Booktopia announces 30 to 40 redundancies

An organisational restructure at Booktopia will see the Australian retailer make 30 to 40 redundancies as part of a series of initiatives intended to boost earnings.

An announcement shared by the company on 23rd January said that to improve shareholder returns and in response to changing consumer sentiment, greater competition online and inflation, the company had implemented several initiatives expected to deliver approximately $12m-$15m (£6.8m-£8.5m) in savings.

A quarter to a third of those savings were expected to come from the restructuring and resultant redundancies.

Other cost-saving initiatives include the adjusted pricing of products, an alteration in how the company recovers third-party delivery costs, optimisation of its advertising programme to focus more on high-conversion channels, and a reduction in the number of property/lease obligations the company has.

On the latter, the update said: ’This rationalisation includes departure from the current Lidcombe building and transition to the company’s Next Gen Customer Fulfilment Centre at South Strathfield, which is critical to the ongoing and future growth of the business."

Booktopia chairman Peter George said: “Booktopia is focused on building a profitable, sustainable business in the interests of all stakeholders and is committed to delivering the Next Gen CFC in 2023 which will position the company for the challenging online retail conditions in the near term. Letting some of our talented staff go as part of these cost-cutting initiatives is a disappointing but necessary step in these economic times.”

In its last full year results for the year ended 30 June 2022, Booktopia reported its revenue was up 7.5% while its underlying earnings fell 54% over the same period. The company has since made several changes to its board, including the return of founder and former c.e.o. Tony Nash and the appointment of George in December.