representative imagemumbai with festive fervour fueling demand for consumer items the newage logistics companies expect multifold growth in shipments and are fully geared to meet the challenge with measures such as capacity expansion and additional hiring according to industry executives with aggressive demands during festive seasons over the last few years covid19 has further accelerated ecommerce adoption in all segments be it businesstoconsumer b2c directtoconsumer d2c or businesstobusiness b2b according to endtoend logistics provider xpressbees xpressbees chief business officer for b2c harsha bhoi said the overall volume in the festive season goes to twothree times for the overall ecommerce markets advt this year we are expecting even more higher peaks considering the economy getting back on track moreover increased adoption in tier 2 and 3 cities as well as in remote cities and covid19 further accelerate the overall adoption for ecommerce deliveries he added bhoi added that the company expects a peak of up to 15 million shipments for xpressbees on peak days during the festive rush another logistics startup pickkr which plans to hire 200 employees across multiple verticals during the festive season including data science operations and customer service also anticipate a threefold rise in demand during the period as the pandemic takes a back seat the pentup demand from consumers will add to the festive rush which will translate into high order volumes for us at pickrr we have already started gearing up to help ecommerce sellers especially small medium enterprises and d2c brands manage the increase in their sales and orders in the next 23 months said rhitiman majumdar cofounder of pickkr he expects d2c to witness a spike during this festive season last year diwali was subdued to the pandemic he said adding that this year we have already started witnessing huge upswings in order volume advt he said the company expects its monthly order volume to be upwards of three million for the last quarter of 2021 we use advanced technology and algorithms to bring efficiency in logistics operations and reduce returntoorigin rto by 23 per cent which has a significant positive impact on the bottomlines profit he added the startups intelligent warehousing solution pickrr plus allows sellers to leverage its network of fulfilment centers to deliver their customers orders panindia quickly its artificial intelligencedriven load analysis system utilises previous sales data to predict the inventory stock levels required at each warehouse accurately he said this effectively prevents inventory understocking overstocking during peak sales majumdar said he added that besides pickrr plus its courier recommendation engine helps brands fasttrack their shipping by automatically optimising for the quickest delivery at the most costeffective price shiprocket cofounder and ceo saahil goel said we are predicting a 70 per cent increase in orders and are all set to support our sellers to deliver a seamless customer experience we have strengthened our workforce by 30 per cent to be ready for the festive season sellers can opt for their fulfilment services to manage these spikes to ensure