Multichannel retailer ETMall (東森購物) has said it would cut its workforce by 200 employees by the end of the year.
In a statement on Monday, ETMall’s owner Eastern Media Group (東森媒體) attributed the move to rising electricity bills, hikes to Taiwan’s minimum wage and interest payments which had caused operating costs to increase by NT$130 million (US$4 million).
Sales on ETMall’s online shopping platform fell by NT$5.9 billion from 2021 to last year — a 58 percent drop — while revenues for its TV shopping division shrank by 20 percent to NT$6.5 billion during the same period, Eastern Media said.
Photo courtesy of Eastern Media Group
Eastern Media said employees who do not take voluntary redundancy would be given help to find new positions within the company.
While ETMall’s offline retail division has posted consistent losses since opening last year, Eastern Media said sales at its shopping mall in Taipei Main Station grew 345 percent in the 12-month period that ended in October.
Eastern Media said it would shutter ETMall’s loss-incurring fresh food online shopping network as well as its Ponta points-based rewards program.
ETMall’s TV shopping channels are also under pressure due to declining cable subscribers, which have fallen from a peak of 5.2 million households to below 4.4 million, Eastern Media said.
Despite some of its holdings incurring losses, Eastern Media said that the group remained profitable, adding that ETMall’s best-performing employees would be given a 5 percent pay raise after the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday.
Lu Chih-ming (盧志銘), a specialist from the New Taipei City Labor Affairs Department, yesterday said that ETMall has notified his department of its workforce reduction plans.
Lu said that to his knowledge, many of the workers affected by ETMall’s downsizing plan had accepted voluntary severance packages.
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