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Personal styling and e-commerce platform Stitch Fix is shuttering its UK operations following sales declines and a series of layoffs.
In an Instagram post on 25 August, the company shared with its 162,000 UK followers that “Our Stitch Fix UK journey is coming to an end.” The plan is to deliver the last UK shipments by 31 October. Until then, consumers will receive a 70 per cent discount if they keep all five items in their current Fixes or subscription box and 50 per cent off if they keep up to four items.
In June’s earnings release, the company said that since its UK entry in 2019, “the macroeconomic environment and our business have changed. In addition to a strategic refocusing on our styling first business in the US, and despite ongoing efforts to control costs and increase efficiencies across the company, we have concluded the need to explore exiting the UK market in fiscal year 2024.” Stitch Fix did not respond to a request for comment.
The company has struggled to return to profitability since the pandemic, resulting in a series of layoffs, exits and strategy pivots over the past year. This included the introduction of direct e-commerce sales — later changed to only be available for Fix subscribers — and the ability to preview a Fix before shipment, which was rolled back. Its latest earnings saw a revenue decline of 20 per cent year-on-year to $394.9 million. (That said, this beat analyst expectations, and stock shot up 28 per cent.)
Leadership has also been through a period of reshuffling. CEO Elizabeth Spaulding — founder Katrina Lake’s successor — left in January, with Lake resuming her position until June when former Macy’s exec Matt Baer took the job. In August 2022, chief operating officer Minesh Shah joined a number of senior executives in departing the company. The year prior, Mike Smith, who was COO, also left. In its biggest round of layoffs, 300 employees were let go in June 2022.
“In fiscal 2023, the UK will represent approximately $50 million in annual revenue and negative 15 million of adjusted EBITDA,” Lake told investors in June. “Though we believe Stitch Fix is a service that will ultimately find success across many geographies, including the UK and Western Europe, today, we are not confident in a path to profitability in the near term in that market, especially as we prepare for potentially extended periods of complicated macroeconomic conditions in both the US and UK.”
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