Turkish speedy grocery company Getir has today announced that it's beginning a mass redundancy process as it prepares to exit the Spanish market, according to sources in the company and local media.
1,560 Getir employees spread across Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza, Seville and Malaga are set to lose their jobs, as the company begins discussions with unions. The redundancies will affect couriers, dark store staff and office employees, according to a union source familiar with the negotiations and a Getir employee.
A Getir courier recently told the Spanish newspaper El Periódico that the company was struggling to generate sufficient revenue from its dark stores.
Just last week, Getir announced that it planned to exit France — citing problems with regulators seeking to close warehouses in city centres — and had also filed for bankruptcy in the country. Its 1,800 strong workforce are still in limbo, unsure whether redundancies are going ahead. One employee at Getir tells Sifted that more markets are likely to be closed down soon, as the company narrows its focus in a push towards profitability.
The speedy grocery sector has taken a hit in the last 18 months as inflation and the drying up of VC funding left many companies unable to reach profitability. Already, the sector has seen mass consolidation, with Getir swallowing up Blok in Spain, Weezy in the UK, Gorillas in Germany and with it Frichti in France.
Getir was also reported to be in talks to acquire German rival Flink, though insiders tell Sifted that the negotiations swiftly collapsed. Getir declined to comment at the time.
In response to a request for comment from Sifted on Thursday, a Getir spokesperson tells Sifted that the company today “came together with the legal representation of the workers to initiate the collective redundancy process in Spain”.
They add that the company will “make the best effort to exhaust all the alternatives that may arise during the negotiations, and that “out of respect for the process, the company will only comment once the negotiations are finalised.”
