LANCASTER COUNTY — The QVC Fulfillment Center in Lancaster County, located off Stony Battery Road in West Hempfield Township, is one of three such centers across the country that will be closed by the year 2020 as part of a series of initiatives announced by the shopping network’s parent company, Qurate Retail Group, Wednesday morning.
Other Fulfillment Centers in Roanoke, VA, and Greeneville, TN will be closed as well, the company announced.
The closures will eliminate approximately 1,725 positions. Those eliminations will be partially offset by the anticipated hiring of anywhere from 1,200 to 1,500 new positions at a new facility that will be opened in Bethlehem, the company said.
Other initiatives announced by Qurate Retail Group Wednesday include:
- Combining the Home Shopping Network and QVC US business units into a new business unit that will be referred to as QXH.
- Streamlining operations, principally at HSN, to create a leaner, more agile organization and better leverage the resources of QRG.
- Approximately 350 positions will be eliminated by year-end 2018, the majority at HSN’s St. Petersburg, FL and Long Island, NY operations, and a smaller number of QRG and QVC positions in West Chester, PA.
- Integrating the HSN and QVC US fulfillment networks to enhance delivery speed and lower costs to serve customers.
- The first phase includes opening a new fulfillment center in Bethlehem, PA in 2019 as well as anticipated closures of fulfillment centers in Lancaster, PA, Roanoke, VA, and Greeneville, TN in 2020. Approximately 1,725 positions will be eliminated in these centers upon closure, partially offset by the anticipated hiring of 1,200 – 1,500 positions at the new Bethlehem facility.
- Additionally, QRG will evolve toward a leased vs. owned model for many of its fulfillment facilities, to increase flexibility and reduce longer term capital requirements.
“As the world’s leader in social, digital and video commerce, Qurate Retail Group is committed to extending our leadership in a rapidly changing retail market and attracting the next generation of consumers by bringing compelling product discoveries to market every day, creating seamless customer experiences, and developing highly engaging digital and social shopping platforms,” said Mike George, President and Chief Executive Officerof Qurate Retail, Inc., in a press release announcing the moves. “The changes announced today will enable us to accelerate this transformation by better leveraging the considerable scale and resources of our HSN and QVC US businesses.”
Employees impacted by the reductions and closures will receive support, including severance payments, continuation of some benefits, and outplacement assistance, the company said.
