Wayfair plans to announce on Friday its second major round of layoffs in less than six months, as the online retailer continues to deal with falling sales and supply chain tangles. The expected cuts follow a 5 percent layoff by Wayfair in August. The earlier round of cuts was part of a $500 million cost-saving plan, but Wayfair executives warned in November that further cuts were on the way. “There is more coming,” chief executive Niraj Shah told analysts. “We decided to be very aggressive around making sure that we’re not carrying any excess costs that forces to either drive up retails or not have the profit profile we want to have.”
Total Retail’s Take: Like other brands in the home decor and home furnishings sector, Wayfair is dealing with declining sales following record demand for its product at the height of the pandemic. Sales at Wayfair decreased by 13 percent to $9.1 billion in the first nine months of 2022 compared to a year earlier and analysts expect fourth quarter sales dropped by about 8 percent. As consumers face an uncertain economic situation and rising inflation, spending on non-essential goods, such as home decor, is being cut from budgets. To maintain costs, Wayfair is once again downsizing its workforce as it seeks to become profitable, which has been a challenge for the Boston-based retailer even in times when sales were booming.
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