Future Group lays off 350-400 employees, restructures ecommerce operations: Report

Future Group has given the pink slip to 350-400 employees as it scales down on its e-commerce venture Retail 3.0, according to a Mint report.

The staff across sales, product development, marketing and ground operations have been laid off in the past few months, sources told the paper.

The move comes two months after a separate media report said Future Group was closing 140 EasyDay physical stores, about 10 percent of the total number of such stores.

The stores are linked with the EasyDay hyperlocal grocery delivery app.

The current round of termination was a part of the same restructuring as the shutting down of the EasyDay stores, a source told Mint.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the story.

A Future Group spokesperson confirmed the layoffs to Mint, but did not provide specifics.

Future Group founder Kishore Biyani launched the company’s e-commerce strategy Retail 3.0 in November 2017. By 2018, the company had a staff of 500-600 for Retail 3.0, according to the report.

In November 2018, e-commerce giant Amazon purchased a 9.5 percent stake in Future Group.

“The idea was to convert the entire offline journey of a Future Group consumer into the online world," a source told the publication.

Earlier in January 2020, Amazon and Future Retail signed an agreement, following which the US-based e-tailer became the authorised online sales channel for the Future Group subsidiary.

Amazon owns roughly 7 percent of Future Retail after it acquired 49 percent of its promoter entity Future Coupons.