Online fashion retailer Zalando reportedly has plans to cut five per cent of its workforce.

The German business told staff that it will axe several hundred overhead roles over the next few months, according to a report by the Financial Times.

The decision to reduce its workforce was largely driven by pandemic tailwinds fading last year and a challenging macroeconomic environment.

The move comes amidst a wave of job cuts across the retail sector.

Deliveroo recently announced it will cut around 350 roles, roughly nine per cent of its workforce, while eBay also said it would lay off 500 employees.

In January, home retailer Wayfair revealed it would cut 1,750 jobs or around 10 per cent of its global workforce.

During the same month Asda said it was axing 300 jobs and reducing pay for 4,300 staff working the night shift, while Amazon underwent major job cuts as part of a wider plan to reduce its workforce by 18,000.

Nearly 15,000 retail jobs have been lost across the UK’s High Streets and other shopping destinations since the start of 2023, according to figures from the Centre for Retail Research.

In 2022, Zalando’s revenue fell by four per cent to €2.1 billion in the second quarter of the year.

The Berlin-based fashion retailer’s gross market volume (GMV) remained flat at zero per cent to €3.1 billion.

A challenging macroeconomic environment due to headwinds from external factors, notably lower consumer confidence, inflationary pressures and selected supply shortages impacting availability were the results’ main drivers, the company said at the time.

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