Wayfair planning second round of job cuts

Wayfair is planning its second major round of layoffs in less than six months.Jenny Kane/Associated Press

Boston-based 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, which included 400 people in Boston, 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.”

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. Wayfair’s stock price is down 75 percent over the past year, including a 5 percent decline on Thursday.

A Wayfair spokeswoman on Thursday declined to discuss details of the planned cutback. “Any decision that impacts our team members will be made with the utmost consideration,” she said.

Online retailers such as Wayfair have been buffeted by shifting consumer behaviors since the pandemic started. Initially, with people staying home, spending online for home goods surged. But over the past year, with lockdowns ending, consumers have cut back on the category while spending more on travel and leisure.

Wayfair’s layoffs come amid contraction across the broader tech sector, with giants like Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft all reducing their workforces. Around Boston, Whoop, Pegasystems, and Jellyfish have been among many other tech companies cutting jobs in recent weeks.

Wayfair had 16,681 employees at the end of 2021, the last time the company disclosed the size of its workforce.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported on the planned cuts, which it said numbered more than 1,000 jobs, citing anonymous sources.