Whole Foods is slashing marketing jobs in its latest post-Amazon push to cut costs

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• Whole Foods employs marketing staff, including graphic designers, who work in each of its stores as well as 11 regional offices.
• The company told those employees that many of them would be losing their jobs as of July.
• Whole Foods, now owned by Amazon, has been centralizing several roles in a push to cut costs. The moves have at times bothered employees, customers, and suppliers.

Whole Foods is slashing regional and in-store marketing and graphic design jobs in its latest push to centralize operations, people with knowledge of the matter told Business Insider.

The company currently employs graphic-designers who create signage used in the stores to highlight local products and prices. The positions, along with several corporate marketing roles, are being eliminated, the people said, asking not to be identified. Some employees were told they'd have until July 2, and continue to receive benefits until the end of that month.

It's not clear exactly how many jobs will be affected but the company operates about 450 stores in the United States, and 11 regional offices. About 10 positions are being eliminated from each regional offices, the person said.

Employees were told that the move is being made because Whole Foods wants to "centralize" certain jobs and have regional and global teams to handle jobs that can be done outside the store. In-store marketing staff and regional marketing coordinators will have to re-interview for jobs at the regional office, employees were told on a conference call on Thursday.

A profile of one of the graphic designers, posted on Whole Foods website describes the role this way:

"We create a variety of hand drawn chalkboards that help define many Whole Foods Market stores. And my title means many things, but essentially I'm responsible for those chalkboards as well as the accuracy of item/pricing signage, maintenance of the associated databases and the creation, upkeep and distribution of all advertising and in-store marketing collateral."

Whole Foods didn't reply to requests for comment on the moves. The company has been moving away from its localized approach in the past year, shifting other roles to its Austin headquarters and changing its supply-chain and inventory methods in order to cut costs.

Those moves have angered some employees, suppliers, and customers, as they've left stores without inventory or conflicted with the "local" ethos that Whole Foods had come to be known for.