Arcadia to axe hundreds of jobs amid retail sector pressure

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Nov 1, 2017

Arcadia Group has proposed cutting several hundred jobs across the business, joining several other British retailers in a downsizing trend amid mounting financial pressures.

Reports point to up to 300 redundancies, including some roles that are currently vacant, but a spokesperson said it will affect to less than 2% of the company’s total headcount.

Arcadia Group owns some of the UK’s most popular fashion brands including Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, Burton, Evans, Wallis and Outfit. 

A spokesman for the group said the fashion retail landscape is continuously changing and "in order to prepare for the future we have completed a thorough external business review over the last several months."

He added that the job losses "represent less than 2% of total headcount [and] will streamline business support services, reduce duplication and increase efficiency. We regret that we have to make these changes and we fully appreciate that this will be a difficult time for the colleagues directly affected and we remain firmly committed to supporting them through the process.”

Arcadia is not the first British retailer to announce redundancies this year. New Look cut almost 400 store management roles last week and John Lewis announced 387 jobs losses in February.

The news comes at a difficult time for retailers as they face rising inflation, weakening consumer demand and increasing costs linked to the fall of the pound.