Arcadia to axe hundreds of Topshop/Topman store roles

The under-pressure fashion group, owned by Sir Philip Green, currently employs a brand manager in every Topshop and Topman.

But it plans to cut roles so that one individual manages both brands in dual-fascia stores and in retail locations where a Topshop and Topman are situated closeby.

There are around 300 Topshop stores and 250 Topman stores in the UK.

An Arcadia spokeswoman said: “As part of an ongoing business review and as a response to the ever-evolving fashion retail landscape, areas in our store management structures have been identified where resource can be used more effectively in servicing the needs of our customers.

”As a result we are working to restructure our retail management across Topshop and Topman. We remain committed to all our team members and our first priority is to redeploy managers into newly created roles within the proposed structure.

“We fully appreciate that this will be a difficult time for those affected and we will ensure our teams are supported through the process of change.”

Arcadia did not disclose exactly how many job losses there would be as a result of the cuts or how many managers would be redeployed.

The fashion giant is under severe pressure as shaky consumer confidence, intense competition from the etailers and soaring import costs as a result of Brexit all conspire to weaken its position.

Earlier this month, it emerged that Arcadia had told suppliers that it is cutting the price it is willing to pay them for orders placed.

The news of redundancies comes amid a week of job cuts with Tesco and Sainsbury’s axing thousands of store management roles across their estates.