River Island to axe 250 head office roles
River Island is reportedly preparing to slash 250 head office roles as the retailer seeks to cut costs after sales plummeted due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The high street brand is the latest retailer to make job cuts after stores were forced to close across the UK during the coronavirus lockdown.
River Island will reportedly cut jobs across all of its head office departments.
In a letter to River Island staff this morning chief executive Will Kernan said “Covid-19 is the most significant challenge in a generation”.
“Sadly, I have to confirm that, as a result of the work undertaken, we now have a requirement for some 250 fewer people in the business as we re-establish,” he added, according to Drapers.
Luxury department store Harrods announced 700 jobs cuts last week, while more than 1,800 roles were cut when Oasis and Warehouse fell into administration in April.
Clarks, Monsoon Accessorize and Mulberry are also among the fashion retailers to have announced redundancies during the coronavirus pandemic.
Non-essential retailers were given the go-ahead to reopen last month, however the latest data showed that shoppers have been slow to return to the high street due to both health and economic concerns.
Research published this morning by the British Retail Consortium showed that reopening of pubs and restaurants at the weekend failed to spark a surge in retail footfall.
As pubs and restaurants reopened in England on so-called Super Saturday, footfall at shops increased 9.2 per cent compared to the previous week.
However, this was the smallest week-on-week rise for any day during the period, according to the latest data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).