IKEA revamping store designs in major cities

Customers across Paris, Mumbai and London want more shopping guidance.

IKEA is experimenting with city store layouts that will replace its signature maze-like design to streamline the shopping experience.

Initially, the Swedish furniture retailer used more open, free-flowing formats in its smaller urban stores, letting customers explore without the traditional guided path found in its large-format outlets.

But early customer feedback showed the approach wasn’t fully working, according to Sara Del Fabbro, deputy chief operating officer at Ingka Group, the biggest IKEA franchisee holding company based in The Netherlands.

“It turned out this only worked to some extent,” she told Retail Asia. “Many customers wanted more guidance, like in our classic stores.”

The sentiment echoed across major cities, including Paris, Mumbai, and London, prompting IKEA to reinstate a guided path, this time with signposted shortcuts.

In April, IKEA announced plans for a new linear store layout, replacing the maze with a single, straight path from entrance to exit to address customer complaints about getting lost in the store’s winding aisles.

The company also said it was experimenting with unique store designs, including one styled like a giant meatball.

IKEA store visits rose 4.5% to 899 million, and online traffic climbed 21% to 4.6 billion visits last year, even if sales declined 5% to $51.3b (€45.1b) in fiscal year 2024.

Del Fabbro said transitioning to more efficient formats that are aligned with local customer needs is challenging. “We do a lot of local research and home visits to understand how they live and what their needs and frustrations are.”

Still, she said the company continues to test and adapt its store layouts, adding that even if not every idea works, experimenting is central to its approach.

Mike Lim, director at DP Design, said IKEA’s traditional layout created a “sense of wonderland” by gamifying the shopping experience, turning furniture shopping into an adventure.

The redesign reflects a shift from the analog to the digital age, when consumers expect quicker access to products and information, he added.

Lim warned against oversimplifying the experience. “The challenge is really to avoid the efficient trap and oversimplify the case of a shift in consumers wanting a quick and easy access shopping experience.”

IKEA should push a “retail-plus experience” that aligns with its identity and offers a curated journey for customers, he said.

Rufus Turnbull, founder and creative director at Studio X, sees IKEA’s changes as part of a move to smaller, more agile formats, especially in urban areas.

He noted that IKEA is not abandoning its big-box format entirely but is diversifying its retail footprint instead. “We’re seeing them dissolve their retail real estate network and create a mixture of different formats for different environments.”

These smaller stores are convenient for pickups, returns, and customer service, complementing larger IKEA outlets, Turnbull said.

He also cited the growing role of artificial intelligence and customisation in improving customer experience.

“There will be a far greater focus on hyper-localisation in terms of product range and deployment,” he said, whilst giving customers more choices and the ability to customise a product.

Del Fabbro said IKEA’s omnichannel strategy, which focuses on improving both physical and digital touchpoints, involves allocating more space in stores for home furnishing inspiration and expert advice, and increasing staff presence on the floor.

On the logistics side, IKEA is using automation and robotics to handle online orders directly from stores, reducing delivery times and improving service, she added.