IKEA
Maintaining sales of IKEA's key service during times of Covid-19 pandemic by modernizing communications, tools, and resources to move services, traditionally based on direct employee-customer contact, to an online format. This business case was awarded at the Effie Awards Poland 2021.
Digital Transformation within 7 Days – Transferring Best Practices of In-Store Kitchen Planning Services to an Online Format
NOTE:
This case study has already been described and awarded on Effie Awards Poland 2020 (Silver Effie) in commerce category
More about case: https://konkursy.sar.org.pl/nominacje/effie/zg/6425
IKEA is a Swedish home furnishings company, one of the most popular in its category worldwide. There are more than 350 IKEA stores in 29 countries around the world, including 11 in Poland.
In 2024, the Furniture market in Europe generated a substantial revenue of US$231.70bn. It is projected to experience a steady annual growth rate of 2.26% (CAGR 2024-2029). Among the various segments within the market, the largest one is the Living Room Furniture segment, which accounted for a market volume of US$60.87bn in 2024.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the production of furniture. Many furniture factories closed or reduced production due to lockdowns and supply chain disruptions. This led to delays in production and a shortage of certain types of furniture.
The COVID-19 pandemic also affected furniture sales. With many people stuck at home, there had been an increase in demand for home office furniture, as well as furniture for home entertainment and relaxation.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also affected consumer behavior. With many people shopping online, there has been an increase in e-commerce sales of furniture.
Resources:
Furniture - Europe
The Impact of COVID-19 on Furniture Industry
Due to the pandemic and the closure of physical stores, IKEA needed to adapt its flagship kitchen planning services to an online format within seven days. The main challenge was to sustain kitchen sales during the pandemic while stores were closed and replicate the in-person experience virtually, ensuring the continuation of sales and maintaining customer satisfaction. Planning a kitchen is a complex process, and it is typically difficult to put all the elements together correctly without the support of an in-store consultant.
Initial Setup and Tool Adaptation - Expanding IT and Tools for Virtual Kitchen Planning
To implement the kitchen planning service remotely during the pandemic, we quickly adapted existing tools to the new conditions to ensure sales continuity. We scaled up tools and resources to move services traditionally based on direct employee-customer interaction to an online format. Simultaneously, the IT platform was expanded to support "Remote Scheduling" services provided by stores, including payment processing, fiscal management, and invoicing capabilities.
Team Training and Deployment - Recruiting and Training for Remote Kitchen Service
The small team of employees who handled "remote kitchen scheduling" before the pandemic was expanded to include several hundred employees from individual stores, particularly from kitchen departments. Within a week, store employees were recruited and trained in online kitchen planning. This expansion of the online customer service team, with specialized kitchen planners, led to higher customer satisfaction and more efficient e-commerce operations than before the pandemic.
Communication - Transforming Outreach: Updating Website and Launching Email Campaigns for Remote Planning
The transformation also involved updates to the website and a dedicated email campaign. Besides promoting a special offer, the communication focused on supporting the entire purchasing process, including post-sales and claims management.
Enhancing Post-Sale Support - Expanding Remote Support and IT Infrastructure
We provided remote support for after-sales processes to maintain high customer satisfaction. Resources for handling claims remotely, known as "Inspection," were significantly increased. On the IT side, this required rebuilding the system logic and adjusting processes to manage the increased scale, including slot management, access control, and record archiving.
“Loyalty Point has a solid knowledge to successfully overcome challenges ahead and has a decent technical infrastructure to fulfill high satisfaction of our Customers. On top of this are values like trust, engagement and kindness that make achieving ambitious goals achievable.”
Digital Director Lagardère Travel Retail
I highly recommend Loyalty Point as a strategic business partner. Whether analyzing industry dynamics or addressing complex challenges, their team consistently delivers practical and well-founded solutions.
Senior Marketing Manager
Vision Express
Loyalty Point has a solid knowledge to successfully overcome challenges ahead and has a decent technical infrastructure to fulfill high satisfaction of our Customers. On top of this are values like trust, engagement and kindness that make achieving ambitious goals achievable.
Digital Director
Lagardère Travel Retail
We are very pleased with the results of our cooperation. We especially appreciate the multitasking nature of the team - despite implementing several projects at the same time, complex promotional mechanisms were always ready on time.
Head of Loyalty & CRM
Decathlon
Loyalty Point consistently supports us in navigating various challenges, offering constant, professional and reliable support and tailored solutions that align perfectly with our business needs and capabilities.
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E-commerce, Marketing and Omnichannel Director
Rainbow
Through our implementation, we convinced customers that they could plan and purchase a kitchen in a better way – without leaving home. As a result, not only did we save the business during the pandemic, but we also shortened the sales process, increased conversions, and generated incremental omnichannel growth.
Information on the landing page about the reduced price of the service "Remote kitchen planning" for 1PLN.
We have prepared dedicated emails about the extension of the service and technical emails providing communication support for the entire purchasing, post-sales and complaint process.
“Loyalty Point has a solid knowledge to successfully overcome challenges ahead and has a decent technical infrastructure to fulfill high satisfaction of our Customers. On top of this are values like trust, engagement and kindness that make achieving ambitious goals achievable.”
Digital Director Lagardère Travel Retail
I highly recommend Loyalty Point as a strategic business partner. Whether analyzing industry dynamics or addressing complex challenges, their team consistently delivers practical and well-founded solutions.
Senior Marketing Manager
Vision Express
Loyalty Point has a solid knowledge to successfully overcome challenges ahead and has a decent technical infrastructure to fulfill high satisfaction of our Customers. On top of this are values like trust, engagement and kindness that make achieving ambitious goals achievable.
Digital Director
Lagardère Travel Retail
We are very pleased with the results of our cooperation. We especially appreciate the multitasking nature of the team - despite implementing several projects at the same time, complex promotional mechanisms were always ready on time.
Head of Loyalty & CRM
Decathlon
Loyalty Point consistently supports us in navigating various challenges, offering constant, professional and reliable support and tailored solutions that align perfectly with our business needs and capabilities.
E-commerce, Marketing and Omnichannel Director
Rainbow
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