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Dive Brief:
- Wayfair will close its returns center and outlet store in Florence, Kentucky, at the end of 2025, after deciding not to renew its lease, the company said in an emailed statement to sister publication Supply Chain Dive.
- About 218 employees will be laid off as a result, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice submitted on Oct. 9. Wayfair will terminate workers starting Dec. 31, and further layoffs will occur "in a phased approach throughout 2025," per the notice.
- The online home goods retailer is working with affected employees to help them find jobs at its other locations and with local employment agencies, the company said in its statement. The location at 5101 Renegade Way first opened to the public in late 2018.
Dive Insight:
Letting the Florence lease expire could help Wayfair tamp down expenses as it grapples with an extended stretch of weak demand. The company's operating lease expense was $190 million in 2023, a higher figure than the previous two years, per its annual financial report.
The upcoming closure in Florence adds to the various cost-savings measures Wayfair has made in recent quarters, including multiple rounds of employee layoffs after an aggressive hiring stretch during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company also canceled plans to open a fulfillment center in Houston last year as it rolled out a more careful approach to expansion.
Wayfair still has a ways to go to turnaround its results. It posted a net loss of $42 million in the second quarter despite a reduction in operating expenses as consumers remain conservative with home goods spending. While active customers increased 0.9% year over year in Q2, the number of orders delivered dropped by 2.9%.
Wayfair is scheduled to announce its Q3 earnings results on Friday.
via https://www.aiupnow.com
Max Garland, Khareem Sudlow
