Ikea UK has announced retail sales of £2.3bn for the financial year 2024, a 6.8% decrease compared to the previous year, but the retailer stressed this was due to its strategic decision to prioritise affordability, investing more than £117mn in lowering prices.
The homeware giant has reduced the prices of 3,481 product, approximately 33% of the range, offering customers an average price reduction of 20% on these items.
“In a year of economic uncertainty, our priority was clear: stand with our customers. In spite of our reduced turnover, continuing to lower prices remains our long-term priority. This is true to the Ikea vision,” said Peter Jelkeby, CEO and chief sustainability officer, Ikea UK.
A company profile in the RetailX Europe Top1000 360° report looks at the homewares retailer’s focus on value, convenience and sustainability.
The global business, which sells through localised websites to markets across Europe and beyond and is ranked Elite in the Europe Top1000 2024, emphasised the importance of these aims when it reported its latest full-year results.
Inter Ikea group CEO Jon Abrahamsson Ring said at the time: “In challenging times when inflation is high and many people struggle with the cost of living, the need for home furnishing solutions at affordable prices is high.
“This is where we will continue to do what Ikea has always done – putting customers’ affordability first. Looking further ahead, the three main opportunities we see for Ikea are to become even more affordable, more accessible and more sustainable.”
Steps to improve its sustainability, said Ikea, included developing bio-based glue and a global wood supply chain as it looked to reduce its environmental footprint.
The full Ikea profile can be read in our first RetailX Europe Top1000 360° report. This report brings together two strands of RetailX research.
The first is the Top1000, now in its ninth year of ranking ecommerce and multichannel retailers by performance. The second is the more recent 360° reports, which explore markets in the round, from the economic context for retail to retailer performance and how shoppers buy, or would like to buy.
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