IKEA sales up 5% as retailer continues its transformation
IKEA’s retail sales rose by 5% to €36.7 billion in the year to 31 August as the retailer went through one its biggest ever transformations.
Trade was boosted by the furniture retailer’s investment in new stores in city centres, improvements to its home delivery network, renewable energy and digital development.
Customer visits to IKEA stores amounted to 839 million in the year. Meanwhile, visits to IKEA.com increased by 10% to nearly 2.6 billion. Online sales climbed by 46% over the year to account for around 11% of total sales.
Jesper Brodin, chief executive of Ingka Group, said: “We have had a really positive year. While going through one of the biggest transformations in our history, we’ve maintained strong performance across our business.
“We have a simple, yet powerful vision, to create a better everyday life for the many people, that we all want to deliver to, which is truly visible this year.”
During the year, IKEA opened seven traditional larger stores, 11 smaller IKEA stores and a number of planning studios in cities such as Moscow, New York, Paris and London. The company is also planning to open further city stores in places like Copenhagen, Shanghai and Tokyo.
It also launched a new IKEA app to make it easier for customers to search, find and buy IKEA products.
