August 2021: Ingka Group News

• IKEA Family celebrated 10 years in the US
• Exploring tomorrow’s life at home
• IKEA participates in World Pride
• Global launch of IKEA app reaches new younger buyers
• IKEA Sweden starts selling electricity from wind and solar
• New sustainable store in Vienna rethinks just about everything

IKEA Family US celebrated 10 years
When IKEA Family in the US celebrated its ten year anniversary, their members could enter a contest to win quite a difference price – a candle scented as the HUVUDROLL meatball. The candle is meant to be a sensory experience of the IKEA store in a compact box, and was developed only for the IKEA Family anniversary celebrations. It will not be sold in store.

Exploring tomorrow’s life at home
In IKEA Xuhui, China, a new innovative retail concept will be tested, centred around enabling people to live a better and healthier life within the limits of the planet. Called the “Home Experience of Tomorrow”, the transformation includes an innovative new design and incorporates new technology, new ways to shop, and a focus on emotional and empowering customer experiences.For those familiar with the guided path typical to existing IKEA stores, IKEA Xuhui will offer a significant change in direction. Instead, the new layout will expand into a mix of open squares and calm spaces, inviting visitors to interact, connect and recharge.

IKEA participates in World Pride
This August, World Pride was held in Copenhagen (Denmark) and Malmö (Sweden), where IKEA participated in events to stand up for LGBT+ rights. LGBT+ inclusion is an ongoing commitment and core belief for IKEA, that goes beyond flags and parades. We stand up against hate and discrimination of any kind, and want to help build a world that is inclusive of all sexual orientations and gender identities – a world where nobody feels the need to conceal who they are or who they love.

All IKEA co-workers across the world can access online training modules to learn more about how to minimise unconscious bias, and how to create an LGBT+ inclusive culture as a member of the community or as an ally. Another example of our culture of inclusion is paid medical leave for co-workers who are transitioning.

Global launch of IKEA app reaches new younger buyers
The new IKEA app has been successfully launched in all Ingka markets, offering customers a simple and enjoyable way to find, choose and buy products fast. To date, the app has been downloaded 31.3 million times, with an average rating of 4.6 stars.

The dynamic feed of shoppable content has a fresh, contemporary design, allowing users to explore the range, check product information, read ratings and reviews, and add items to their wish list, favourites list or cart. Logged-in users can access carts created on other devices, giving customers an ‘omnichannel experience’.

Sweden first IKEA market to start offering electricity from wind and solar through STRÖMMA service
IKEA Sweden has added STRÖMMA to its Clean Energy Services offer, an electricity subscription that will enable the many people to power their homes with electricity, good not only for their wallets but very much so also for the planet.

In addition to STRÖMMA in Sweden, IKEA offers solar panels to customers in 11 markets, with the ambition to enable customers in all our Ingka Group markets to use and generate more renewable energy through our energy services by 2025.

Through the STRÖMMA offer in Sweden, customers can buy affordable, certified electricity from solar and wind, and use an app to track their own electricity usage. Customers who have already bought solar panels from IKEA can also track their own production in the app and sell back the electricity they don’t use themselves.

The new inner-city IKEA store that’s rethinking just about everything
With car-free shopping and a tree-covered modular design, the new inner-city IKEA Westbahnhof store in central Vienna is rethinking just about everything you might expect from an IKEA store. Opening on 26 August, IKEA Westbahnhof will be the first inner-city store to offer a full range of IKEA products and provide same-day delivery so customers can leave the car at home.

For those used to big blue boxes, the design of IKEA Westbahnhof is strikingly different. Situated in the middle of urban Vienna, the 7 story, grid-like design provides an oasis of green in one of the busiest parts of the city. The store showcases innovative sustainable practice, with 160 trees, solar panels and hyper-efficient heating and cooling helping to deliver the store an excellent BREEAM status and an exceptional Platinum Greenpass certification — measuring climate, water, air, biodiversity, energy and costs to run. Such is the effect of the sustainable practices that the felt temperature of the environment around the store is about 2 degrees lower than the rest of the city.

Supporting young people to develop skills
As part of the IKEA ambition to create a positive social impact, IKEA UK & Ireland and IKEA France are assisting young people through various initiatives to develop skills so they can live independently, increase employability and build relationships. These efforts are important for growth, connection and hope in a group facing countless challenges, especially considering the current effects of the pandemic. The countries’ partnerships reflect the IKEA vision to create a better everyday life for the many people.