Best Buy cuts almost 1,000 jobs
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Almost one thousand Canadians will be looking for work very soon. This comes after Best Buy Canada cut 950 full time jobs Thursday, saying the cuts will affect its Best Buy and Future Shop stores across the country. The company does not intend to close any of its retail outlets, but there will be some radical changes.
The company has 256 Best Buy and Future Shop locations across Canada but will have 950 fewer employees working there. According to the company the changes will:
simplyfy store structures
increase efficiencies
consolodate sales departments
and reduce management
What’s driving the change however is a relatively flat Christmas sales season in-store, offset to a large degree, by a 50% increase, in online shopping sales. The company has also experienced a dramatic increase in “in-store pick-up sales” where customers order online, and pick the product up at a convenient outlet, and one other burgeoning trend for the company; in store boutiques.
Apple, Samsung, and Microsoft are all leasing floor space from Best Buy, to set up their own mini-retail outlets in-store staffed by Best Buy employees. Nick Bontis of the DeGroote School of Business says the competition for large electronic items is fierce. And the company is focusing on a different model, for growth.
In a corporate statement, the Chief Operating Officer of Best Buy Canada, Ron Wilson said: “Decisions that impact our people are never easy and we make them with our customers, employees and corporate values in mind. I want to express my appreciation to all of our employees who are leaving for the contributions they have made to Best Buy Canada. Decisions that impact our people are never easy and we make them with our customers, employees, and corporate values in mind. I want to express my appreciation to all of our employees who are leaving for the contributions they have made to Best Buy Canada.”
In its news release, the company also promises that cutting nearly a thousand employees from their stores will help to “enhance the customer experience” and says departing employees will be given a severance package and “outplacement services” to help them find new work.
