Frasers Group is making cuts to its Studio Retail staff based in East Lancashire as it looks to streamline operations.
The retail giant has entered a consultation period for nearly 100 employees at the retailer’s base in Accrington, the Lancashire Telegraph reported.
Staff were informed via email that the group planned to relocate the business to its Derbyshire base, nearly 100 miles away.
“To improve operational efficiency, a proposal, subject to consultation, has been made to relocate the Customer Services operation from our existing Clayton-Le-Moors office to the Shirebrook office, and the Studio Customer Services Contact Centre in Clayton-Le-Moor will cease,” the email said.
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“On Thursday, October 12, our colleagues who are directly impacted by this announcement were briefed on the proposes changes and in the coming days will be contacted to explain what this means for them and their roles in more detail.”
Affected staff are understood to be made redundant on November 26.
Studio Retail chief executive Paul Kendrick sent a letter to staff in August outlining that Frasers Group was planning to merge Studio Retail with Missguided and I Saw It First.
He warned the move would result in “significant cost efficiencies” but that it would “benefit from the longer-term group investments in technology by working on a shared platform”.
It is the latest in Frasers’ company-wide efficiency drive, which has seen more than 100 jobs in its Manchester head office axed, 200 employees at the group’s head offices in Shirebrook and London made redundant, as well as 90 jobs cut following the acquisition of 14 businesses from JD Sports at the start of the year.
Frasers Group acquired Studio Retail out of administration in February last year as part of a £26.8m deal.
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