• Fabric, a provider of micro-fulfillment solutions for retailers, has announced laying off around 120 (40%) of its 300 employees. 

• The company also announced that it is changing its current business model of micro-fulfillment-as-a-service (on-demand fulfillment) to a platform-based offering. Through its current model, Fabric offers the technology as a service and manages real estate deployment and other related services on behalf of its customers. The new model will offer micro-fulfillment hardware and software solutions, which will be managed by the customer. 

• However, the company states that the service-based offering will not be completely stopped, as there is potential demand from small-scale retailers due to the cost-intensive nature of the new platform-based model. 

• Fabric also announced that CEO and Co-founder Elram Goren will be stepping down. Current COO Avi Jacoby will take over as CEO.

<ul><li> Analyst QuickTake: The news comes just a couple of months after Fabric opened an on-demand micro-fulfillment center in Dallas with the aim of expanding its network in North America. The company also raised USD 200 million in October last year to be used to expand its on-demand network. Even though the company focused more on a service-based approach previously, it partnered with Walmart in January last year to develop micro-fulfillment technology in partnership with two other companies, which was a platform-based offering, as Walmart’s requirement was to establish its own network of micro-fulfillment centers.</ul>