February 2020: Ingka group news

• IKEA expands into Ukraine with Kyiv store opening
• Changing the game: IKEA Digital Days
• IKEA provides EV chargers at all stores
• Ingka Investments B.V. is to become part-owner of Ikano Bank AB
• IKEA and Helsingborg join forces to assemble the sustainable city of the future
• IKEA value chain collaboration brings circular mattress one step closer
• IKEA opens first store in Slovenia

IKEA expands into Ukraine with Kyiv store opening
After successfully launching e-commerce in Ukraine in May 2020, IKEA and Ingka Group has further expanded its presence in the country with its first physical store in Kyiv, becoming the first city store in the region if South East Europe. It’s located close to the heart of the capital, helping bring IKEA closer to where people live, work, and socialize. As living spaces tend to be quite small in Ukraine, the IKEA small store format will focus on smart home furnishing solutions for urban centers. Customers can get help with planning and designing their living spaces in a dedicated planning hub and can collect their goods after 24 hours in the store.   

Changing the game: IKEA Digital Days
IKEA Digital Days – an event for IKEA co-workers from across the world – took place in February. Over the three days people, technology and insights from the entire IKEA value chain came together to drive business movements. This year the event was hosted digitally. 
The event themes focused on transforming together, change with a meaning and stepping into the future. These themes explored how co-workers can embrace technology to connect and better meet costumer needs, what it takes to be a humanistic technology leader and what trends will be relevant for the future?

The event is an opportunity for IKEA to showcase how the blend of digital capabilities and its life at home knowledge creates business opportunities. 
During the pandemic, IKEA has continued to be accessible for its customers even if they couldn’t visit stores. There were 3.6 billion visits to IKEA.com in FY20 (1 September 2019 – 31 August 2020), equaling an extra billion visits compared to the year before.  
Over the year online sales grew by 60%, a 12% increase on the year before. While in total, online sales made up 18% of Ingka Group sales.

IKEA provides EV chargers at all stores
IKEA is now providing access to EV charging stations in all stores where parking is provided. By doing this, IKEA is addressing emission coming from customers going to and from stores and working towards the aim of becoming climate positive by 2030. IKEA has the ambition to reduce relative emissions from customers and co-worker travel by 50 % and providing EV charging stations is one part of the puzzle. 

Ingka Group is also exploring other ways to enable people to travel to the IKEA stores in more sustainable, affordable and convenient ways such as working with public transport and mobility as a service solution to vehicle sharing, bikes and much more. 

Ingka Investments B.V. is to become part-owner of Ikano Bank AB
Ingka Investments will take 49% stake in Ikano Bank. For Ingka Group this is a decisive step into financial services. For Ikano Bank, a closer partnership with Ingka Group will enable the bank to further accelerate its transformation to become fully digitalized and deliver accessible financial services for more of the many people. Ingka Group and Ikano Bank already have a longstanding commercial partnership, where Ikano Bank has served as IKEA’s Retail’s financial service provider across eight countries. With this part-ownership in the Bank, Ingka and Ikano Bank will be able to maximize the potential of the existing relationship and provide financial services to customers, through a seamless end-to-end digitalized experience, offered online or in-store. Both Ingka Group and Ikano Bank will continue to work with their existing partners.

IKEA and Helsingborg join forces to assemble the sustainable city of the future
In February, IKEA revealed the first details of its ground-breaking partnership with the Swedish City of Helsingborg, to create community solutions for a better life at home. The project, called H22, will explore the definition of ‘home’ by developing new living, community and retail ideas co-created between IKEA, the citizens of Helsingborg and other local and global partners. The City Expo will take place from 30 May to 3 July 2022 at three sites in and around Helsingborg. Each site will explore a specific challenge associated with city living, from affordable homes to health and wellbeing, whilst exploring how IKEA can contribute and become an active partner in developing communities and neighborhoods. Three areas of Helsingborg will become the location for a range of collaborative solutions, read more about them here (link) You can also find out more by listening to the podcast series ‘The oracle’ here (link)

IKEA opens first store in Slovenia
On 25 February, the first IKEA store in Slovenia opened its doors in Ljubljana, with strict pandemic measures in place. All visitors to the store are required to book their visit. The store, which is one of the most centrally located IKEA stores in the world, has advanced sustainability features in place, such as solar panels and vegetation on the roof, geothermal pumps for heating, and a rain collection system for water saving.