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furnishing retailer IKEA today announced total sales of £1.57 billion
in the UK for the financial year ending 31 August 2015, an increase of
11.3 per cent on the previous year. IKEA’s position as the market leader was further strengthened as market share grew by 0.5 per cent to 7.7 per cent. Growth in both sales and market share continues IKEA’s movement towards its goal of doubling turnover and market share by 2020.
Commenting
on the results, IKEA UK Country Retail Manager Gillian Drakeford said,
“We are delighted to have achieved double digit growth for the second
year running and to be in our fourth consecutive year of growth here in
the UK. What’s particularly pleasing to see that it has come from our
existing business, without the opening of any new stores, as well as
from both our stores and our online channel. This puts us in a great
position to continue to grow IKEA’s physical presence in the UK in the
future.”
Gillian
continues, “What we have seen over the past few years is that where we
invest, we see growth – whether it be in improving the shopping
experience for our customers, introducing new UK-specific product ranges
or in developing and rewarding our people.”
In
preparation for a key focus on bedrooms in financial year 2015, IKEA
refreshed its bedroom departments in all 18 UK stores. This was
supported by an introduction of UK-standard bed, mattress and linen
sizes to the existing product range. As a result, sales in bedroom
furniture increased by 15 per cent in financial year 2015 and market
share in this area grew by 1.6 per cent to 10.8 per cent. Mattress sales in particular increased by a remarkable 30 per cent.
More
recently, IKEA has invested £4 million in rebuilding its cooking and
eating departments in all stores in preparation for a key focus in these
areas in financial year 2016. This has included introducing the sale of
Swedish Food products throughout the store. As a result, IKEA has seen
an immediate increase of 11per
cent in sales of Swedish Food items, which include the famous meatballs
and recently introduced veggie balls, and an increase of 24per cent in cooking products and 7 per cent in eating (dinnerware) products in comparison with the previous financial year.
In financial year 2015, IKEA invested £27million
in lowering prices across the range as it continually looks to provide
home furnishing to as many people as possible, no matter how much money
they have. The largest price investment in a single product was the
FRIHETEN corner sofa-bed, which was reduced from £445 to £395.
Consequently, FRIHETEN was the bestselling product last year.
Gillian
continues: “While we have seen fantastic growth this year, we recognise
we have still some steps to take in simplifying the shopping experience
and meeting the expectations of UK consumers. In the next year and
beyond, we will take some significant steps in our plan to make IKEA
more accessible to many more people.”
Summer
2016 will see the opening of a new IKEA store in Reading, the first
traditional IKEA store to be built in seven years. New store locations
have also been secured for Sheffield, Greenwich and Exeter. In addition,
IKEA announced in July 2015 that it would trial a number of new,
smaller retail format in the UK and in early November the first IKEA
Order and Collection Point was opened in Norwich. A further Order and
Collection Point is due to open in Aberdeen next Spring.
In
addition to ‘bricks and mortar’ expansion plans, IKEA UK will also
launch a new website in the coming year as it looks to further connect
its online and offline channels and become a truly multi-channel
retailer.
The full year financial report 2014-15 for The IKEA Group, will be published in December 2015.
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