Cazoo axes 15 customer centres from website as closures get the go-ahead

Cazoo has removed 15 of its 22 used car handover centres from its website after staff were informed that a series of planned closures would be going ahead.

The online car retailer, which has withdrawn from Europe, axed its car subscription services and sold its Cazana used car data business as part of sweeping cost cutting measures in recent months is now poised to reduce its physical footprint – triggering widespread redundancies.

Only handover sites in Birmingham, Bristol, Chertsey, Lakeside, Manchester, Northampton and Wembley remain on the Cazoo website.

A memo sent out to staff this week laid out terms for staff as action was taken to commence closures ahead of the March 17 end of a consultation period about the move, part of a wide-reaching cost-cutting action.

Cazoo revealed in June last year that it wants to cut costs by £200 million by the end of 2023 – resulting in around 750 job cuts.

Cazoo founder Alex Chesterman denied that the business was making a “u-turn” on an online-only sales model when it formed its used car handover network with the July 2020 acquisition of 18-car used car supermarket business Imperial Cars.

At the time the acquisition triggered redundancies as Cazoo restructured the fast-growing retail group.

Speaking to AM following the acquisition, Chesterman said: “I think many of those who have questioned our strategy – have tried to say that we have made some kind of u-turn by acquiring Imperial and opening physical locations – fundamentally misunderstand our offering and e-commerce logistics in general.

“We don’t have a magic wand that makes cars arrive on our customers’ driveways.

“We are no different to Amazon or Ocado in that we have to have a physical distribution network. Both have physical storage and distribution across the UK.

“From day one we have operated from the central operation centre at Corby and 10 distribution locations across the UK and this is an extension of that, allowing us to get closer to our customers.

“There’s been no change in our strategy, it’s been a totally natural evolution for us.”

Cazoo, launched in December 2019, was valued at $7bn (over £5.2bn) when it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in August 2021.

It now has a market capitalisation of $86.50m (£72.08m).

AM has approached Cazoo for a comment.