The Financial Times reports this morning that Ikea has decided to start selling its furniture through online websites - including Amazon and Alibaba - as it attempts to compensate for what the story describes as “a fall in visitors to its out-of-town outlets.”
The story says that the move is part of a broader strategic direction being taken at Ikea, which also is experimenting with pick-up locations in urban areas and smaller pop-up shops with a more limited inventory.
However, the FT story notes that the third party e-commerce approach “could be the biggest change yet, marking the first time Ikea has sold products through a third party and radically revamping its business model.”
The story says that the move is part of a broader strategic direction being taken at Ikea, which also is experimenting with pick-up locations in urban areas and smaller pop-up shops with a more limited inventory.
However, the FT story notes that the third party e-commerce approach “could be the biggest change yet, marking the first time Ikea has sold products through a third party and radically revamping its business model.”
- KC's View:
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This is what companies have to do - find new ways to be relevant and resonant to consumers, create new business models, and figure out where existing infrastructure simply isn’t up to the task of competing successfully in 2017 and beyond.
