The acting chief executive officer, James Dong, stated in an internal message to staff members seen by Reuters on Tuesday that the Alibaba-owned e-commerce platform Daraz Group has announced layoffs throughout the organization in order to “adopt a more streamlined and agile structure.”
The number of employees impacted by the layoffs was not stated in the memo. Regarding the proportion or total number of workers affected across its operations in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Pakistan, Daraz declined to comment.
The memo addressed to staff stated, “With great sadness, we must say goodbye to numerous cherished colleagues of the Daraz family.”
Prior to the e-commerce giant’s 11% workforce reduction last year due to challenging market conditions, the crisis in Ukraine, supply chain disruptions, skyrocketing inflation, higher taxes, and fewer subsidies from the government, among other factors, Daraz told Reuters that it employed 3,000 people across its geographies.
“Despite our attempts to investigate alternative options, our cost structure is still not meeting our projected financial targets. Dong was cited as stating, “We must move quickly to secure our company’s long-term sustainability and continuing expansion in the face of unprecedented challenges in the market.
He continued by saying that the company’s primary goal will be to proactively improve the customer experience through diversifying its offers of reasonably priced goods, growing its product categories, and boosting the platform’s sellers’ operational effectiveness.
The e-commerce company named James Dong as acting CEO in January, taking over for departing CEO Bjarke Mikkelsen.
The group’s two largest markets, according to departing CEO Mikkelsen last year, are Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Daraz, an online apparel business founded in Pakistan in 2012, was eventually purchased by Alibaba, a major Chinese internet company, in 2018.
The company’s four main business segments are financial services, payment infrastructure, logistics, and e-commerce. The company informed Reuters that it had over 100,000 brands, 200,000 active merchants, and over 30 million shoppers.
