Rue La La, a members-only shopping website based in Boston, said yesterday that it will cut about 60 positions from its workforce of 550 employees, after absorbing partner site SmartBargains.com.

The company said it plans to devote more attention to its ‘‘core business’’ and restructure its network of Rue Local sites in San Francisco, Miami, and Chicago, all of which were launched in August.

It said it plans on ‘‘outsourcing our sales force and consolidating SmartBargains.com into Rue La La . . . These moves unfortunately resulted in the elimination of some staff positions.’’

Fewer than half of the lost jobs are in Boston. Rue La La competes with other member-only shopping sites, including Gilt Groupe and HauteLook, in an increasingly competitive online marketplace for daily, invitation-only sales of designer wares.

Rue La La had been a drag on the earnings of its previous parent company, GSI Commerce, a division of eBay Inc. GSI bought Rue La La in 2009 in a deal valued at $350 million but in 2011 spun off Rue La La as a private company, with eBay retaining 30 percent ownership.

In a statement, Rue La La said it has seen ‘‘dramatic growth with nearly $300 million in sales in 2011 and similar growth planned for 2012 and beyond.’’