With rapid expansion of the e-commerce industry, there are thousands of new job openings in the sector, especially at the mid and higher levels, according to Elixir Consulting.

"This trend of manpower movement to the e-commerce and online retail areas began in the early 2009, when most of the large global online retailers set up shops and gained a substantial consumer-base," the recruitment process outsourcing firm's Manager - Leadership Hiring Prateek Srivastava told PTI.

It has grown substantially compared to last year and the overall hiring for this year is at least 150 per cent more than what these companies hired last year, fuelled mostly by substantial customer acquisition by consumer Internet companies and funding by private equity players or venture capitalists, he said adding "In 2012, hiring is expected to grow by 45-50 per cent." 

Srivastava also said, these talents are also getting a decent hikes on being hired. "Salary offered in the sector is also very competitive. People at leadership levels typically get a 40-60 per cent hike and very lucrative stock option plans." 

Most of the people moving in are at a leadership level as it is an evolving vertical in terms of job opportunity and has the potential of higher growth, similar to that of IT services, which was witnessed a decade back, he pointed out. Mainly, leaders from the IT services industries are moving towards the E-commerce, as both the industries require similar skills, he said. 

These mid-to-senior-level employees are usually from top B-schools, with exceptional sales skills handling business development, sales and strong technology and product engineering are high in demand in the sector, Srivastava said. However, most of the sales talent are being hired from the FMCG and telecom sector, he added.