On Tuesday, April 4, THG, a leading online retailer, informed its staff that 180 jobs are at risk of being eliminated due to the closure of its OnDemand division. The news was first reported by BusinessLive, a UK-based business news website.

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The OnDemand division, which was launched in 2017, was a platform that allowed customers to order products from THG’s catalogue and have them delivered within an hour. The division was intended to help THG compete with Amazon’s Prime Now service.

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In addition to the closure of the OnDemand division, THG is also shutting down ProBikeKit, an online road cycling specialist retailer which it acquired in 2013. The company has not yet revealed how many jobs will be affected by the closure of ProBikeKit.

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A THG spokesperson said: "Following a strategic review of our OnDemand division, as announced in THG’s trading update of 17 January 2023, we can confirm that we are proposing to discontinue operations in the OnDemand division across all sites.

We are currently consulting with impacted colleagues and will take steps to minimise the number of redundancies.

We are also consulting with certain colleagues in THG Studios where, following the closure of OnDemand, we expect associated workflow to reduce proportionately.

THG is committed to supporting all affected colleagues and, where possible, we will endeavour to find colleagues alternate roles within the wider THG Group."

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The company has also announced that it will be offering a “comprehensive package of support” to those affected by the redundancies, including outplacement services and financial advice.

The redundancies are the latest in a series of job cuts in the retail sector, with many companies having been forced to make difficult decisions due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Sources:

BusinessLive. ( April 4). https://www.business-live.co.uk/enterprise/thg-puts-180-jobs-risk-26638780
Retail Gazette. ( April 4) https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2023/04/thg-redundancies-division/