Retail technology innovation of the week: Ikea woos highly connected and digital Chinese consumers
Retail Technology Innovation of the Week is a series brought to you by RTIH, highlighting stand out deployments, launches, and initiatives by retailers and tech suppliers. Every week, we showcase forward thinking tech plays that have impressed our Editor and the Retail Technology Innovations Report judging panel, building up to the publication of the 2026 report later this year.
And this week we’re focusing on Ingka Group which has launched an Ikea Douyin official flagship store in China. The new digital touchpoint will offer more than 6,500 Ikea products across 179 categories, with delivery available in 301 cities across China.
The move brings the retailer in to the short-form video and content commerce platform (a sister platform to TikTok under ByteDance). The store will complement its existing stores, website, app, WeChat and other e-commerce channels in China.
Lydia Song, Ikea China Acting CEO and President and CSO, pictured below, says: “People in China are increasingly moving between inspiration, discovery and shopping in ways that are highly connected and increasingly digital. Douyin E-commerce gives us an opportunity to meet people in a new context, learn what resonates with them and make Ikea more accessible to more people. This is not simply about adding another sales channel. It is about understanding how we can become part of people’s everyday lives in new and relevant ways.”
Parag Parekh, Chief Digital Officer at Ikea Retail, comments: “Retail is increasingly about being present wherever and whenever people want to meet us, while making those experiences feel like one connected Ikea. What is particularly interesting about new platforms like Douyin E-commerce is the opportunity to learn. They help us understand how inspiration, interaction and commerce are coming closer together, and what that could mean for how we continue to develop the Ikea omnichannel experience.”
And honourable mentions this week to...
Morrisons
Just Eat is expanding its autonomous delivery robot trial with Starship Technologies to Cambourne in Cambridgeshire. This is the first trial location where it doesn't already offer grocery delivery and builds on Sunderland and Milton Keynes deployments.
Morrisons has become one of the first grocery brands to tap the technology, with benefits including adding delivery capacity in the run up to the festive season and during offers such as the regular 'Half Price Wednesdays' on Just Eat. The Cambourne supermarket which is now live is the fourth Morrisons to begin autonomous robot deliveries with three Morrisons Dailys live across Sunderland and Milton Keynes.
e.l.f. Cosmetics
e.l.f. Cosmetics, which is part of e.l.f. Beauty, has landed on ZEPETO, an avatar-based social metaverse platform. It has launched Express your e.l.f. where players can discover the beauty trends shaping culture and turn them into complete virtual looks from head to toe.
“As a different kind of company, e.l.f. does not see boundaries between where beauty lives and where culture happens. From Twitch to Roblox and now ZEPETO, we meet our community where they like to play and give them a platform to fuel discovery, empowerment and self-expression. Every immersive experience we build is an extension of the same vision that drives everything we do: disrupt norms, shape culture and connect communities through positivity, inclusivity and accessibility,” says Patrick O’Keefe, Chief Integrated Marketing Officer, e.l.f. Brands.
ZEPETO players can now dress their avatars in e.l.f. designed digital looks with makeup from the brand’s Power Grip family and hairstyles, bags, jewellery and special effects items inspired by Power Grip’s colours and textures. Players can also show off their e.l.f. looks by snapping photos and videos against custom backgrounds and sharing them to the ZEPETO feed.
“By seamlessly blending e.l.f. Cosmetics’ iconic products with the year’s most defining trends, ZEPETO is making it possible to reimagine makeup as a comprehensive head to toe virtual styling. We are thrilled to pioneer these full looks designed by e.l.f., delivering a revolutionary brand experience that pushes the boundaries of virtual self-expression,” says Annette Lee, Head of Business Development, ZEPETO.
