Daraz announces layoffs in internal memo to employees

Alibaba-owned e-commerce platform Daraz Group has announced layoffs across the group to “adopt a more streamlined and agile structure”, acting Chief Executive Officer James Dong said on Tuesday in an internal memo to employees, Reuters reported.

The memo did not mention the number of people affected by the layoff. Daraz declined to comment on the percentage or absolute number of employees impacted across its operations in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar, the news agency said.

“Reluctantly, we will bid farewell to many valued members of the Daraz family,” the memo to staff said.

In January, the e-commerce group appointed James Dong as acting CEO, replacing outgoing CEO Bjarke Mikkelsen.

Earlier, Profit reported that the company was planning to lay off around 25% of its employees at Daraz globally, which could be 250-400 people in Pakistan. Some sources told Profit that the number can go up to 800 employees to be laid off, including people holding C-level positions in the company. 

According to a detailed report by Profit,  Daraz has in the past gone on firing sprees. Around the same time last year as well, the now former CEO Mikkelsen had announced that the company would be letting go of 11% of the company’s global workforce, quoting reasons such as the conflict in Europe, substantial disruptions in the supply chain, surging inflation, escalating taxes, and the elimination of crucial government subsidies in target markets, for the tough decision.

While Daraz Pakistan’s numbers have grown until 2019, its losses have also been mounting. For the financial year 2019, Daraz Pakistan’s GMV (gross merchandise value) was $130.1 million and its net losses were $25.3 million.

Daraz is a market of five countries – Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka – having over 450 million population.

Daraz was founded in 2012 and acquired by Alibaba from Rocket Internet in 2018. The company’s active shoppers have risen from 3 million in 2018 to more than 15 million in 2023, with an average order growth of almost 100% until last year.