Amazon has eliminated roles across its retail team in North America, impacting about 200 people in both physical store and e-commerce operations, the company confirmed Thursday.
The cuts are being made as part of the company’s regular evaluation of its team structures “to ensure we’re best set up to move fast as we innovate for customers,” according to an Amazon spokesperson.
“We’ve adjusted parts of our North America Stores team because we believe this structure will better enable us to deliver on our priorities,” the spokesperson said by email. “As part of these changes, we’ve made the difficult decision to eliminate a small number of roles, and we’re committed to supporting affected employees through their transition.”
This downsizing is unrelated to Amazon’s decision to end its Try Before You Buy program, a service that allows a trial period for certain apparel, footwear and accessories. In that case, the company said that more people are increasingly using tech that allows them to get a sense of how items fit before they place an order.
Last year the e-commerce giant also announced layoffs in its retail division. In January 2024 that included several hundred roles in its Alexa team and several others in its Buy With Prime team. The previous year the company announced more substantial job cuts, also mostly in retail.
Overall in the industry, job cuts spiked last month, although retailers are also still hiring, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.