Getir layoffs: Thousands of jobs on the line as the delivery service pulls out of the U.S. and Europe

Instant delivery platform Getir has announced it is leaving nearly every market it operates in to focus on its home country of Turkey, according to multiple media reports. This includes withdrawing from the United States, the United Kingdom, and most countries in Europe—and with those withdrawals, thousands of jobs will be eliminated.

Getir was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Istanbul. The company allowed users to order a variety of grocery products and have them delivered in as little as 20 minutes. While Getir is nearly a decade old, it rose to prominence during the pandemic when lockdown orders in major cities were prevalent.

By 2023, Getir had operations in the United States, U.K., and multiple countries in Europe after it spent years rapidly expanding and acquiring similar instant delivery companies. According to TechCrunch, at its height Getir was valued at nearly $12 billion, and last year it had almost 32,000 workers globally.

Fast Company has reached out to Getir for comment.

As for job losses, thousands of workers are expected to be impacted, but there is little in the way of firm numbers announced.

TechCrunch says Getir has confirmed 1,500 layoffs in the U.K. and notes that there have been reports of another 1,800 layoffs in Germany. However, though Getir is pulling out of the United States, the BBC reports that the company’s U.S. subsidiary, FreshDirect, will continue to operate. Whether that means there will be no layoffs there remains to be seen.

The company said it will now focus most of its operations in Turkey, where it generates the majority of its revenue. Indeed, Getir says that just 7% of its total revenue was generated in all of the markets it’s now leaving.

As for why Getir is leaving those markets, the company did not give an exact reason. But with the end of the pandemic lockdowns and a return to normal, it’s likely fewer customers were using Getir’s services. After a glut of ultrafast delivery services flooded cities during the pandemic years, many have struggled since then to compete, with some services like Buyk and Fridge No More shutting down operations.

Getir has also seen increased competition in recent years from the likes of Uber Eats and similar delivery services.

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