Neiman Marcus Group announced on Tuesday that it will eliminate less than 5% of roles across the company as part of a “strategic realignment” meant to accelerate its push to become a top luxury destination.
“It is always our intent to minimize the impact to existing associate jobs, and we take these types of decisions very seriously,” said Geoffroy van Raemdonck in a statement, adding that impacted employees will be offered severance. NMG also said it will fill certain open roles based on its needs moving forward.
With the news, Neiman Marcus becomes the latest firm to announce job cuts this year, along with Amazon, Everlane, Kohl’s and more retail companies.
The department store retailer, which also owns Bergdorf Goodman, also announced a series of leadership changes. Bergdorf Goodman president Darcy Penick will assume group-level leadership of the NMG product and technology unit, Neiman Marcus president Ryan Ross will lead customer insights for the group and chief product and technology officer Bob Kupbens will leave the company.
Watch on FN
Just last month, NMG added two key executives to its C-suite meant to focus on elevating the experience for shoppers. Nabil Aliffi joined as chief brand officer and Stefanie Tsen Ward was promoted to chief retail officer.
NMG is a private company that does not share full financial performance results, though the company does often provide periodic updates. Comparable sales were up 30% in the fiscal year that ended in July versus the previous year. The retailer recently committed to making a $200 million strategic investment in stores over three years to add space for style advisors as well as food and beverage concepts to make it a top destination for luxury consumers.
In a January speech at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show, van Raemdonck said that Neiman Marcus is meant to be a “a conduit” for luxury brands to access new consumers.
“Those [brands] thrive in a good economy and they thrive, almost even better, in a volatile economy,” van Raemdonck said in his session.
