Amazon cuts hundreds of jobs during major shopping event

Amazon has once again reduced its workforce, this time targeting its Stores division, the unit responsible for its online retail storefront. The cuts affect fewer than 1,000 employees, a significantly smaller reduction than mass layoffs conducted earlier this year.

The layoffs appear to have impacted customer service, engineering, and marketplace support roles within Amazon's growing retail business. Amazon confirmed the cuts, stating the changes were made to better enable the company to deliver on its priorities. "We've made the difficult decision to eliminate a small number of roles, and we're committed to supporting affected employees through their transition," a company spokesperson wrote.

The job cuts occur amidst Amazon's ongoing Prime Big Deal Days sale, one of the year's major shopping events. This follows a series of smaller workforce reductions impacting various divisions since March 2023. Earlier this year, Amazon announced plans to cut 16,000 jobs, following a reduction of 10,000 roles in 2022.

Amazon has recently focused on streamlining its operations and concentrating on core areas. The company has also divested from certain retail experiments, such as its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh store concepts. Concurrently, the company is investing in new business models, including the launch of large-format stores to compete beyond e-commerce.