Eri Mathy and IKEA Canada

Michael McLarney, Hardlines President and podcast host, interviews Eri Mathy, the Head of Business Development for IKEA Canada.

 

Key Takeaways:

 

[:31] Michael shares Eri Mathy’s bio and the topic of the episode.

 

[1:21] Michael welcomes Eri Mathy to the podcast.

 

[1:34] Eri is the Head of Business Development, at IKEA Canada. Her role includes expansion, penetrating more households, and getting more people in this lovely country to love IKEA. She also looks over sustainability, transformation, and innovation. IKEA has been on a journey to transform its business to become an omnichannel retailer.

 

[2:33] IKEA started its omnichannel transformation journey a couple of years ago but it was disrupted by the pandemic. How people furnished their homes changed. IKEA asked how to make a better home for people who spend so much time in it. This helped IKEA to accelerate its transformation journey to become a better omnichannel company with more online sales.

 

[4:12] Since the pandemic, IKEA grew 171% in online sales. So they learned that customers still want to make their homes better, and come to IKEA, but IKEA needed to get much better at making it easier. IKEA focused on making online shopping and browsing easy and fun, and developing services to fulfill these online orders.

 

[4:42] IKEA spent hours and energy developing its service offer during COVID-19. One service was Click & Collect, where customers can order from their cell phones and pick a time slot for where and when they would like to pick it up from an IKEA store. Click & Collect became very popular during the pandemic. The pick-up lockers are open 24 hours at the stores.

 

[6:13] IKEA is still just beginning its transformation. This is a very diverse market and the needs are different in Canada. IKEA seeks to be most relevant to every demographic.

 

[7:12] IKEA has focused on small living spaces. Urbanization is happening in Canada and around the world. Around the world, IKEA does home visits every year to see how people are using the products in different demographics. Canada has many shared homes. IKEA opened a smaller-format store in downtown Toronto in May to reflect how people live in Canada.

 

[9:24] IKEA makes the new stores accessible and affordable to visit. They chose city centers for the sites. The first small-format store is in the heart of downtown Toronto. The next small store to open is in the Scarborough town center. Customers want to come to physical stores, interact with staff, touch and feel the range of furniture and get planning for complex furnishings.

 

[11:28] Building up a kitchen, bathroom, or bedroom is a big investment and it’s quite technical to piece that together. IKEA specialists support the customer in that journey with expertise and efficiency. IKEA's small stores and large stores have planning, installation, and delivery services. To prolong the furniture, IKEA offers free spare parts.

 

[12:26] In 2019, IKEA offered a sell-back program where customers can sell back their pre-loved furniture and get store credit to renew their home furnishings.

 

[13:20] The spare parts and the sell-back programs help IKEA to become even more affordable for many customers. By prolonging your furniture for a longer time you get the value out of the purchase you have made. IKEA is working to make its products even more durable and recyclable, using renewable materials in the furniture it produces.

 

[15:08] Smaller products can be delivered by parcel starting at $7.99. Larger items can be delivered by truck starting at $39.00. Click & Collect is available at the store for $5.00. IKEA also works with the 15 Penguin Pickup points across the Toronto downtown area as well as a collection point on the basement floor of the store downtown.

 

[17:06] Eri says the key to going the last mile is to work with partners outside of IKEA to find the best affordable and sustainable option for the customers to get beautiful furniture inside their homes.

 

[17:53] Customers can bring their pre-loved items to an IKEA store. The customer first fills out an application online and the items are evaluated as to whether IKEA can take it back. If IKEA accepts it, the customer brings the item to the store, and IKEA issues an in-store credit.

 

[19:17] It takes all of us to create a climate-positive future. IKEA is a home furnishing company. IKEA supports customers to live a more healthy and more sustainable life at home through its product offerings. In every home furnishing area, you will find products that will help you reduce your energy consumption: LED bulbs, water-saving taps, and solutions to reduce waste.

 

[20:06] In the food area there are healthier menu options, such as IKEA’s new plant balls and veggie dogs and such. It’s not just home furniture but promoting sustainable options for the whole life in the home.

 

[20:43] IKEA has a mattress and sofa removal service in partnership with a furniture bank to donate them to families experiencing furniture poverty or recycled, depending on their condition. It’s a solution to prevent furniture from going to landfills that could be of value to someone else. This is in the Toronto area now; IKEA wants to scale it to other areas of Canada.

 

[22:28] Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA’s founder, said, “You cannot shop when you’re hungry.” So the restaurant is a very important part of the total IKEA experience. This is where IKEA can also show its Swedish heritage in its menu. They blend in the diverse dishes of the countries where the store is located. Canada has very diverse dishes. Last year, food sales increase by 160%.

 

[23:52] The food side of IKEA is affordable in the restaurants, bistros, and Swedish food markets to enjoy the food at home. It’s an entry into experiencing IKEA. Start with the fabulous frozen yogurts. Then, maybe you go on to buy an IKEA kitchen!

 

[24:56] Eri describes the Christmas Swedish buffet meal that introduces the culture of Sweden, affordably. It has been very popular.

 

[26:08] During the pandemic, the health and safety of IKEA employees were the most important issues. The co-workers came into the store every day when IKEA re-opened and it was important to meet the customers safely. Mental health was also important and IKEA found ways to support the workers. IKEA has paid wellness days and Employee Family Assistance support.

 

[27:35] After the pandemic, IKEA continues to provide appropriate and relevant support to its co-workers.

 

[28:16] The needs of individual IKEA co-workers are very different and they require different health treatments. The co-workers choose what is relevant for them. IKEA is constantly evolving its health support program for the needs of co-workers.

 

[29:20] Eri worked at IKEA Japan in a very urban area in central Tokyo before coming to Canada. She says the experience is quite different between the two situations. Both in Tokyo and Toronto, the focus is on furnishings for smaller urban spaces and developing the offer for the customers.

 

[30:05] IKEA is about being diverse and inclusive. There are IKEA Canada co-workers from around the world, so there is a lot of diversity. Diversity brings innovative thinking.

 

[31:28] Eri says it has been an incredible journey in the past two-plus years through the pandemic. IKEA continues to learn. Eri gives a big “Thank you” to IKEA’s 7,400 co-workers working across the country. Through them, IKEA understands its customers better. The co-workers improve the IKEA offer. IKEA seeks to attract more co-workers to serve customers.

 

About Us:

What’s in Store is a podcast series of the Hardlines Information Network, brought to you by RDTS: Innovative strategies to maximize your ROI.

Resources:

Hardlines.ca

Michael McLarney

Sponsor: Jeld-Wen

Eri Mathy

IKEA Canada

Yonge-Dundas

Penguin Pickup

Ingvar Kamprad

 

Quotes:

“We have been quite successful with the support of our customers for almost 80 years now, and operating across the globe, but we were really disrupted, and we said, how can we really stay relevant to the customer of today, and also tomorrow?” — Eri

 

“The pandemic hit over two years ago and we were all disrupted in our everyday lives. And home became more important for many people and the meaning of home, the usage of home, and also how customers were behaving and furnishing their homes and making their homes better.” — Eri

 

“Since the pandemic, we grew to 171% in online. So that’s where we learned that customers still want to make their homes better; come to us, but we need to get much better at how do we really make it easier?” — Eri

 

“If you’re purpose-driven and you’ve got a destination, being able to know exactly where in the store to find the product you’re looking for is very handy.” — Michael

 

“We believe that it takes all of us to create a climate-positive future. We are a home furnishing company. How do we really support customers to live a more healthy and sustainable life at home through our product offering?” — Eri

 

“In every home furnishing area — living room, bedroom, kitchen — you will find products that will help you reduce your energy consumption. All of our light bulbs are LED bulbs. … In our kitchen area, water-saving taps. We have solutions to reduce waste.” — Eri

 

“Ingvar Kamprad, our founder, has always said, ‘You cannot shop when you’re hungry.’” So, we believe [the restaurant] is a very important part of the total IKEA experience. This is where we can also show our Swedish heritage in our menu..” — Eri

 

“I believe that diversity brings innovation.” — Eri