How can IKEA become a go-to destination for customers celebrating season & cultural events?
1700 quant. participants
30 home furnishing shoppers
3countries: China, Germany, USA
IKEA for all Seasons
How can IKEA become a go-to destination for customers celebrating season & cultural events?
Methods
- Stakeholder interviews
- Knowledge share sessions
- Market analysis
- Sales data analysis
- Digital diaries
- In-depth interviews
- Trend analysis
- Quant. survey
- Growth planning stakeholder workshops
The Opportunity
In the realm of seasonal home accessories there are different needs for different weather conditions, a huge range of product categories, and diverse cultural celebrations – as well as differences in how they are expressed – from country-to-country. For IKEA, this creates a near boundless set of opportunities, and the challenge of deciding what the strategy should be for developing seasonal offers across its global business. Studio intO was appointed to orchestrate research in China, Germany and the USA to support the development of a global innovation strategy for IKEA home furnishings and accessories.
Our Approach
The foundational phase of this project included stakeholder interviews and knowledge share sessions, market analysis research, a sales data analysis and a hypothesis workshop held with the stakeholder team. Our mixed method research involved digital diary studies and in-depth interviews with 30 consumers across the region, desk research to explore seasonal market and product trends, and a quantitative survey to contextualise our qualitative findings. Additional stakeholder sessions included a workshop that scrutinised commercial potential, a growth-planning workshop, and a delivery session that navigated our top line findings and customer segmentations alongside the global report and each market-specific report.
Business Impact
This foundational research will influence the way seasonality manifests in the homes of IKEA customers. The project refreshed previous explorations into seasonality and uncovered new needs, desires, behaviours, and trends that showed how seasonality could be strategically embraced in the next three to five years.