Etsy Cuts 11% of Workforce as Sales Remain ‘Essentially Flat’

Etsy is laying off 225 employees — about 11% of its workforce — and restructuring its executive team.

The move is meant to help the company focus on its most important business priorities and better serve its customers, Etsy CEO Josh Silverman said in an email to employees posted on the company’s website.

“As we head into 2024, we have identified our ‘Vital Few’ projects and initiatives that we believe will reignite growth for our sellers and drive buyer consideration and loyalty through a focus on quality, value and reliability,” Silverman said in the email. “I have great confidence in these plans, but we need the right structure and resources in place to successfully execute on them.”

In the updates to the Etsy executive team, Chief Marketing Officer Ryan Scott and Chief Human Resources Officer Kim Seymour will leave the company, according to the email.

In addition, the payments and fulfillment functions will be moved to Nick Daniel in the product organization; the marketing organization will be consolidated under the leadership of Raina Moskowitz, who will assume the expanded role of chief operating and marketing officer; and Toni Thompson will succeed Seymour as chief human resources officer, the email said.

These changes will take effect on Jan. 1, 2024, per the email.

The 225 positions being eliminated span across all functions, levels, tenures and locations, according to the email.

“We focused on simplicity and efficiency in our org structure, with clear lines of accountability, so that we could hit the ground running in the new year,” Silverman said in the email. “We assessed how each team at Etsy mapped against our growth priorities and reviewed every single team member, starting from our most senior levels, to determine how well their roles and skills matched our current and future business needs.”

These changes are being made at a time when Etsy’s gross merchandise sales (GMS) have remained “essentially flat” since 2021, according to the email.

The marketplace experienced a surge in growth during the pandemic, through 2021, and remains more than twice the size it was in 2019, but now faces “a very challenging macro and competitive environment,” per the email.

“Following extensive discussions and analysis with senior leaders, it was apparent that a leaner, more agile team would enable us to properly focus on our key growth priorities, move bold and fast, and maintain a sustainable cost structure,” Silverman said in the email.

In Etsy’s most recent earnings release, issued Nov. 1, the company said the marketplace’s GMS grew 1% year over year to reach $2.7 billion.

“There’s no doubt that this is an incredibly challenging environment for spending on consumer discretionary items,” Silverman said at the time.

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