IKEA’s App Updates Highlight Personalization, Loyalty

Need to Know

• The retailer is launching updates to its US app, which include personalized recommendations, the ability to create a profile, and loyalty card access.
• Customers can purchase IKEA products directly through the app for home delivery or in-store pickup.
• IKEA first rolled out its updated app in Canada, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, UK, Ireland, Spain, and Japan in 2019.

Analysis

IKEA customers in the US can now purchase products on their smartphones for home delivery or pickup, as the company has rolled out a series of updates to its mobile app in the United States.

The IKEA app’s new design, which the retailer made available to customers in the US on January 13, allows shoppers to more easily navigate the app and discover products within it. The updated app includes a feed with product recommendations, content, and campaigns, which customers can personalize by selecting their favorite products. IKEA is also allowing US customers to create a profile within the app, which can then be connected to their digital IKEA Family card (the retailer’s loyalty card). This will allow the app to offer more personalized product recommendations over time.

“At IKEA, we are on a journey to transform the way we meet our customers, and the IKEA app is an important step we’ve taken to become more accessible and convenient to the many,” Umesh Sripad, chief digital officer for IKEA US, said in a statement. “One of the reasons customers enjoy visiting IKEA is to get shopping ideas and inspiration, and the shoppable app makes it possible for them to get inspired and complete their purchase from the convenience of their mobile device.”

IKEA’s updated app is in line with its Customer Data Promise, announced early last year. Customers are given contextual access to their settings through a centralized data control panel, allowing them to change and personalize their feed. The updates being released in the US were previously made available to IKEA app users in Canada, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, UK, Ireland, Spain, and Japan in 2019.

IKEA has been working to ramp up its digital efforts in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as more consumers turned to e-comm. In October, the company announced it had tapped Google’s Cloud technology to handle the surge in online orders it has seen since the start of the pandemic, which has allowed the company to scale its online business globally to accommodate higher web traffic and more Click & Collect orders.