Showroomprivé to lay off 11% of staff and invest in AI

On Tuesday, French online event sales group Showroomprivé, which employs some 1,100 people, announced a “reorganisation project” that could lead to “up to 121 job cuts” in 2026, equivalent to 11% of the workforce.

The job cuts, motivated by “business reasons,” are scheduled for “the second quarter of 2026; 80 jobs will be cut [at the offices] in La Plaine Saint-Denis, 23 in Roubaix and 18 in Sables-d’Olonne,” according to a press release by the group, which was founded in 2006.

In mid-October, Showroomprivé reported a 12.2% revenue drop for the first nine months of the year. The group said the reorganisation has been prompted by “the unfavourable macroeconomic environment, the trend for brands to disintermediate and sell directly to their customers, the growth of the second-hand market, and increasingly intense competition.”

In fiscal 2024, the group plunged into the red, recording a net loss of €17 million, after generating a €500,000 profit in 2023. Sales had declined by 4.5%, to €646.5 million. In the first nine months of 2025, Showroomprivé’s sales volume fell by 10.3% to €630.5 million, while net revenue dropped by 12.2%.

In Q1, the group announced it was deploying a series of recovery measures. Its stated aim was to turn The Bradery, an e-tailer acquired by the group in 2022, into “the French leader in premium event sales,” and to introduce it into the luxury segment. The group also announced its Beauté Privée site would migrate to Shopify, and that it was developing a marketplace business and launching a permanent assortment.

AI and digital marketing

The reorganisation plan now being deployed “needs to be based on rationalising and streamlining the company structure,” said Showroomprivé, which also indicated it would “invest significantly” in “AI, mobile usability, payment security and digital marketing.”

“The new organisation is notably set to rely on more widespread process automation and on AI -driven content generation, following a model that has already been adopted by several competitors,” said Showroomprivé.

An early indication that the group was planning to restructure came in mid-October, when Showroomprivé said it had signed a letter of intent to sell its 52.75% majority stake in The Bradery to the latter’s senior executives and founders, Timothée Linyer and Edouard Caraco. The value of the transaction was estimated at €23 million. A U-turn for the group less than four years after acquiring The Bradery.

(with AFP)