Australia's Coles to shift some corporate roles to Accenture in cost-cutting push
ACN•Media report and market reaction
The Australian Financial Review earlier on Friday reported that Coles was planning to move as many as 1,000 jobs to India as part of a deal with Accenture to redirect focus on its online operations.
Shares of Coles were down 0.9% as of 0433 GMT, while the broader Australian equity benchmark was marginally lower.
Coles to move some corporate roles to Accenture
Coles will move some corporate roles to Accenture teams at home and abroad as it looks to reduce costs amid intensifying retail competition, Australia's No. 2 grocer said in an emailed statement to Reuters on Friday.
Coles said it would redeploy the affected team members into other roles across the company as some of its corporate workforce moves to IT consultancy Accenture.
Cost-cutting comes amid stronger retail competition
The Australian firm said the move would help cut costs as competition in the retail sector intensifies, including from e-commerce entrants, challenging the dominance of Coles and larger rival Woolworths.
"The changes affect a very small portion of the 115,000 Australians that Coles employs, and does not impact the vast majority of our team who work in-store, in communities across the country," a Coles spokesperson said.
