Redbubble makes further staffing cuts

In a bid to return to profitability, Redbubble has announced it will be further reducing its workforce by 23 percent. 75 people are expected to be affected by this measure.

“Since being appointed CEO, my primary focus has been returning the Group to profitability as soon as possible,” said CEO Martin Hosking, who was reappointed in the role at the end of March. “It has become clear that to achieve this, we need to further reduce our cost base. As a result, we have made the difficult decision to remove a number of roles from the Group.

“As part of this process, we have restructured our business to more clearly define the Group function and two operating companies, Redbubble and TeePublic. We expect this new structure will allow each marketplace to operate more efficiently and effectively, with a greater focus on their individual strengths and unique value propositions. We have also ensured that we have retained the necessary capability to continue to make targeted investments in initiatives, which have delivered, or we anticipate will deliver a financial benefit in the near term.”

Redbubble expects that this will result in achieving its aim to reduce its operating expenditure by a further $13 million to $15 million annually.

The group has started the year off down on profit by 6 percent on 2022, reporting an $18 million operating loss for the 1HFY23 and announced a series of cost-reduction initiatives including laying off around 20 percent of its workforce back in January. These initiatives were developed with the goal of reducing Redbubble’s cost base by approximately $20 million to $25 million.

Last month, Redbubble’s third quarter results showed that the initiatives are proving to work for the company with a GPAPA margin of 22.9 percent, 770 basis points higher than last quarter and 140 basis points higher than the prior corresponding period, however revenue was down 8 percent on the first half, proving further changes were necessary to meet goals.

“We believe that the steps we are taking today will best position us to bring forward our return to cash flow positive,” said Hosking. “Once achieved, we will be on a strong footing to explore future growth opportunities to unlock the Group’s tremendous potential.”

The ecommerce landscape is changing. With a Power Retail Switched On membership, you get access to current e-commerce revenue and forecasting, traffic levels, average conversion rate, payment preferences and more!