Furniture retailer Urban Ladder has issued pink slips to around 40% percent of its existing workforce in the quarter that ended in March.
Ashish Goel, Co-founder and CEO said, “We had no other option. We would have shut down if we hadn’t asked them to leave.”
“We have made more than our share of mistakes and have made some tough, painful decisions and gone through a reset from January to March,” he added.
The company made losses of 117 crore in FY18 and was struggling to raise funds and turn profitable which in turn led to carrying out of the layoffs across all levels, functions and geography. To note the layoffs are the second such by the company after 2016.
Urban Ladder which turns seven next month and recently seen a series of resignations from its top executive brass. Ajit Joshi who was hired as president and COO in July 2017 resigned in March 2019 citing personal reasons. Other top executives from operations and supply chain, product, engineering and sales have also resigned.
The retailer faces tough competition from Pepperfry which has 45 retails stores across India against its 11 stores, and the entry of IKEA into the $18 billion Indian furniture market is only making it difficult for the company.
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The company believes that it would become profitable at EBITDA (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) aiming for Rs 8 to Rs 10 crore.
