Amazon has acknowledged that it is cutting off about 200 workers in its North America retail division.
TakeAway Points:
- Amazon acknowledged that it is laying off roughly 200 workers in its North America retail division.
- The reductions are concentrated in Amazon’s core retail division, which includes a variety of companies such as private label, fashion, and fitness brands in addition to Prime.
- Due to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s cost-cutting efforts since 2022, the business has implemented the largest layoffs in its history.
- Also, U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon.com opened a walk-in centre in South Africa.
200 staff leaves Amazon
The core retail business, which Amazon also refers to as its stores division, encompasses a wide range of divisions, including its private label brands, Prime membership program, and consumables business.
“We’ve adjusted parts of our North America Stores team because we believe this structure will better enable us to deliver on our priorities,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. “As part of these changes, we’ve made the difficult decision to eliminate a small number of roles, and we’re committed to supporting affected employees through their transition.”
The layoffs included employees in the fashion and fitness business, among others, the spokesperson said. Business Insider earlier reported on the job cuts.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has moved to rein in costs across the company, laying off about 27,000 employees since the beginning of 2022. The bulk of the job cuts came in 2022 and 2023, though they have been ongoing at a smaller scale and have impacted almost every business across the company’s portfolio.
Amazon has also shuttered some of its more experimental and unprofitable initiatives, including its telehealth offering, a brick-and-mortar delivery program, and try-on service for clothing and shoes.
Amazon opens Cape Town walk-in centre
U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon.com opened on Thursday a walk-in centre in South Africa that it says will help its independent sellers attract more customers and expand their businesses, while also seeking to gain market share.
For Amazon, which is striving to catch up with market leader Takealot, owned by Naspers, the centre can increase its product range, increasing potential revenue.
“The biggest thing is product breadth for our customers. We just want to have loads of products that people can buy,” Robert Koen, Managing Director of Amazon Sub-Saharan Africa, said after the launch event.
More than 60% of sales in Amazon’s stores globally are from independent sellers, most of which are small- and medium-sized businesses.
Located at Amazon’s head office in Cape Town, the centre offers local sellers a range of services, such as on-the-spot registration to sell on Amazon.co.za, training, product imaging and cataloguing assistance, and shipping and logistics support.
The Seattle retailer launched in South Africa last year, in May, its first sub-Saharan African country.
Speaking on performance during the holiday season, Koen said: “I think Q4 (fourth quarter) was actually very encouraging. We exceeded all the goals that we set for ourselves.”
He added first-time shoppers were returning to its online store and had given good feedback on the speed of delivery.
