Ikea Germany has announced further price reductions for parts of its range. The furniture retailer told the German Press Agency that 1,200 products are to be permanently reduced. The prices of the affected items should therefore fall by an average of 20 percent. According to Ikea, this includes, among other things, shelving systems and sofas, but also products for bedrooms, kitchens and bathrooms as well as decorative and furnishing items.
Ikea had already announced in November that it would reduce the price of 800 products this year. A total of 2,000 items should now become cheaper. According to the company, this corresponds to around 20 percent of the entire range, 80 percent are not affected by price reductions. The new plans for reductions will cost the company a “mid three-digit million range,” said Germany boss Walter Kadnar.
Noticeable consequences of the pandemic
It was not until 2022 that Ikea significantly increased prices worldwide, by an average of nine percent. The company referred to the noticeable consequences of the Corona crisis and increased costs for purchasing, transport and energy. As a result of the pandemic, Ikea also suffered significant losses in sales.
According to an Ikea spokeswoman, there are individual products that will in future be at or below the price level before the pandemic and the Ukraine war. “We are actually not yet able to do this across the board. We also still feel that the world and therefore the economic conditions have fundamentally changed; uncertainties and inflation continue.”
Business has been doing better recently
Inflation, which has skyrocketed in the wake of the war in Ukraine, has dampened the desire to buy of many consumers in Germany. The furniture trade was particularly affected by the poor consumer mood. The industry repeatedly complained about a significant drop in sales.
At Ikea Germany, business has been going significantly better recently. The furniture retailer reported record sales of 6.4 billion euros for the 2022/2023 financial year. The number of visitors rose by around 11 percent to 81.8 million. Germany is the group’s largest single market worldwide. Ikea operates 54 furniture stores in this country with almost 19,500 employees.
