“Shops too far away now”
These smaller stores will allow customers to pick up online orders, trial products assisted by Ikea experts and eat in an Ikea bar. This should help bring the brand closer to its customers, some of whom now have to travel quite far to reach an Ikea store. In Norwich, customers currently have to drive for two hours to get to the nearest Ikea.
Ikea currently has 18 large stores in the United Kingdom, but these smaller stores will not even have 10 % of the floor space in the larger stores. The Norwich store will be located just outside the city center, but Ikea wants to open another two smaller high street-focused stores within the next year.
Ikea has previously opened smaller stores in Spain, Norway and Finland. It also wants to update its existing stores, similar to how it has already updated its website.
