Ikea NLP and AI powered Billie chatbot brings increasing benefits to customers and co-workers

Ingka Group, the largest Ikea retailer, has reported on how 8,500 co-workers are being supported by the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) powered Billie chatbot.

By tapping chatbots, powered by AI and natural language Processing (NLP), Ikea says it can use automated design systems to better interact with customers in real-time.

Billie can understand customer questions, provide product information, offer recommendations, and even help design whole interior spaces without the need of human intervention.

"This level of personalisation is not only going to continue to improve but will enhance customer satisfaction and increase loyalty overall,” says Parag Parekh, CDO at Ingka Group.

Billie is available 24/7 and can also handle multiple conversations simultaneously.

The solution was rolled out in FY21, and from 2021 to 2023 it has handled approximately 47% of customer enquiries, which translates to 3,2 million interactions solved by it, and nearly EUR 13 million in savings thus far.

With the chatbot handling simpler enquiries, co-workers can play a more value-adding role within remote selling.

So far, 8,500 call centre co-workers have been able to gain a different set of skills, such as remote interior design competence, digital retail sales, building relationships, and handling unique customer inquiries that require complex problem solving.

Sales through Ingka Group’s remote customer meeting points reached EUR 1.3 billion at the end of FY22, accounting for 3.3% of total sales. The aim is to grow the share to 10% in the next few years.