Zulily is laying off employees at corporate offices in Seattle and Columbus, Ohio as part of a restructuring effort, according to a Zulily spokesperson and an internal memo from CEO Jeff Yurcisin first published by GeekWire. The retailer did not disclose the number of employees being laid off, but Yurcisin revealed the company will streamline its merchandising and studio departments.
Yurcisin began the memo saying that the company was at “a critical inflection point” that required changes to the business. “We will also be increasing our investment in technology, the user experience and other areas to help support speed and agility as we experiment and innovate to build our fun and addictive shopping experience,” Yurcisin said.
Zulily has been owned by QVC parent Qurate Retail Group since its $2.4 billion acquisition in 2015. Qurate reported in May that Zulily saw a 5% decline in Q1 revenue, to $397 million. That shortfall followed many quarters of revenue growth — Zulily’s annual revenues increased 13% from 2017 to 2018, moving up to $1.82 billion. Lower sales came from a dip in new customers, lower frequency of purchases from existing customers and a lower average selling price.
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While Zulily reported 6.5 million customers in Q1, up 7% year-over-year, the gains were slower than that of the previous two quarters.
Earlier this year, Zulily rebranded its logo and color scheme in an effort to appeal more to mobile shoppers, a move that the retailer’s studio department more than likely had a heavy hand in crafting. The studio team is responsible for images, graphics and copy on the web site and app. The merchandising team manages Zulily’s product offerings, which include kid’s apparel, shoes, home decor, toys and more.
