Ikea ramps up automation investment as store fulfilment grows
Ikea routed more than half of its order fulfilment through big box stores rather than customer distribution centres in 2021.
According to a a blog post by the retailer’s franchisee, Ingka Group, this practice will continue in 2022.
Ingka Group plans to open more stores and launch faster and more affordable and sustainable delivery options, such as Click and Collect in stores that are around one-fifth the cost of home delivery, and thousands of neighbourhood pick-up points.
“We’ll open 30 new customer meeting points in various formats in this financial year, from the traditional stores with the full experience to planning studios and inner city stores with same day delivery,” says Tolga Öncü, Retail Operations Manager at Ikea Retail (Ingka Group).
“Last financial year we saw a big increase in total volumes fulfilled, and 51% of total volume was fulfilled from stores, an increase from 43% the previous year,” Öncü adds.
Ingka Group also plans to start more than 80 projects to improve store fulfilment capabilities, for example using robotics, automation and drones, compared to 32 projects in FY21.
For FY21, investments (capital expenditures) totalled Euro 3.2 billion, including physical stores, distribution and customer fulfilment networks, omnichannel transformation, digital customer experience, renewable energy, zero emission vehicles and forestry.
