Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits is cutting jobs in the US as part of a shift towards a “hybrid” way of working with customers.

The company has integrated field sales, inside sales and digital commerce, a move it said will lead to a “net reduction of approximately 1%” of its staff in the US.

The distributor told Just Drinks its workforce stands at 24,000.

Southern Glazer’s declined to comment on the locations of the positions affected.

It plans to move “as many impacted employees as possible” into open positions already available across the group.

In a statement, the company said the changes to its set-up take effect immediately and are meant to “align the business with changing market trends and customer engagement patterns”.

Southern Glazer’s wants to “better support” the requirements of independent customers.

Wayne Chaplin, the president and CEO of Southern Glazer’s, said: “We are redirecting our resources where the business is moving and towards areas of growth, all while listening to our customers and individual markets to satisfy their needs and using AI to help us adapt to a changing market. Ultimately, this new hybrid approach will create a more responsive and effective customer support model, while improving the earning opportunity and retention for our talented commercial sales organisation.”

As part of the new approach, the company said an extra 1% of its independent customer base will now be handled by a redesigned inside sales unit called the customer solutions team, working alongside its e-commerce platform dubbed Proof Commerce.

Southern Glazer’s describes itself as “the world’s pre-eminent total beverage distributor”. It operates across 47 US markets as well as Canada.