Gilt Groupe cutting 45 jobs as CMO and international chief leave

Dive Brief:

Flash-sales retailer Gilt Groupe is cutting 45 jobs and eliminating the positions of CMO and international business chief as it tries to produce a profit next year, TechCrunch reports.
CMO Clay Cowan and international business chief Marshall Porter are leaving the company. Otherwise the company is cutting 35 full-time and 10 temporary positions.
But the job losses are spread throughout the company and reflect less than 5% of its staff.

Dive Insight:

Gilt has seen its once-dazzling fortunes decline along with those of the flash-sales concept in general. Traffic is down significantly, sources told TechCrunch, and talk of going public have died out.

In addition to job cuts, there's some shift in marketing duties. There are two parts of Gilt's marketing group, demand marketing and brand marketing, Gilt SVP of corporate communications Jennifer Miller told Retail Dive. Demand marketing (including CRM and loyalty) will be led by Geoff Sanders, VP of digital marketing, CRM and loyalty, who will report to CIO Steve Jacobs. The move will bring a tech perspective to marketing, Miller said.

The company's brand marketing team including its two VPs will report to chief merchandising officer Keith George, according to the company.

Meanwhile, worry about a general softening in tech, or even a bubble burst, probably isn’t helping a darling of tech-based retail that is struggling in a space that isn’t panning out.