Wayfair to layoff more than 5% of workforce as result of declining sales

Wayfair Inc., an online furniture retailer has announced to cut 1,000 jobs or more than 5% of its workforce, reported Wal Street Journal on Thursday, citing people with knowledge of the situation. 

Wayfair is the latest addition to a growing list of American businesses that are laying off employees due to concerns about the economy, including Wall Street banks, software behemoths, and food delivery services.

In an effort to reduce operational expenses in the wake of declining demand for furniture and home décor from epidemic highs, the firm said in August that it was eliminating roughly 870 employees or about 5% of its total global staff at the time.

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Like many of similar businesses, Wayfair actively increased workers during the pandemic to grow its warehousing and customer service teams. By the end of 2021, it had 16,681 full-time equivalent employees, up from 12,100 at the end of 2018. According to corporate documents, its customer-service headcount more than doubled during that time to reach around 4,900 workers.

After income skyrocketed in the early stages of the pandemic when US consumers spent money on sprucing up their homes, the online retailer of home products has battled with dropping sales for more than a year, according to Bloomberg.

Wayfair’s shares have fallen about 75% in the past 12 months.

Microsoft, Amazon, Twitter, Meta, and Ola are just a few of the corporations that recently cut jobs and dismissed a lot of staff.