Furniture
Dutch chain Beter Bed is changing its image, as it no longer wishes to come across as a budget store and will no longer use its signature clown and slogan, after disappointing 2013 results.
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The Ikea Foundation has donated 101 million euro in 2013 to help children and families in poor countries, which means it increased its total donation by 21 % compared to 2012.
Danish interior design chain BoConcept will open its 265th store, its 4th in Belgium, in Hasselt. Paul Apers, a 20-year veteran of the furniture industry, will take charge of this new store.
Furniture giant Ikea has used wood that does not adhere to the Forest Stewardship Council guidelines. The chain now risks losing the FSC label, although the Swedes claim the problems are only temporary.
IKEA has launched a mobile app with a scan option, which will allow customers to create shopping lists more easily. Currently the app is only able to display product information in stores, not to scan them.
Swedish furniture chain Ikea is still holding on to its prediction of doubling turnover by 2020. To manage that type of increase within 8 years, the yearly turnover would have to increase 10 % each year. Past fiscal year however, the growth was only 3.1 %.
Norwegian furniture group Ekornes wants to purchase furniture discounters Internasjonal Møbel Gruppe, also from Norway. Stressless’ parent company wants to launch IMG in markets where it already has a strong presence. If the research of the company’s books goes according to plan, the purchase should be finalized by 1 May 2014.
Tack! is Ikea’s new loyalty programme that should help contribute to employees’ pensions. The chain is still investigating how it can implement the programme in each separate country.
IKEA France’s privacy scandal is widening, because the French court believes management ordered its internal safety service to screen personnel in no less than 9 of its 29 stores. Versailles believes the current Belgian CEO must have been in the loop.
Kitchen brand Eggo is going international: the group has just started a ‘master franchise’ in the Spanish capital, Madrid. “It is the beginning of a network that should solidify our successful formula in Spain and Europe”, the Belgian company said confidently.
Swedish furniture giant Ikea has managed a 3.1 % turnover increase in its fiscal year 2012/2013, which ended last August. It has brought in 27.9 billion euro, mostly thanks to increased Russian and Chinese sales.
Carpetright’s CEO Darren Shapland is stepping down after the group had to issue a profit alert. He will be replaced by Philip Harris, Carpetright’s founder and current chairman. Shapland has only been in charge for 18 months.
Danish brand of designer furniture and accessories HAY opened its first Belgian store in Antwerp, creating only the fifth flagship store for the chain that is mostly known for its affordable line of designer furniture.
Peter Agnefjäll, the newest IKEA CEO, wants to grow the company at a slower, more controlled pace. Mikael Ohlsson’s plans, the previous CEO, to double the number of new stores to some 25 stores a year, will be scaled down again.
Employees of German chain of home improvement stores Butlers are helping web shoppers to buy furniture through video chat, where potential customers can ask employees of the Berlin showroom their questions. This move is an effort to increase revenue and reduce the number of people returning items.
The founder of IKEA is letting go of his brainchild a little bit more: Ingvar Kamprad is quitting the board of directors of the core company of the Swedish furniture empire, now his youngest son Mathias has become its chairman.
