As South Africa moves into the second half of the year, the e-commerce sector is riding a powerful wave of growth.
Donné Nieman, Sales Director at Workforce Staffing
The arrival of global players like Amazon and Temu has injected fresh energy into the market, signalling renewed investment and momentum.
To keep pace, the logistics industry is expanding rapidly, working to meet the surging demand for fast, reliable fulfilment. But riding this wave comes with challenges.
Seasonal peaks, especially around Black Friday and the festive season, cause sharp spikes in labour demand. Maintaining a large permanent workforce to handle these waves is neither practical nor cost-effective. Instead, businesses need flexible, scalable staffing solutions that rise and fall with demand.
Temporary Employment Services (TES) providers are the steady force helping companies stay balanced on this wave.
By supplying trained and adaptable staff exactly when needed, TES companies enable e-commerce and logistics businesses to maintain efficiency, uphold service levels, and meet customer expectations throughout the busiest times.
A flexible solution to a seasonal challenge
The challenge lies not in maintaining a permanent workforce, but with the need to supplement the workforce at short notice with additional labour.
Peak periods place immense pressure on e-commerce and logistics operations to perform at scale, and TES companies enable this flexibility by offering on-demand access to large volumes of temporary staff.
These workers are deployed for fixed periods, aligned to the company’s requirements - without the long-term costs, commitments or administration of full-time employment.
For the industries involved, this model allows for agility without sacrificing control. It ensures businesses can handle sudden spikes in order volumes while continuing to deliver a consistent customer experience.
TES providers play an important role behind the scenes, helping their e-commerce and logistics clients to prepare for peak periods by recruiting, training and scheduling temporary teams well in advance.
Temporary work as a gateway to opportunity
Aside from the operational value TES providers deliver to clients, there is a wider socioeconomic benefit to temporary employment solutions. Peak periods create an opportunity for many workers to gain their first experience in the formal job market, with temporary placements offering a foot in the door.
In this way, individuals can learn new skills in industries that are expected to remain strong in the long term. For these workers, these roles are more than just short-term income. They offer exposure to structured work environments, new technologies and established operational processes.
In turn, this experience can open doors to further employment or even permanent positions over time.
Training for client-specific systems
Technology plays a central role in e-commerce and logistics operations. While companies may seek candidates with general experience in warehouse environments or picking and packing roles, the reality is that each company has its own processes and systems.
These differences mean that workers, whether temporary or permanent, require client-specific induction and training.
TES providers take this into account during placement. They offer onboarding support to ensure that workers are aligned with the client’s systems and workflow so that they can hit the ground running as quickly as possible.
Reducing errors and improving returns processes
Returns are a cost burden in e-commerce. Mistakes in picking, packing and shipping can lead to dissatisfied customers and lost revenue. However, the risk of error is not necessarily linked to whether a worker is permanent or temporary - what matters is the level of training, support and oversight in place.
TES providers work closely with their clients to establish efficient processes and provide clear guidance to their temporary teams. This helps to reduce error rates, improve accuracy and ultimately support profitability.
When a strong partnership exists between the TES provider and the client, operational efficiency improves dramatically across the board.
Skilled drivers support logistics success
One area where TES providers deliver critical value is in sourcing experienced drivers. Logistics companies often struggle to find reliable, vetted drivers at short notice during busy periods.
A credible TES provider maintains a database of qualified drivers who have proven track records and experience with various clients.
This allows logistics companies to ramp up their delivery capacity quickly without compromising on safety or service. Drivers are inducted into the client’s operational standards, ensuring compliance and reliability from the outset.
Looking at the bigger picture
As South Africa’s e commerce and logistics sectors gather pace, TES providers are proving to be the quiet force keeping operations on track. They solve the staffing puzzle that comes with seasonal surges while also opening doors for job creation and skills growth.
In a market where consumer expectations never slow down, adaptability is everything. TES partners give businesses that edge, combining flexibility with the know how to keep the peak season wave from becoming a wipe out.
