In a world of bargain hunters, TJX Companies—the owner of brands such as TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods that offer high-quality goods at lower prices—has listed 69,000 roles in 2021, representing a three-fold jump over 2020, according to GlobalData’s Job Analytics Database. The leading data and analytics company notes that TJX’s increased listings are mainly for its retail stores.

Ajay Kumar Thalluri, Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “TJX’s hiring trajectory has continued into 2022, with around 6,000 new job postings in January. This is higher than both January 2021 and January 2020. The company’s accelerated listings for its retail outlets indicates that footfall in its brick-and-mortar stores has picked up with positive consumer demand.”

Neil Saunders, Managing Director of Retail at GlobalData, comments: “Consumers are being cautious and budgeting more carefully. As we have seen in previous economic cycles, this mindset can be very beneficial for off-price retailer TJX–even more so in a period of inflation when other retailers are putting up prices.

“On the apparel side, consumers have been on buying sprees to get clothing that fit better and to refresh their styles for social and work occasions. This has been accompanied by some revenge spending—especially in economies that have been locked down, where consumers are eager to treat and indulge themselves after a period of pandemic-induced austerity. Given the high volumes of apparel being bought, and the fact that there are pressures on household incomes, TJ Maxx’s strong value-for-money position has led it to be a major beneficiary of this trend.”

A new spurt of TJX jobs were listed in Europe in 2021, indicating that the company is evaluating new opportunities in European markets.

Thalluri continues: “Markets such as the Netherlands are being explored, as evidenced by the ‘Market Representative’ role for its Amsterdam office.”

Saunders notes: “While a lot of the gains in 2021 came from the US, where two-year sales were up 25.2%, the international division saw growth of 17.6%–which was an impressive result, given that a good chunk of stores were closed in Australia and Canada at the time.”

Additionally, TJX is strengthening its defences, with the number of job listings for its loss prevention team more than doubling in 2021 when compared to 2020. TJX also listed roles related to maintaining security across its e-commerce platforms, including the recently listed ‘Director of Cybersecurity Engineering’ and a January 2022 role for ‘E-commerce Fraud Prevention Spec’.

Emilio Campa, Thematic Research Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Cybersecurity is one of the most important themes impacting businesses worldwide, according to GlobaData Thematic Research. Everything is connected now, meaning companies have more potential weaknesses that they need to both know about and constantly defend. All attackers need to do is find one small gap that’s been left unguarded in these increasingly vast networks. A company such as TJK that manages worldwide supply chains is at high risk of attack.

“Companies that do not follow a zero-trust approach—assuming that whatever entity is trying to gain access to the network is untrustworthy until its identity is verified—will miss out on critical defenses that will save them money. However, implementation of zero trust will not be easy. For example, Google took six years to fully migrate its staff to a zero-trust framework.”