Mothercare has placed 200 roles into consultation in a bid to “simplify” the business and prepare it for its “next phase of transformation”.
The nursery chain plans to axe head office, sourcing and distribution centre roles as part of a drive to cut costs and focus more on core markets.
The redundancies feed into the business transformation plan that was revealed in the company’s last full-year results.
Mothercare currently caters for older children but wants to focus purely on maternity, newborns, babies and toddlers.
It believes that this business model will be more sustainable and more suitable to emulate across its international markets, which are a large part of Mothercare’s business.
A spokesman said: “At the time [of the results], we talked about the Mothercare brand becoming even more focused on its core markets of maternity, newborn, baby and toddler up to pre-school.
“Mothercare is a true specialist in these categories and we see opportunities to build our offer and services in these areas going forward.
“As such, certain other areas of the business will be ceased and, for example, we will no longer sell ranges in the UK for older children in either clothing or toys.
“The objective here is to make the Mothercare business more specialist, more simple, more robust, and more exportable to its international markets.”
Mothercare is also on an ongoing mission to reduce its store estate to between 80 and 100 stores, which will see it focus on key regional presences rather than trading on every high street.
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