Commercetools, a pioneer in “head trade”, puts dozens of employees

Cosmetic – The “Cold Trading” platform that provides application programming facades for companies that build store facades online – witnessed a big boost in its business just a few years ago, and the money collects in Evaluation of $ 1.9 billion When the world went online shopping in the wake of the Covid-19s, and companies rushed to improve e-commerce.

Today, Playbook looks a little different from e -commerce and trade.

TECHCRUNCH has learned and emphasizes that commercetools may apply dozens of employees over the past few weeks, including about 10 % of employees earlier on Wednesday, after failing to achieve sales growth goals. It is also making a number of executive changes, including the separation methods with the chief revenue employee and the financial manager, and re -setting the roles previously by the information security official and compliance.

And Andrew Burton, CEO of the company, said: “While we have made meaningful progress and our business continued to grow, we did not achieve the goals of our aggressive revenues growth,” during a note of the company, which Techcrunch saw. “This reality, our executive team, and our assembly were asked to take a difficult and in -depth look at the place where we have briefly, where we have shown strength, and what should be changed to build a stronger future.”

The “important” restructuring will be implemented in marketing, sales and internal operations such as human resources and financing, according to the memo. Employees in the development of customers and products “after review of performance and influence” will also be cut off.

The full memorandum, which is shared and confirmed as the original by the company, has been published below.

Speaking to Techcrunch after contacting the company about the memo, Bueon said that about 10 % of the company’s employees were affected today, but they refused to give an accurate number. A source, who spoke to Techcrunch, said, provided that his identity is not disclosed, that today’s demobilization exceeds more than 70 people, including the layoffs of the smaller workers in the past few weeks, up to 20 % of the employees. Burton also added that the company has 25-30 open roles looking to fill it.

It is a difficult stumbling block on the way for a company that seems to have had a strong operation on the market. Commercitools was originally established in 2006 in Munich, Germany, which raised only $ 30 million of external financing before obtaining it by the REWE retail giant in 2015. By 2019, it was witnessing its revenues growing by 110 % annually, and thus did not get it out as a start again, Support from $ 145 million In financing from Insight Partners, with a rate of $ 300 million.

After hitting Covid-19, Commercetools flourished with shopping all digital species. Less than three years after the rounded investment, I managed to raise it 140 million dollars Restricting $ 1.9 billion led by Access.

Through all this, the founder of Commercetools Dirk Hörig led the company as CEO. Stay away from first place in July 2024, to be replaced by Burton. (Hörig kept a seat in the board of directors, which is the chief innovation official in the company.)

At that time, the company was making “Beyond“With a value of $ 100 million of repeated annual revenues, Burton is a provision for the company that passes the public, and according to what was stated in 2025 or 2026. Burton declined to comment today on public subscription or other future plans.

The memorandum cited, at a high level, that commentetools was missing the goals of its growth, but there were other more specific transformations in the market.

While Commercetools was a very early engine in the field of “trading trading” – a term that was first formulated by Hörig – a number of competitors have appeared in recent years. Among the most important of them is Shopify, which was originally developed with smaller traders and gradually growing in working with the same largest retailers targeted by goals.

The e -commerce continued to grow, but not at the pace of the opening that was seen between 2020 and 2022. American Statistics Office He pointed out that retail e -commerce in the United States grew by only 2.7 % from the third quarter to the fourth quarter of 2024, with a total of 308.9 billion dollars and holding 16.4 % of all retail sales. Earlier today, EBY indicated that Q4 sales have grown Only 1 %.

Burton also referred to question marks about how customs tariffs will be issued as another factor that affects e -commerce companies, and the effect of beating on suppliers such as trade.

“We had really ambitious goals that we did not reset to reflect the total economic uncertainty,” Burton told Techcrunch today.

Finally, while the interfaces of the brand-owned stores-a basic company for companies such as Commercetools-continue to form a giant part of the e-commerce market, they also compete for a new wave of markets. Temu, Instagram and Tiktok are a new type of social trade that can change the game again.

The ball is on the field for companies such as Commercetools to expect and build wherever it is, however people may want to shop in the future.

The note below:

topic: Important update

Hello team,

During the past few years, we have set ambitious goals, expecting strong growth in the market. Although we have made meaningful progress and our business continues to grow, we have not fully achieved the goals of aggressive revenue growth. This reality, our executive team, and our council required a difficult and in -depth look at the place where we were short, where we have shown strength, and what to change to build a stronger future.

As part of this, we made a difficult decision to restructure some teams, implement targeted discounts in specific areas, and eliminate some roles. This decision is not a reflection on individual plastic surgeons, talents, dedication, or impact, but instead a necessary step to sharpen our focus and re -put the work in a stronger position to move and succeed in this troubled market.

Many of you have built strong relationships with colleagues who are leaving today. They have formed Commercetools in big and small ways, and we are really grateful. We provide all employees affected by the continuous division and benefits over the market standard. In addition, we continue to reach openness, as our online platform provides support resources for various mental health, to support it in this transition.

I know this is difficult news for treatment. Change brings uncertainty, and we are committed to providing as much clarity, support and trend as possible. To help answer common questions, we have collected common questions about the employee that defines the main details about restructuring and the available resources and beyond.

To give everyone a space for thinking, we offer all employees on Friday, February 28, a holiday.

Your CEO will meet your section later or tomorrow to discuss what this and your team mean to you.

What is changing

Level updates:

• Bruno Thiper (CRO) Moving outside the executive team, and staying as a consultant until the end of H1. The new search CRO started; Meanwhile, sales will offer me.
• Dan Murphy (Financial Director) Transfer outside the executive team, and advise until the end of H1. The role of the financial manager It will not be filed; Funding reports, digital, and legal solutions to Matt Tawil (COOT) will.
• Dennis Werner (Senior Information and Compliance Security officials) -Moving to a role that focuses on compliance under Dirk Hörig. It is transmitted to digital solutions under Matt Tueel, the information security that is transmitted to the product under the Hajo Eichler, and the management of offices that move to people during the Roxana Dobrescu era.

Teams with great restructuring:

• Marketing (including BDRS) – Reorganization to focus on the GTM Enterprise model and sales centuries.
• Sales and operations Restructuring to improve sales support and focus on the best markets/customers.
• Empowerment functions (financial, people, etc.) Standardizing the difference to improve operational efficiency.
• Other affected areas – Select the discounts in Customer and products Development After reviewing the performance and effect.

Change is never easy, but at the heart of what we do – help companies adapt to new facts. Now, we do the same. In our The company is all hands tomorrowWe will roam in these changes in more detail – why, what, and how we advance together – we remain loyal to our faith by boldly adapting to build the next.

Andrew