John Lewis will close its Edinburgh distribution hub next month, resulting in 78 job losses.

The department store retailer will consolidate distribution in Scotland to its existing fulfilment centre in Glasgow, with the creation of 40 new jobs.

According to the BBC, online orders will now be sent from Glasgow.

A spokeswoman for John Lewis told the BBC: “At the beginning of this year we began discussions with partners at our Edinburgh distribution hub about the future of the site, and after a consultation we have now confirmed that the site will be closing.

“Our site in Leith is no longer suitable to support our growing business, and by consolidating work in our more modern facility in Lister St, it will enable us to run a more productive model.

“We created an additional 40 new jobs at our Glasgow site as a result of this change, with the hope that a number of partners currently at our Leith site would apply for these roles, or others elsewhere in our business.”

The department store retailer axed nearly 400 jobs in February amid “structural change” in the retail sector, and stablemate Waitrose cut 180 store management roles in an effort to simplify its staffing structure.

These cuts are the latest in a raft of job losses across the retail sector, including Asda’s plans to axe 300 head-office roles earlier this month and Wilko placing 3,900 store roles in consultation.