Furnishing giant Ikea's store at Ballymun in Dublin was the busiest of any Ikea store worldwide when it reopened its doors to customers after Covid-19 lockdown restrictions on May 17th last.
"On reopening day Ikea’s Ballymun store was placed number one IKEA store in the world in terms of turnover," a spokeswoman for Ikea Ireland said.
The store was "the highest performing" of the group’s 378 stores across 30 countries on May 17th even with Covid-19 restrictions. Pre-Covid the store could accommodate 6,000 and on its re-opening day the capacity was limited to 1,000 at a time with ’social distance wardens’ in the store keeping people apart.
On May 17th, Ikea opened its doors for browsing two hours early to help prevent customer queues.
As a 'thank you’ to those who had been waiting, the first 20 customers to arrive that morning were presented with a gift card to spend in store or a hamper filled with goods from Ikea's Swedish market.
The spokeswoman stated that on re-opening day the most popular items purchased were the KALLAX range of storage units, TARNO outdoor furniture along with frying pans and picture frames.
However, the performance of the re-opening day was surpassed four days later when Ikea Ireland recorded the busiest day since the pandemic began with 7,000 customers passing through its Ballymun store doors on Friday, May 21st.
On Monday of this week, Ikea reopened indoor dining at the Ballymun store and as per the Government guidelines, the operation has changed from counter service to table service only.
Ikea Ireland released the re-opening figures after annual accounts earlier this week confirmed that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic sent pre-tax profits tumbling by 67% at Ikea Ireland last year to €3.69 million.
The Ballymun store is one of the group's most successful stores worldwide and the pandemic resulted in revenues at Ikea Ireland Ltd reducing by 13% from €203.53 million to €176.6 million in the 12 months to the end of August last.
On sales trends during the pandemic, the spokeswoman said that throughout the pandemic "our range has continued to sell well, with storage across all rooms of the home proving especially popular".
"We have also seen a particular uplift in desks and work desk chairs due the increase in the number of people working from home; Summer furniture due to the good weather we’ve experienced over recent month and home furnishing accessories that help to enhance and personalise an individual’s space, including picture frames, plants and candles," she added.
The spokeswoman said that despite operating in particularly challenging circumstances, the pandemic has proven to be a catalyst for positive change for Ikea with the shift towards e-commerce accelerating.
She said digital initiatives had been introduced at pace, including launching 'Click and Collect' and 'Click and Deliver' from the Ballymun store and remote kitchen, wardrobe and living room storage planning appointments, ensuring customers could still access Ikea’s home furnishing expertise.
The digital initiatives, combined with the closure of the Ballymun store during lockdown, contributed to online sales accounting for 24% of sales last year compared to 16% in 2019.
That translated into e-commerce sales revenues of €42.29 million for the 12 months to the end of August last - compared to €32.56 million in online sales in 2019.
On any plans to open a second store here, the spokesperson said "Ireland is a market where we believe expansion opportunities exist. However, at this moment we have no confirmed plans. Covid-19 has not had any impact on this."
"We’re in a fast-changing retail environment and we want to make sure we continue to be affordable and convenient. Our ambitious growth plans mean we are focusing on all parts of creating a great customer experience, whenever and wherever people need us. This includes investing in our online offer and customer services, rebuilding and adapting existing Ikea stores, and evaluating new solutions," she added.
Ikea Ireland currently employs over 700 'co-workers' here and the Ikea spokeswoman said that "despite stores being closed to customers for nine months during the pandemic we offered financial stability to all our co-workers by committing to paying 100% of pay."
Ikea also launched a 'Covid-19 Emergency Fund’ available to co-workers experiencing additional hardship as a result of the pandemic, through non-repayable grants.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
