Even IKEA stores are succumbing to e-tail death
Apparently, not even all the cutesy indie dates in the world could insulate IKEA from the growing threat of e-commerce.
On Tuesday, the Tennessean reported that Ikea had nixed its plans to open a superstore in Nashville. The decision apparently was due to Ikea's desire to "align with current online shopping trends," and not the Nashville economy.
Ikea also has plans in the works for new stores in Georgia, Colorado, California and Texas, according to the Tennessean. Mashable has reached out to Ikea to ask whether it has changed its plans for any of these new developments, and will update this story when and if we hear back.
The Department of Commerce reported that Ecommerce sales increased 16 percent in 2017. Online sales also take a bigger chunk out of retail sales as a whole quarter after quarter. Currently, online sales comprise nearly 10 percent of all retail. Projections put that number at 14 percent by 2021.
Last year, Ikea gave its in-store navigation app a "facelift. The company's 2017 investor report describes the app as "a bridge between online and in-store experience." The app is intended to help customers save time while navigating the maze-like store. That, along with Ikea's 2017 acquisition of TaskRabbit, shows that it is aware of its occasional rep as a frustrating time-suck.
In the past year, Ikea reported that it "continued to roll out e-commerce and grew our multichannel distribution network." While it had 817 million visits to Ikea stores, it received 2.1 billion visits to IKEA.com. For those of you keeping track, that's more than double the e-visits.
IKEA stores probably aren't going anywhere. But it seems like they company is starting to notice that some people might prefer having a large, heavy piece of furniture delivered to their front doors, rather than hunting it down in a cavernous warehouse.
