Ikea fans will soon have the chance to shop with greater convenience after the home furnishings company announced major changes to its app.
Online shopping and delivery are currently only available via Ikea’s web store, but adding the same functionality to the app will broaden the service as the company seeks to reach a larger audience and boost sales.
Speaking to Reuters this week, Ikea chief digital officer Barbara Martin Coppola said the upcoming app will also include an option to enter room dimensions so you can see with much greater clarity how different products will fit in your home.
“It is a completely new experience,” Martin Coppola said, adding that the app will endeavor to take the best of Ikea’s in-store experience and combine it with the online experience. It’s not clear, however, if it’ll also include the augmented reality technology of the Ikea Place app that lets you “see” how something will look inside your home.
The Swedish company hopes the revamped app, which will show Ikea’s full range of products, will provide useful support for its new, smaller stores in downtown locations, which stock fewer items. For example, you’ll be able to point your phone at, say, a sofa, whereupon the app will offer information on other available colors or fabrics. You’ll also be able to view it alongside other Ikea products in the same range to help you choose the one that’s right for you and your home.
“People who go to the stores might want to access the full range of Ikea, and that is when digital innovations come in handy,” Martin Coppola told Reuters.
Perhaps the biggest surprise about Ikea’s decision to add shopping functionality to its app is that it didn’t do it sooner. It’s possible to order items from Ikea’s website, but incorporating a shopping option into the app adds a whole lot of convenience for those who prefer to shop from their smartphone or tablet.
Ikea’s new app will roll out initially in France and the Netherlands before landing in the U.S. and other markets by the end of this year.
