Ikea is exploring using space inside other retailers' stores to reach more customers, as the flat-pack furniture retailer seeks to rapidly increase its reach in "mature" markets in the US and Europe.
The world's largest furniture retailer plans to open Ikea kitchen planning studios -- smaller retail spaces that advise clients seeking to design kitchens -- in 10 Best Buy stores in Florida and Texas later this year.
The partnership with the US electronics retailer is part of an experiment to expand Ikea's presence faster than it would be able to by just building new stores, said Tolga Öncü, retail manager at Ingka, which operates nearly all Ikea stores worldwide.
He added that the Best Buy collaboration would bring Ikea "closer to more of the many people" in the US, and could be "yet another component for us to accelerate our reach, especially in big mature countries".
Ikea has overhauled its business model in recent years, moving away from forcing customers to drive to out-of-town warehouses to pick and build the furniture themselves. It now offers city-centre shops and click and collect, online ordering as well as home delivery and assembly services.
Central to this has been a number of experiments in smaller stores, from planning and design studios for individual rooms such as kitchens and bedrooms, to pick-up points and smaller stores in city centre locations such as London's Oxford Street or Rue de Rivoli in Paris.
Executives say customers appreciate the extra convenience of being able to shop in their lunch hour, but some have been frustrated at times by the lack of availability of products.
Ikea is trying to boost its market share of furniture globally from its current 5.7 per cent, and has chosen China to trial selling on third-party internet platforms.
The Netherlands-based retailer started selling on Alibaba's Tmall in 2020, and last month it added JD.com in China. Öncü said that one-fifth of Ikea's new customers in China now came through Tmall, while the first week's sales figures on JD.com were better than expected.
"This is an opportunity for us specifically in China to improve and find new ways to reach more of the many Chinese people," he said.
He said there were no plans to use third-party websites in the US or Europe, and that the Best Buy partnership could act more as a model in such developed markets. The 10 initial stores are in what Ikea calls "white spots" where it currently has no offering, such as Daytona Beach and Lakeland in Florida, as well as Humble and Mesquite in Texas.
"It's the element of speed," that gave the partnership model an advantage to opening new stores, Öncü said.
Best Buy had already done its "homework in locations where Ikea is not [present]", Öncü added. "If we were to start and look for a smaller format of Ikea in the same location, it can take years before the square metres become free."
Ikea is one of relatively few retailers that is still expanding, and it has managed to use its existing large stores as fulfilment centres for its online orders.
"There are some of us who are succeeding, some of us who are not -- this is the [state] of the game in the retail industry," Öncü said, adding that partnering with Ikea could be attractive to retailers that were struggling to attract consumers to persuade "physical visits to their stores".