Ikea online sales increased 73%

World-famous furniture retailer Ikea managed to grow its online presence last year. Its online channels welcomed more than 5 billion visitors and online sales increased with 73%. Even though most offline stores have opened, online sales now account for 26% of Ikea’s total sales.

The furniture company has shared stats of financial year 2021. This includes September 2020 up to the end of August 2021. In a press release, Ikea states that it has reached a total sales amount of €41.9 billion. This is a growth of 5.8% compared to last year, when it reached €39.6 billion.

Focusing on omnichannel

In December 2020, Ikea made the decision to stop printing its famous catalog. “Moving beyond the catalogue allows us to focus our time and resources towards making our omnichannel vision a reality, ”says Jon Abrahamsson Ring, CEO Inter Ikea Group.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, a lot of offline stores had to close and Ikea had to focus on its online presence. Since then, the online channels welcomed more than 5 billion visitors this year. Moreover, online sales increased with 73%. Even now that most stores have reopened, online sales account for 26% of total sales.

Stocking up is the challenge

Even though the company managed to grow substantially, it also experienced some struggles in the past year. Keeping stores and warehouses stocked was a challenge. It is still recovering from a substantial drop in availability, and the company expects that this will continue far into 2022.

Yet, the Swedish company is still expanding. In 2021 it opened 45 new locations, including the first offline stores in Mexico and Slovenia. In September 2020, franchisees also launched Ikea online in the Philippines. The first store in that country is planned to open in November. Between 2019 and 2023, Ikea is planning to enter 17 markets in total and an average of 50 new locations per year.