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Faced with the uncertainty of 2024, in the context of intensified geopolitical conflicts, supply chain obstructions, and continued inflation, e-commerce giants have returned to rationality and chosen to slow down their pace and have once again opened the floodgates for layoffs. It is learned that according to foreign media reports, on January 10, Mike Hopkins, head of Amazon Prime Video and MGM Studios, announced in an email to employees that Amazon will lay off hundreds of employees in Prime Video and MGM Studios departments. Hopkins said the layoffs were intended to "prioritize investment in the long-term success of Amazon's business," meaning that after a year of investigation and research, Amazon will reduce or stop investment opportunities in certain areas while focusing on content and product initiatives that can have the greatest impact. It is well known in the industry that this is not the first time Amazon has laid off employees. Since November 2022, as the dividends of the epidemic dissipated and the sequelae of the aggressive expansion became apparent, Amazon has gradually entered a cooling-off period of expansion and started a "slimming plan": from November 2022 to January 2024, Amazon has laid off more than 27,000 employees, affecting almost every department of Amazon. Judging from Amazon's third-quarter 2023 financial report, the cost-cutting measures have indeed been effective , bringing Amazon's net profit to US$9.9 billion (approximately RMB 72.43 billion), a 241% increase from the same period last year, and its profitability has significantly increased, exceeding market expectations. In March 2023, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy also stated in a memo to employees that due to the many uncertainties in the macro-economy, the first principle of Amazon's 2023 annual plan is streamlining, and layoffs are the main action of the streamlining plan. However, it is worth noting that on the same day, Amazon's Twitch live broadcast department also announced that it would lay off 500 employees due to heavy losses, accounting for about 35% of the total number of employees. Previously, Amazon also announced the layoff of hundreds of positions in the Alexa voice assistant business department, citing a change in business focus and the investment of more resources in the field of generative artificial intelligence. Some industry insiders believe that judging from these layoffs and the latest information disclosed by Amazon, if the first principle of Amazon's 2023 annual plan is streamlining, then its 2024 annual plan is to readjust the priority of resources and focus on profits rather than rapid growth in revenue. In other words, if "overexpansion", "growth below expectations" or "macroeconomic recession" are the keywords for e-commerce giants to launch layoffs and contraction plans in 2023, then "business contraction and adjustment", "increasing profits" or "improving organizational efficiency" are the key words for the giants to launch layoffs in 2024. In addition to Amazon, similar layoff news has also been leaked recently by Southeast Asian e-commerce giant Lazada. It was observed that on January 10, the topic #Ali Holdings' e-commerce company lays off 20% of its employees# became a hot search. According to LatePost, on the evening of January 2, Southeast Asian e-commerce giant Lazada held an HR meeting in its Shenzhen office. The next day, a large number of employees were called into the conference room to discuss layoffs. A Lazada employee revealed that the scope of this layoff is quite large, accounting for nearly 20% of the company's total employees of about 10,000. Among them are a large number of grassroots employees, as well as P8, P9, and employees with a performance of 3.75. These employees will receive layoff compensation of no less than N+2 and one and a half months of year-end bonus compensation. Regarding the layoffs, a source responded that it was a small-scale organizational adjustment, mainly involving overseas offices.
However, it is worth noting that although this is the first layoff of Lazada since it was acquired by Alibaba in 2016, there were signs of this before. In mid-December 2023, in order to make business decisions more centralized and efficient, Lazada made an organizational adjustment - the user product and merchant strategy teams were concentrated at the headquarters. In this round of adjustments, the commercialization departments of Lazada and AliExpress were also integrated together, and some Lazada employees were laid off. An Alibaba overseas employee revealed that Alibaba's current vision for overseas business is matrix operations, that is, reducing internal competition and strengthening integration. "We need to work together more to fight against Shopee and others." Alibaba's overseas layout is currently flourishing in many places, among which Lazada, which started in Southeast Asia, is the biggest strategic core. Although Lazada's revenue is still maintaining steady growth, facing the original strong competitor Shopee and the emerging TikTok Shop, many hidden concerns have also hindered its further development, causing Lazada to "have to change". In the view of former Lazada executives, Lazada's move to shrink its front lines and reduce losses through layoffs is actually a positive signal, demonstrating Alibaba CEO Jiang Fan's determination to improve organizational efficiency. It is understood that in 2023, Alibaba's total investment in Lazada has exceeded US$1.8 billion , which further reveals that Alibaba is stepping up its support for Lazada to occupy the high ground in the Southeast Asian market. What do you think about this? I wonder what impact these layoffs by e-commerce giants will have on sellers? Welcome to discuss in the comments section~
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