Ikea: the furniture store that will change the retailers game

Ikea has big plans for the future and in order to adapt with the new trends of the industry, the biggest furniture retailer in the world is embarking itself in some retail & technological experiments with the goal of staying at the top of the industry.

This changes come to retailers mainly because of the pressure they are feeling from e-commerce giants such as Amazon and Houzz which is one of the most innovative furniture companies in the world.

 

The head of digital transformation at Ikea, Michael Valdsgaard, understands that the world and customer expectations are changing and therefore, if Ikea plans to continue being relevant, they have to experiment and do as many things as possible. See what works and what doesn’t and then implement that knowledge. The 3 main things Ikea plans to change for the future are:

• The first initiative Ikea has for next year, is selling its furniture with the help of third party websites.
• The second initiative Ikea has, is incorporating augmented reality in the same way Houzz did by creating an app that lets customers “visualize what Ikea products will look like in their own homes, before buying the products.” Furniture is always a big investment for the majority of people and by throwing this app to the market, Ikea wants to help customers, make sure they are buying the right piece of furniture and that it will look nice at their homes.
• Ikea is known for operating massive  stores in the suburbs too far away from where most customers live. The third initiative Ikea has for the years to come, is opening small outlets in more centric locations closer to city centers. This will not just help Ikea get more customers, it will also help customers at the moment of placing orders online by making it easier for them to get to those locations.

Ikea really believes that smaller stores and virtual reality are the way to go in the future and I believe that as Ikea makes this big moves, we are going to start seeing many other big retailers do the same.

To conclude, I would like to ask: Is Ikea really going to change, the way retailers conduct business?

 

 

The app that can revolutionize the way we buy furniture online

A couple days ago the furniture and architecture giant based in California, Houzz, a pioneer in the industry created a new home renovation and design platform which has a very new and unique feature in their mobile app.

For anyone who is looking to buy a new piece of furniture online and is curious about how that sofa, bed or table will actually look inside your house? Well now you can do it yourself with Houzz’s app which has over 300,000 furniture and decor products in 3D.

The way how this new feature works is very simple. First you have to get the app, then you will have to tap the “View in My Room 3D” button on a product page for any enable product. Then you will have to hold the camera up to show the room or space you would like to put that piece of furniture and see how it will actually look.

Another great feature that makes the process of buying online even more realistic that this new app has, is that the 3D models also show different materials and textures, so that users can see realistic surfaces rather than just shapes.

To Sally Huang, head of visual technologies at Houzz says that “It’s about helping people overcome the imagination gap when it comes to purchasing furniture online”.

In addition to this, shoppers can also buy the product within the app, get in contact with home professionals and also capture that design and shared with friends on social media.

Huang also said, “We really think that this is the first true step toward mass-market AR [augmented reality],” and she might be right because they are one of the first companies out there that does tries incorporating 3D AR to their services and I’m sure other industries will start copying this as well as implementing this to their apps or websites.

I also see this new idea as the future of shopping, particularly in this industry. This feature, in my opinion will be a game changer and it will really set Houzz apart from their competition for a while until other furniture giants such as IKEA or Ashley Furniture get similar features on their apps.