Because of Corona, your own four walls are experiencing a boom. Living is at the top of the list of priorities for many people. The money saved in the pandemic for holidays, visits to restaurants or partying nights should now flow into furniture and other furnishings.
Actually a reason to be happy for large furniture stores like Ikea, because the demand is enormous. But the catch-up effect is being overshadowed by the pandemic-related lack of supplies from Asia. That creates problems, including in Denmark.
“The global supply chains are under enormous pressure,” explains Peter Langskov, logistics manager for Ikea Denmark Euronews. “The products have to be transported and there is great demand. Of course we feel that too. “
Wish lists remain unfulfilled
What applies to Denmark can also be observed in this country: “Ikea Switzerland is affected by the challenges of the global supply chain – like all other companies worldwide,” said Blick when asked. Specifically: There is a shortage of products in Switzerland too, and Ikea is far from being able to deliver everything.
The delivery bottlenecks, at least in Denmark, lead to disappointment among consumers: “A lot of the things I wanted to buy weren’t in the store,” says Ikea customer Stine Krath. “We arrived with a long list of Christmas wishes for my sister,” says Ikea customer Signe Lindenhann Møller. “But we only got three out of twelve articles.”
This could also happen to Ikea customers in Switzerland. After all, almost a third of all Ikea products sold in Switzerland do not come from Europe. In other words, these products are affected by the capacity bottlenecks on the world’s oceans – there is a lack of ships and containers.
Smaller range
In order not to let the frustration of the customers become too great, Ikea in Switzerland relies on strict management of the range. “We made a conscious decision to take products out of the range instead of keeping customers waiting for them for weeks or months,” says a spokeswoman for Ikea Switzerland. “We want to make sure that customers can buy everything they see.”
Customers would also have to be prepared for the fact that not all variations of a piece of furniture are available, i.e. certain colors or designs may be missing. In order to further reduce the potential for frustration, Ikea is increasingly relying on the procurement of particularly popular items in Switzerland. In technical terms, this is called “assortment prioritization”.
Threatened Christmas business
In addition, Ikea is trying to buy its own containers and charter additional ships in order to bring enough supplies from the production facilities in Asia to Europe.
Because the Christmas business will soon begin. And in many places there is concern that the offer could be less than in previous years. “At the moment, an exact forecast for the Christmas business is difficult, the starting position changes from day to day,” says Ikea Switzerland.