IKEA is planning to launch its new app to allow its customers to shop for products directly from their homes, eliminating the need to visit its vast network of self-service, out of town stores.
The new app would allow customers to enter their room dimensions to ensure a good fit and choose from different styles and “life stages” to narrow down the selection.
The retailer is changing its business model to focus on making it easier for customers to shop online, rather than forcing them to come to their warehouses. While it’s known for giant stores on the outskirts of towns, it’s testing smaller urban locations that only carry a fraction of the lineup.
Combined with the app, shoppers could see some products in person while still having access to the fuller catalogue. It could tweak its traditional stores to focus more on carrying online stock than serving in-person customers.
“It is a completely new experience. The app is combined with the store experience, with the online experience,” Barbara Martin Coppola, Chief Digital Officer at IKEA, said.
IKEA is initially launching this app in France and the Netherlands and will then roll out in IKEA’S top eight markets – including Germany, the United States and China – by the end of the year.
In 2017, IKEA originally launched an augmented reality app which allowed customers to see how more than 2,000 items would fit into their homes; however they could not shop from there.
Other retailers experimenting with augmented reality include Williams-Sonoma, which bought 3D imaging firm Outward in 2017, and US startup Modsy, which raised US $ 37 million this month to expand in 360-degree room and furniture imaging.
