Ikea boss wants shorter delivery times: “There is still room for improvement”

“Online will continue to grow”, Ikea Germany boss Dennis Balslev is certain of that. But online retailing also presents the Swedish furniture store with unknown challenges. Although the competitors are sometimes performing better, Ikea remains calm.

Ikea sees short delivery times as the greatest challenge

The pandemic did not stop at Ikea either: closed furniture stores, empty tours, no hot dogs or Köttbullar for hungry customers. But the Swedes have Relied on Click & Collect at an early stage, Ordinary online trading also achieved peaks during the forced closings. Nevertheless Germany boss Dennis Balslev sees a lot of catching up to do in one area.

Particularly There is still room for improvement in terms of delivery times: “That is our greatest challenge. I am convinced that we can generate a lot of additional sales if we shorten delivery times. ”This should be quick and easy to implement, especially with smaller items.

It becomes more difficult with furniture, the more bulky, the more complicated and time-consuming the home delivery. But here too there is still potential. Weeks of waiting – everyone who has ordered online from Ikea knows them – should at least be reduced significantly. For smaller deliveries, the target is 3 days, said Balslev in an interview with Wirtschaftswoche.

In the video: This is how you can still earn money on your old Ikea furniture.

Ikea does not insist on number 1, but trusts on a customer basis

However, they deliberately do not want to compete with offers for delivery on the next or even the same day such as those from Amazon. You trust that customers simply like to buy from Ikea – whether online or in furniture stores. The great interest in Click & Collect have shown that the demand for Ikea products is there, even if it involves additional effort.

With a plus of 74 percent compared to the previous year, Ikea’s online sales grew significantly in 2020. Click & Collect received twice as many orders as online shipping, sometimes up to 160,000 per week, according to Balslev. One will therefore create more capacity through additional distribution centers and more automation. In Germany, too, should soon Exoskeletons are tested for heavier lifting.