Home furnishing retailer Ikea is planning to sell its products through third-party websites under its new strategy to enhance its sales amid growing competition.
The move is seen as a measure to resist strong competition from retailers who are using online channels to increase their customer base.
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Inter IKEA chief executive Torbjörn Lööf was quoted by the Financial Times as saying: “Traditionally the whole Ikea value chain has been designed to deliver to stores. That is changing and it is challenging a number of ways of doing business.
“We want to learn and know what it is for a company like Ikea to be there. We want to find out how we could keep our identity on a third-party platform.”
Last month, the company signed an agreement to acquire on-demand services platform company TaskRabbit that connects consumers with technical workers to handle everyday needs, including furniture assembly, moving and packing, general handyman work, and home improvements.
The company also launched other initiatives such as mini-stores, as well as augmented and virtual reality.
Until the end of August this year, the retailer registered sales of €38.3bn.
The company added 14 new stores so far this year, taking its overall store count to 403 in 49 countries, and also debuted in Serbia.
Last year, Inter IKEA Group completed the acquisition of IKEA range, supply and production activities from the INGKA Group.
