IKEA products are about to get pricier.
The world’s biggest furniture retailer recently announced that prices at its stores around the world will increase by an average of 9% to help offset significant transportation and raw material costs incurred by Ingka Group, the owner and operator of most IKEA stores worldwide.
Known for assemble-it-yourself and flat-packed furniture pieces as well as virtually staff-free showrooms, IKEA has become the go-to destination of shoppers looking for quality and low-priced homeware. Despite rising costs and expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic, IKEA had largely kept the prices of its products fixed. But as commodity and shipping prices continue to surge, the Swedish company said that it is no longer able to shoulder those monetary damages to its bottom line.
“Unfortunately, now, for the first time since higher costs have begun to affect the global economy, we have to pass parts of those increased costs onto our customers,” Tolga Öncü, retail operations manager at IKEA Retail, said in a statement to CNN.
Though Öncü said that the price increase will ensure IKEA’s “resilience” amid the ongoing global health crisis and “competitiveness” against its rival businesses, he pointed out that “affordability will always be a cornerstone” of the brand.
Since the onset of the pandemic, IKEA has seen high demand for furniture, storage products, and other home office-related items, so much that there have been times when the company wasn’t able to meet all the needs of its customers. In an attempt to alleviate the ongoing impact from supply chain issues such as shipping delays, IKEA has been using charting extra ships and loaders. Öncü also revealed that IKEA intends to give back to customers any decrease in purchase prices the company gets.