Dyson is cutting 600 of its 4,000 staff in the UK as the consumer goods maker restructures following the lockdown.
Redundancies will be spread across the business but largely focused on retail roles, such as Dyson employees working in concessions in department stores.
Customer service positions at the company’s headquarters in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, will also go, along with some back-office functions such as legal. Some research and development roles are also understood to be affected.
Demand is thought to have rapidly shifted online as shops were forced to close to control the pandemic, meaning many in-store jobs were no longer viable when restrictions were lifted.
The company had already been looking to move customer support online, with coronavirus hastening the shift.
A Dyson spokesman said: “The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated changes in consumer behaviour and therefore requires changes in how we engage with our customers and how we sell our products.
“We are evolving our organisation and reflecting these changes to make us faster, more agile, and better able to grow sustainably.”
The jobs losses are part of global reorganisation that will see a further 300 staff in other countries axed, out of a total of 14,000 workers globally.