Gopuff makes third round of layoffs since last spring

Dive Brief:

Quick delivery company Gopuff has laid off about 2% of its global workforce, a spokesperson from the company said in an email to C-Store Dive on Thursday.
Gopuff’s latest staff cuts included more than 100 employees across its operations department, including engineering and information technology, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the news.
This marks Gopuff’s third round of layoffs over the past year as the company — like other ultrafast delivery startups — has struggled to grow amid increasingly challenging market conditions.

Dive Insight:

Gopuff’s first signs of trouble came last April when the company fired 3% of its workforce — which came out to about 450 employees — as part of an internal “realignment” aimed at improving the company’s financial performance, its co-founders said at the time.

Three months later, Gopuff said it would cut 10% of its staff and closed dozens of dark stores as it continued to struggle amid tight market conditions. In October, Gopuff confirmed it let go of 250 customer service employees as part of the July layoffs.

According to Bloomberg, Gopuff had about 10,000 total employees as of September 2022.

Despite Gopuff’s previous layoffs pointing to the cash-saving state rapid delivery companies must endure as their capital funding fades, Gopuff’s spokesperson said that this 2% reduction was not a cost-cutting effort, but instead part of an annual performance review process in which top performers are rewarded and low performers are let go.

Additionally, the spokesperson noted that Gopuff has consolidated a handful of business units under new leadership in its tech and human resources divisions.

Rapid delivery exploded a few years ago as startups and retailers looked to grow their e-commerce arms amid the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as consumers and businesses reverted to pre-pandemic habits, some of these delivery startups have scaled back or flopped entirely as they’ve struggled with slow demand and inflation.

Companies like Buyk, Fridge No More and 1520 have shuttered, while Jokr exited the U.S. to focus on Latin America last summer. On March 9, Circle K-backed Food Rocket ceased its operations.