In 2025, a customer-first strategy is all about relevance.
It’s about making sure that, when we reach out to consumers, we are meeting expectations. This might be different from case to case – if our customers are shopping with us online or in a smaller high street store or one of our ‘blue box’ stores. Whichever it may be, being customer-first means supporting that way of shopping and providing a consistently excellent experience, regardless of the channel.
At Ikea, when we look at the way we develop our business, we have a strategy called the “Three Roads Forward”. These three roads represent a focus on accessibility, sustainability and affordability. That is, how easily people can access our products, the impact our products have on the environment and how affordable our products are. These days, amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, consumers have thinner wallets, so they need our retail offering to reflect this, with home-furnishing solutions that provide value for money and fit their lifestyle.
When it comes to accessibility, we are always thinking about the various ‘meeting points’ we have – physically as well as digitally. This full accessibility piece, to bring Ikea closer to where our customers live, work and shop, has been growing for many years. Most recently, we opened a brand-new city centre store on Oxford Street in London, one of the world’s most recognisable shopping destinations. This will be followed by a new store in Brighton city centre later this summer, three small stores in retail parks in Chester, Harlow and Norwich and three new plan-and-order points – also this year. Ultimately, we want to give customers the flexibility to shop with us however is most convenient to them.
Three pieces of advice for retail leaders
When it comes to running a retail business, you start customer-first: from the outside in. You need to be very clear about where you’re heading and what kind of purpose you serve and to make sure that that purpose connects to your customers. Then, you need to make sure that that purpose is demonstrated in the way you lead your business and is clear and felt by everyone.
My second piece of advice is around data. The data element of knowing-me-knowing-you isn’t something new, but having access to data to guide your decision-making is so important. To give you an example, each year Ikea co-workers conduct a number of home visits around the world to understand the needs and dreams of our customers when it comes to creating a good home and the data gathered there is used to inspire our product range. Having access to data such as this, relevant to the organisation you’re leading, makes decision-making so much easier.
One final piece of advice is: think about the whole value chain of your operation. That means how forward-leaning you are from a product and design perspective, when you develop your range, how you’re integrated with your supply chain, how you gear up towards the various meeting points in the markets, always with the mindset of being consumer-first. Sometimes there is a tendency to think that it is the shop floor where everything happens, but actually, the whole journey starts so much earlier in the value chain.
How to communicate with customers during a cost-of-living crisis
In a period of economic uncertainty, we invested more than £117m last year in lowering the prices of some of our most popular products in the UK, with approximately 33% of the range reduced and an average price reduction of 20% on these items.
Standing with customers is and always has been a clear priority for us. By being laser-focused on improving the affordability of our products and services, our ambition was to support customers facing ongoing cost-of-living pressures, which I am confident was the right decision.
I think when it comes to initiatives such as lowering prices, there needs to be a purpose behind the initiative. This means that, when we are putting our offer forward, we need to be talking to you as a customer, with respect for your life situation. When we look into the complete home-furnishing solution, our aim is to create a better life at home for the many. We try to put our range into the context of adding genuine value to a consumer’s life, rather than focus on selling a product.
When you come to Ikea, whether that’s online or in a store, we’re talking to you – we hope that customers recognise we are a purpose-driven brand and understand the meaning and intent behind our decisions. I think that’s very important to gain trust.
