General
Between Christmas and New Year we traditionally look back: which articles on RetailDetail.eu were read the most last year? This overview gives a nice picture of the events in the insane retail year 2020. And no, not every article was about corona...
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Furniture
After seventy years, Ikea will stop publishing its paper catalogue. "Times change", the company says, speaking of an "emotional but rational decision".
The corona pandemic has caused a digital acceleration at Ikea. The retailer managed to save the furniture during the lockdowns thanks to the roll-out of click & collect services.
Inter Ikea, master franchiser of the Ikea stores, saw its profit grow by 13% last year, exceeding 2 billion euro. Consumers spend more on furniture in times of corona, and margins increased.
Ikea will soon launch a remarkable international campaign called 'BuyBackFriday'. It gives customers the opportunity to exchange their old Ikea furniture for vouchers. Critics see it as a publicity stunt.
Ikea announced retail sales of 35.2 billion euros in the financial year to September. That is 1.5 billion less than a year earlier, despite online growth of 60%. Nevertheless, this is a strong performance according to the furniture chain.
Electronics
Ikea will remove all non-rechargeable alkaline batteries worldwide by 2021. In this way, the furniture retailer wants to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the amount of toxic waste.
Ikea is to open a second-hand store, where only used and refurbished furniture from the home interior chain is sold. The new store concept is intended to help the Swedish retailer with its sustainability ambitions.
Ikea is ready for a "green recovery" after the Covid-19 crisis. The CEO of Ikea Belgium has written an open letter, calling for cooperation and "sustainability as a fully-fledged business model". He demands that recovery plans take into account the climate crisis as well.
Ikea has said it wants to reimburse the state aid the company received in nine countries, including Belgium, during the coronavirus crisis.
Property
Ingka Centres, owner of shopping centres and part of the Ikea Group, wants to enter the American market. The real estate company is in talks to refurbish properties on central locations in major American cities.
As Belgian stores were allowed to reopen today, the image is rather mixed: some chains (like Ikea) saw hours-long queues, others remained almost completely empty.
Ikea has stated it hopes to reopen its European stores from the end of April. In the meantime, the chain is offering advice by video conference in Belgium. The coronavirus crisis has already cost the Swedish company 60 % of its turnover.
Swedish furniture giant Ikea has started selling its articles via Alibaba's Chinese e-commerce platform Tmall. It is the first time in its 77-year history that the furniture giant sells through a third party.
As of September, Jon Abrahamsson Ring will be the CEO of Inter Ikea, the company that manages the intellectual property of the Swedish furniture chain. He has been a close associate of founder Ingvar Kamprad for four years.
The great uniformity of apartment buildings from the Soviet era has proved to be a welcome inspiration for Ikea: in five stores, customers can use VR to give their apartment a virtual update. The tool may later be used in a number of other countries as well.
