Dive Summary:
- Gome Electrical Appliance last week announced that it would lay off 200 staff at e-commerce platform Gome.com.cn, and other similar announcements have followed from small and mid-sized Chinese e-retailers.
- A recent report from 100EC.cn showed a 64.7% year-over-year increase in the Chinese online retail market, but pessimistic 2013 forecasts, competition and consumer demand for deep discounts have led companies to begin laying off staff ahead of the Chinese new year.
- Analyst Wang Zhouping of the China e-Business Research Center anticipates more layoffs will occur in early 2013.
From the article:
"... But sales promotion wars between large e-retailers also brought up several issues in the market. Consumers would only make purchases when there are huge discounts, which further squeezed the margins of smaller players in the market, according to analyst Wang Zhouping from the China e-Business Research Center. He anticipated that more small and mid-sized e-retailers will implement staff layoffs or close down in early-2013."
