Retail viewpoint

Maybe such action is a necessity because the company appears to have lost its position as an agent-for-change in the furniture market. There is no doubt that over the years it has caused some of our domestic DIY and furniture retailers a serious amount of grief as it has been at the forefront of innovation. It is credited with introducing cheap-as-chips flat pack furniture and for first using complete room concepts to display its products.

But this is all pretty much commonplace stuff in the market today - it's fair to say the competition has all but caught up. So IKEA is looking to initiate changes that return it to its rightful place in the market, with a seriously differentiated proposition that sets trends.

Among its new initiatives is the introduction of a fine art offering - created by Swedish artists of course - at its London stores. These one-off pieces will certainly add a bit more interest to its product range and set it apart from its rivals at the mainstream end of the market.

It is also intending to crank up its environmental claims with the introduction of a charge for carrier bags - something that should be replicated by all other retailers. It has also been clever in its use of audio with its own in-store radio station IKEA Live, which is piped into 14 of its UK stores. There are also plans to develop a website, which will be transactional by 2008, and its previously stated aim of opening a number of smaller format stores.

Although these are all individually positive initiatives they don't quite add up to something that will have the same market changing potential as some previous manoeuvres from IKEA. Maybe there is still hope for the likes of B&Q.

Appointments

We've seen two senior appointments during the past week or so and the responses to them from retail industry commentators could not have been more different.

The biggest by a long chalk was the long-awaited announcement of a new chief executive at Morrisons and the response to Marc Bolland being given the job was muted to say the least. Little is known in the UK of the man who comes highly recommended from those who know him from his previous job as chief operating officer at Heineken.

The City expressed a preference for somebody with a bit of UK food retailing experience, which today tends to mean somebody from Tesco, but true to form Sir Ken Morrison was unlikely to listen and nailed his flag to Bolland.

It's certainly going to be a tough job for him, especially with his limited experience, but at least he brings an equivalent scant amount of baggage. Rather like Sven Goren Eriksson with England, Bolland can look at both Morrisons and the UK food industry with a fresh eye and initially uncritical peers and media.

The response to the second appointment of the week - Jon von Spreckelsen to the chairman's role at Thorntons - was altogether different. This is a man with a track record of turning businesses around (Budgens and Somerfield, if you didn't know) and extracting great value for shareholders.

Although past experience provides little guarantee of future success the clever money will be on Spreckelsen making a much better stab at returning Thorntons to its former glory than some of his predecessors.

Whatever their past experience and reputations it will be interesting to see what changes they both implement at these two very different companies. Let's just hope that Bolland is given a sufficiently free rein by Sir Ken to make the changes that he sees necessary otherwise the appointment will have been a futile exercise for all concerned - not least outgoing deputy chairman David Jones who has fought valiantly for corporate change at the supermarket.