Social commerce major Meesho is apparently the latest startup to face the coronavirus pandemic blues, after Entrackr reported that the company has given pink slips to more than 200 employees. The mass layoff has come at a time when Meesho’s business has reportedly taken a huge hit due to the ongoing Covid 19 lockdown.
No one from Meesho has so far commented or issued an official statement over the report.
Citing anonymous sources, Entrackr report claims that the Social commerce startup has laid off several account managers, who are mainly responsible for onboarding of vendors on the platform. The sources further claimed that the company is planning to outsource the vendor acquisition work for controlling the growing losses.
The company is also reportedly planning to lay off staff from other key verticals including customer support, operations and marketing. Additionally, the management is likewise contemplating to opt for salary reduction for its employees. However, sources claim that executives and senior-level staff may have to comparatively take higher cut out in their salaries.
Almost all key sectors and industries have been comprehensively affected by the ongoing lockdown. But the e-commerce sector has been amongst the most affected industries. Apart from Meesho, all the conventional e-commerce players including big players like Flipkart and Amazon have reported a massive fall in their sales.
To cope with declining sales, Meesho recently forayed into grocery and FMGC space to bail out its strong reseller network.
Apart from Meesho, slew of high-profile startups have recently laid off employees to stem their rising losses in the aftermath of the lockdown. This includes renowned startups like Softbank backed Oyo, Treebo, bike taxi startup Bounce, and online insurance startup Acko.
But, notably, Meesho has apparently strong fund reserves to cope with the lockdown impact. It is the most well-funded startup in the social commerce space, counting investors like Naspers and Facebook among its other high profile investors.