A web search on the state of retail news often returns something like the following (aside from theft, but thats another problem), often citing words like “correcting”, “restructuring”, and “aligning to customer” demand.
Tech, Media, Finance and Retail are all suffering from a grim outlook to 2024. In an effort to cut cost and lower overhead, many in lieu of a potential recession later in the year. Some of this is a restructuring, as tech industries saw rapid expansion during COVID-19. Layoffs hit tech extremely hard in 2023 with over 240,000 jobs lost in the sector alone. While I believe some of the challenges above to be true, I think the underlying theme is a bit simpler: organizations are being asked to do more with less. I believe the emphasis placed on certain roles, especially in retail have changed post-pandemic. Technology has shifted work into other areas, streamlined efficiency provided tools to drive efficiencies.
In retail, I believe the priority has shifted to customer fulfillment rather than customer satisfaction. This is not to say that customer satisfaction is not a priority, but the majority of the customer experience is around making sure consumers can get the goods they are seeking, not guide the decision making process. I do believe however, when organization are put in a position of restructuring, this often creates an environment that fosters innovation to meet organizational objectives.
So with that being said……below is a list of companies with job cuts planned or already underway in 2024.
Retail
Amazon - hundreds of jobs in its Pharmacy and One Medical divisions while Amazon’s Twitch also announced a 35% reduction in workforce or roughly 500 employees
Nike - 1,500 employees - 2% of it’s workforce
eBay - 1,000 full time employees - 9% of it’s workforce
Rent the Runway - 10% of it’s workforce - about 35-40 employees
Instacart - 250 employees
Estée Lauder Companies - 3-5% of it’s workforce - layoffs could range between 1,600-3,100 employees
The Container Store - 2.5% of it’s workforce - about 100 employees
Tech
Google - several hundred employees across divisions, including engineering, AI research, hardware, and product development
Microsoft - 1,900 employees primarily from it’s gaming segment
Salesforce - 700 employees, 1% of it’s workforce
Cisco - 4,000 employees - about 5% of it’s workforce
Docusign - 440 employees - roughly 6% of it’s workforce
Discord - 170 employees - 17% of it’s workforce
Snapchat- 10% of employees
PayPal - 2,500 employees - about 9% of it’s workforce
Zoom - 150 employees - less than 2% of it’s workforce
Supply Chain
Flexport - around 600 employees - roughly 20% of it’s workforce
UPS - 12,000 employees - less than 3% of it’s workforce
Other
Paramount - 800 employees - about 3% of it’s workforce
Citigroup - 20,000 employees over the next two years
This post will be updated as additional news is available. This captures detail as of Thursday February 22, 2024.