IKEA bets on remote interior design as AI changes sales strategy, ET Retail

LONDON: IKEA aims to offer more home improvement services and answer mundane customer questions directly to an artificially intelligent bot called Billie, training call center workers to become interior design advisors. are doing.

IKEA expanded its interior design services to the UK and US in April after launching them in parts of Europe, including Australia and the United Arab Emirates. In the UK, a customer pays £25 ($31.44) for a 45-60 minute interior design advice video call and a recommended product list, and £125 for three workspace design consultations, floor plans and 3D visuals. can also do.

Ingka said it has trained 8,500 call center employees as interior design advisors since 2021, while Billie, which was launched the same year under a name inspired by IKEA’s Billy bookshelf series, has trained more than 8,500 call center employees over the past two years. said it handled 47% of customer inquiries.

Ulrika Biesert, Global Talent and Culture Manager at Ingka Group, said: “We will strengthen the employability of our colleagues at Ingka through lifelong learning, development and reskilling, accelerating the creation of new jobs. We are working to do it,” he said.

Asked if more AI could lead to job cuts at the company, Biesert said, “That’s not the case at the moment.”

Phone or video sales of products and services through Ingka’s remote interior design channel accounted for €1.3 billion ($1.4 billion) of Ingka’s fiscal 2022 revenue, or 3.3% of the total. Inca Group told Reuters it aims to grow its share to 10% by 2028 as part of its appeal to future Generation Z customers.

In comparison, online sales of products through the Ingka-owned IKEA website amounted to approximately EUR 9.9 billion, accounting for 25% of Ingka’s total sales for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2022. .

IKEA’s investment in digital services as it embarks on a €2 billion expansion in the U.S. comes from rival Wayfair, which last month launched an in-store kiosk, the Digital Design Studio, where shoppers can experiment with furniture styles. is keeping pace with A layout in a digital rendering of a room.

“It’s no surprise that IKEA is now focusing on virtual sales channels. What’s more surprising is that it came later than expected,” said co-head of the retail team at Gauling WLG in London. Technology attorney Jocelyn Polley said. .

These virtual services accurately reflect the colors, textures and sizes of the items and require significant investments to minimize profits, she said.