IKEA Ireland has today announced total sales of €216.7m for the year ending 31st August 2022, which marks double-digit sales growth of 14% compared to the previous 12 months, as customers continue to invest in life at home post pandemic.
Growth was recorded across all areas, particularly within kitchen and dining equipment, textiles, and storage – both in-store and online.
With customer shopping habits continuing to change following the pandemic, IKEA Ireland’s total online sales have doubled compared to before the pandemic in financial year 2019. Consumers also started coming back to the IKEA store, with store visitation increasing by 70% compared to last year as 3 million people visited IKEA.
IKEA plans to invest in new and existing ways to shop and meet people including new Plan & Order Points, a new distribution centre, developing the existing store, and new delivery capabilities; making it easier and more sustainable to shop at IKEA than ever before.
Following the success of the two Plan and Order Points opened last year in Naas and St Stephen’s Green shopping centre, IKEA has committed to open many more around the country within the next couple of years.
Starting this Spring, IKEA will open a Plan & Order Point in Drogheda, which will be followed by one in Cork and another in Portlaoise. To complement the Ballymun IKEA store, the Plan & Order Points provide customers with free, bespoke design consultations with experienced IKEA kitchen and bedroom storage experts, enabling complex purchases with shorter travel time to IKEA.
IKEA will also open its first distribution centre in Ireland this year - a state-of-the art new build equipped with the latest in sustainable and energy-efficient technology. It will enable quicker fulfilment of IKEA products for customers in Ireland, with increased availability and delivery times reduced by more than half.
Commenting on the expansion, Country Deputy Retail Manager IKEA UK and Ireland, Marsha Smith said, "Everything we do starts with our customers. Over the next years, we will continue to transform as we respond to their needs and dreams, today and tomorrow. We will step up our investments in Ireland with a simple goal: to become more customer centric, so that people can shop with us for a better, more sustainable life at home, whenever, wherever and however they choose."
She added, "With new Plan and Order Points, the new distribution centre, service offers, and digital solutions that complement each other, our aim is to be there for our customers however they want to meet us."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
