Ikea has been trialling the sale of some of its flatpack furniture through third parties to make itself more accessible to digital shoppers.
The trial started in secret in October 2016, but has now gone public. Working with Amazon and Alibaba, Ikea hopes to improve the convenience of its offering. Potential alignment with Amazon makes sense given that the Seattle giant continues to show that immediacy is king in the retail world; Prime completely changed retail and showed customers that they can have what they want with little waiting time.
The homeware retailer is also set to open smaller in-town stores, kitchen only stores and is looking at pick up points at other third parties.
Torbjörn Lööf, chief executive of Inter Ikea, told the Financial Times it was “the biggest development in how consumers meet Ikea since the concept was founded. We want to learn … we want to find out how we could keep our identity on a third-party platform.”
Commenting on the move, Hugh Fletcher, Global Head of Consultancy and Innovation, Salmon, says: “Whoever Ikea aligns itself with, it will be a coup. Why? Because it is evidence that even some of the biggest global brands are using the interfaces and infrastructure of big market-place providers to develop their omni-channel strategy. This type of partnership may open the floodgates for other brands and service providers to jump in too. But jump in with caution they must. Whilst a partnership with a market-place gives access to customers, experiences and logistics, it removes a direct relationship with the brand. With this is mind, Ikea will have to work even harder to re-retain customer loyalty.
“There is no doubt that the supply-chain logistics and overall operations will be complex, albeit simplified by a partnership with an existing ecommerce powerhouse. Developing a complete ecommerce offering will allow Ikea to reach into a previously untapped market. Looking beyond online, innovation will play its part in separating the very best from the rest.”
