com,Amazon.com,Fashionandyou.com and Rediffshopping.com.