Etsy is axing its CMO role as part of major cost cut plans which will see the business slash 11% of its workforce.
The move will mean a total of 225 job cuts, as part of changes which CEO Josh Silverman announced in a statement shared with employees.
“After deep discussion and careful consideration, we are reorganizing our internal structure to more closely align our resources with our most important business priorities and better serve our customers,” Silverman wrote.
As part of the changes, exiting CMO Ryan Scott’s role will be taken up by Raina Moskowitz whose title will be expanded to Etsy Chief Operating and Marketing Officer.
“I’m excited to see Raina leverage her extensive marketing experience from her time with American Express, where she successfully grew share of wallet with their existing customer base while strategically attracting new customers,” Silverman said.
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Despite the fact that in September of last year Silverman shared plans for the online market place to invest hundreds of millions into marketing, he cited employee costs and a tough economic landscape as the reason behind the cuts.
“While the Etsy marketplace is still more than double the size it was in 2019 we need to acknowledge and adjust for today’s realities. We are operating in a very challenging macro and competitive environment and GMS has remained essentially flat since 2021,” said Silverman..
He added: “This means we are not bringing our sellers more sales, which is the single most important thing we can do for them. At the same time employee expenses have grown, even as we have introduced significant cost-cutting measures and adjusted or paused hiring plans”.
He said that departing employees would be on the Etsy payroll until at least 2 January.
