Bark will lay off 126 employees, approximately 12% of its total workforce, and curtail the use of some third-party vendors and contractors as it seeks to generate $12 million in annual cost savings. The cuts come as the company, known for its dog-themed toy and treats subscriptions, reports a net loss of $21.7 million for its Q3 2023, which ended on Dec. 31, 2022.
While that figure is down from the $27.1 million that Bark lost during the same period in Q3 2022, most other financial indicators for the quarter were negative. A key exception was Average Order Value (AOV), which rose from $31.10 in Q3 2022 to $33.10 in Q3 2023. However, subscription shipments and active subscriptions both were down slightly, and new subscriptions fell from 371,000 in Q3 2022 to 264,000 in Q3 2023. Additionally, customer acquisition costs rose to $66.32 from $64.42 the previous year.
“The third quarter highlighted the significant progress we have made executing against the strategic initiatives that we laid out at the beginning of the fiscal year,” said Matt Meeker, Co-founder and CEO of Bark in a statement. “Our AOV is growing at the accelerated pace we anticipated and we delivered the strongest gross margin quarter since going public — even with all of the heavy holiday promotions — and we anticipate further improvements. We were also very encouraged by the recent growth of our food and dental product lines. These are massive opportunities for us, and while they are growing from a relatively small base, the recent acceleration is notable.”
Founded in 2011, Bark offers custom product collections sold via retailers including Target, Petco, PetSmart and Amazon, and high-quality, nutritious meals designed for specific dog breeds with its BARK Food.
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