The Seattle-based retailer said the positions being eliminated, customer-care specialists, had been made obsolete by improvements to its overall shopping experience. No other job cuts are in the works right away despite the challenges facing Nordstrom and other retailers.
Nordstrom is laying off more than 100 people nationwide, including 30 in Seattle.
The 106 positions being cut are all customer-care specialists, who answer customer questions via phone, online chat or email.
In addition to the 30 people being laid off in Seattle, 18 people in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, are affected, as are 58 people who work from homes across the country, according to a Nordstrom spokeswoman.
The job cuts came last week. Nordstrom is paying the employees through April 1.
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“We’ve made a number of investments across our business to make shopping easier and more convenient for our customers,” Nordstrom said in a statement. “One of the results of that has been a decrease in the number of customers who reach out to Customer Care for support, which has put us in the position of being overstaffed on that team.
“We’ve tried different solutions to address the problem, but ultimately decided to reduce roles. Though these kinds of decisions are never easy, we believe this change will position us to best meet the long-term needs of our business.”
Nordstrom, which is faring better than its competitors but is nevertheless being affected by the retail storm battering department stores, said it does not have any other job cuts planned.
The company logged a record $14.76 billion in sales last fiscal year, though its profits fell 41 percent to $354 million from $600 million in the year-ago period.