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Best Buy To Lay Off Undisclosed Number of Store Employees; Cites Customer Shift to Online Shopping

“Customer shopping behavior will be permanently changed in a way that is even more digital,” a company spokesman said.

Image source: Best Buy

(Reuters) – Best Buy Co Inc has notified employees that it would cut some jobs at its stores, the Wall Street Journal reported here on Wednesday, as the COVID-19 pandemic forces retailers to become more dependent than ever on online shopping.

A Best Buy spokesman said the company does not comment on specific personnel matters, but added that its workforce would need to evolve to meet evolving needs of customers.

“Customer shopping behavior will be permanently changed in a way that is even more digital,” he said.

Best Buy in April last year furloughed about 51,000 hourly employees as it closed stores due to COVID-19 lockdowns, although it brought some of them back after reopening to meet a surge in demand for home computer equipment and game consoles.

The retailer has nearly 125,000 workers, according to its last annual filing.

Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.

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Source: Reuters

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