Wayfair lays off 870 people, about 5 percent of its global workforce

Photo by David L. Ryan / The Boston Globe via Getty Images

At the beginning of the epidemic, Wayfair saw a spike in sales as customers stayed home, but today it announced it is laying off 870 employees. 5 percent of its global workforce and 10 percent of its corporate team will be affected by the workforce reduction.

The company reported a decrease in active customers, orders per customer, order deliveries, and a slight decrease in orders delivered via the mobile app in the second quarter. Net revenue decreased by 15 percent compared to earnings in the year.

The layoffs were explained in a company memo.

“Over the past few years, we’ve grown Wayfair significantly to keep pace with the ecommerce growth in the home category. We were seeing the tailwinds of the pandemic accelerate the adoption of ecommerce shopping, and I personally pushed hard to hire a strong team to support that growth. This year, that growth has not materialized as we had anticipated. Our team is too large for the environment we are now in, and unfortunately we need to adjust.”

As costs have risen recently and fears of a recession lingered, companies in many industries have shrunk their team in order to save money. The Boston Globe and Forbes reported in February 2020 that the company laid off over 500 workers due to its rapid pursuit of growth. The hiring freeze was announced in May.

The company laid off a lot of employees. The company announced last week that it would lay off 800 employees and close its showrooms in five years. A number of tech companies have laid off employees recently.