Singapore-based fashion platform Zilingo announced that it has further trimmed its global workforce by 12 per cent and relocated some positions in its Singapore headquarters to other offices in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and India.
The announcement came after Zilingo announced its first round of layoffs in April, which affected 5 per cent of its global workforce, including about 30 people in Singapore, triggered by the global coronavirus pandemic.
“Over the last few weeks, as the pandemic continued to wreak havoc across the board, we have executed a similar organisational restructure across Thailand, India, Vietnam offices. 12 per cent of our total workforce has been affected,” founders Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor said in a blog post.
Restructuring exercises affected teams in various geographies. The company downsized its marketing, sourcing, and support teams in the US, Australia, Singapore, and Indonesia to adapt to the current business model.
Aside from the layoffs, Zilingo also moved some positions from its headquarters in Singapore to other offices in the Philippines, Thailand, India, and Indonesia “to make roles focused on local geographies”. The founders said Singapore will remain its global headquarters.
The company is also implementing the work-from-home scheme until the end of Q3 2020 full-time for some teams while others will be shifted to part-time work from home. Some of Zilingo’s offices will also be let go or sublet.
The founders also said that the company’s leadership has taken a 30-per cent pay cut to help save costs. Some groups within the organisation have also been invited to take a pay cut.
These initiatives, according to the founders, have helped Zilingo “not only improve profitability significantly but also ensured we are only focused on the areas of business that need our most attention”.
Zilingo has embarked on a business streamlining as it refocuses on Asia and emerging markets while putting its US and Europe expansion on hold with the coronavirus outbreak causing massive lockdowns resulting in a slump in consumption.
To cope with the ongoing pandemic, Zilingo has also opened its platform to include wider categories, such as health, beauty, home & living, and some categories of essential goods and PPE (or personal protection equipment).
“The expansion of our catalogs have enabled our partner merchants to take advantage of our tech and infrastructure and paved the way for new opportunities and associations,” the founders said.
Zilingo is just one of the many startups that have been affected by the ongoing global pandemic. There have been a string of layoff announcements by major Asian startups this year since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indonesian ride-hailing firm Gojek in June announced it was laying off about 430 employees, or 9 per cent of its total workforce. Gojek rival Grab also announced that it was letting go around 360 of its employees, accounting for about 5 per cent of its workforce, due to the impact of COVID-19 on its business.
