Planet X warehousing outsourced to agency staff, Barnsley store closes

The recent news circulating about job losses at Planet X, where we are led to believe around 19 people will be made redundant, are only the latest in a long list of changes made throughout 2016 to make rapid overhead savings, Cycling Industry News understands.

Early in the year a Management Consultant Trevor Parker, a Director of NorthcoManagment, was brought in. One of Parker’s specialisms is “Emergency Interim Management – From difficult trading situations… we stabilise situations.”

One of the first changes in 2016 was Planet X severing its link with a small American-based outlet selling the product.

Operations in the UK were also consolidated into three premises as the firm vacated one of the two office/warehouses they occupied on the Rotherham-Sheffield border.

Parker and Planet X boss Dave Loughran then led a whole series of successive job cuts throughout the summer although actual sales were understood to be at a record high.

Personnel understood to have been made redundant over the summer include Head of IT, Head of Customer Services, Head of Warehouse Operations, a Digital Marketing Manager and a Content Writer.

Planet X also pulled out (at the last moment) of showcasing its Holdsworth brand at Eroica Britannia in June to keep a lid on spending.

In the latest round of cuts, which started the current rumours, around 19 new casualties are believed to include a Retail Manager, a Senior Buyer and further job losses within Customer Services.

Most controversially perhaps, it is understood that the entire warehouse pick/pack team will cease to be Planet X employees as staffing at the warehouse building is outsourced to an employment agency.

Planet X’s Barnsley store, which had a staff of four, is also believed to have been closed down leaving them with a retail unit and a large warehouse in Rotherham.