The news follows disappointing holiday sales and tech layoffs in March

Following disappointing holiday sales, Nordstrom announced it will phase out 350–400 jobs in its corporate office and regional support teams.

The number represents about 6 percent of the company’s 70,000-person corporate workforce, reports said. The cuts will be finished by the end of the second quarter and are expected to generate about $60 million in savings.

The company will first eliminate open positions to mitigate the impact on current employees, it said.

Nordstrom reported that fourth quarter comps rose 1 percent, a number that was below analyst expectations.

The staff reductions come after news in March that the company was laying off 120 members of its tech staff, according to The Seattle Times.

The company tried to put a positive spin on the news, headlining its release, “Nordstrom Announces Operating Model Improvements to Better Support Customers’ Changing Expectations.”

“We will never change our commitment to serving customers, but recognize how they want to be served has been changing at an increasingly rapid pace,” said Blake Nordstrom, copresident, Nordstrom, Inc., in a statement. “Meeting our customers’ expectations means we must continually evolve with them. We see opportunities to create a more efficient and agile organization that ensures we’re best positioned to achieve our goals.”

(Top: Nordstrom’s downtown Seattle flagship; photo courtesy of Nordstrom Inc.)

Rob Bates

JCK News Director