Online furniture retailer Wayfair is preparing to lay off more than 1,000 workers, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, becoming the latest business in the e-commerce industry to cut staff amid recession worries and a drop-off in demand for online goods.
Shares of Wayfair
W,
rose slightly after hours on Thursday. Wayfair did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Journal said the layoffs were expected to hit more than 5% of Wayfair’s employees. The move would come after Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
this month said it planned to lay off 18,000 workers.
Last year, Wayfair said it planned to lay off around 870 people.
Through 2020 and 2021, many consumers binge-bought electronics, furniture and other things typically sold online while stuck at home due to the pandemic. Wayfair’s sales jumped to $14.1 billion 2020, but eased from those levels a year later. And as inflation in 2022 forced them to prioritize everyday needs, retailers found their warehouses cluttered with many of those exact items, forcing them to cut prices.
Wayfair stock has tumbled 75% over the past 12 months. By comparison, the S&P 500 Index
SPX,
has fallen 14% over that period.