Dive Brief: 

• Online furniture retailer One Kings Lane has parted ways with one of its senior merchandising executives, just in time for the Christmas rush.

• Andrea Stanford was one of two chief merchandising executives under co-founder and chief merchandising officer Susan Feldman. The departure was first reported by Re/Code, which called the departure “abrupt.”

• Stanford headed a team that chose which furniture and décor the startup offered in its vintage and antique categories.

Dive Insight:

For a fledgling company to lose a major executive, much less a merchandising chief, it is always a blow because it interrupts the flow of goods. For the departure to come at Christmastime is even more of a setback. While goods are in for the holiday, there may be the need to restock popular merchandise and make decisions about pricing slow movers.

Stanford was with One Kings Lane for five years, so she really knew the ropes of the operation. Now, there is probably at least a little bit of a pall on the part of her employees in the wake of her leaving. This can mean low morale, and at the very worst lower productivity.

But One Kings Lane has had a rocky time to begin with. Dinesh Lathi, who became CEO earlier this year, shook up the company in June, laying off 15% of staff and planning to close the company’s Los Angeles office, where Stanford and several dozen other employees worked.

Now with Stanford leaving, Lathi has a merchandising conundrum on his hands at a time it can ill afford one.