IKEA's Ballymun store is the company's best performing by revenue in the world.
IKEA Ireland has announced a 16.5% increase in sales to €252 million in its 2023 financial year.
The growth in sales follows a 14% increase the previous year.
The Swedish furniture store says the positive results are the result of new Plan & Order Points throughout the country, improvements in the Ballymun store, and significant growth in the online business.
IKEA continued to see more customers in Ireland shopping online, with the share of online purchasing landing at 33%, up from 29% in the previous year.
As a result of these rapidly changing shopping behaviours, 2023 was the first year when IKEA Ireland sold more sofas online than through its stores.
The Click and Collect service grew significantly, with 644,000 products ordered online for collection, more than double the number of products received in the 2022 financial year.
At the same time, the number of customers visiting the IKEA store in Ballymun increased by 4% to 3.2 million visitors.
IKEA said its restaurant continued to be a popular destination, with over 3.6 million meatballs and 105,000 children's meals served.
The number of plant-based dishes reached a record, with 41% of all meals being plant-based.
The company’s strong performance, together with a downward trend of global commodity and transportation prices, has enabled IKEA to lower prices.
IKEA said it has permanently lowered prices on over 250 products and price reductions will continue early next year.
"Intensification of internal efforts to reduce costs across the IKEA value chain now enables us to decrease prices. In challenging times when many people struggle with the cost of living, the need for home furnishing solutions at affordable prices is high," said Martyn Allan, Market Manager, IKEA Ireland.
"This is where we continue to do what IKEA has always done - putting customers’ affordability first."
IKEA has ramped up its investment in new places for customers to access IKEA, as well as improved services.
Following the arrival of IKEA in Cork last March, IKEA now has six locations where Irish customers can meet IKEA physically, up from only two locations just two years ago.
To complement the Ballymun store, and the Order and Collection Point in Carrickmines, IKEA has opened Plan & Order Points to provide customers with free design consultations with experienced IKEA kitchen and bedroom storage experts.
The Plan & Order Points are located in Naas, Cork, Drogheda, St Stephen's Green in Dublin, with plans to open in more locations in 2024.
To support this strategic move to enhance the offering of kitchens in Ireland, IKEA has significantly expanded its kitchens design team.
This kitchen expansion sees the hiring of 46 co-workers, including 22 expert kitchen installers across the country, together supporting a strong, double-digit growth in the area.
The number of IKEA pick-up points has also grown, from only two in 2021 to 11 today.
Last year, the IKEA Pick-up points were extended in a collaboration with Tesco, offering customers a possibility of free delivery to their Tesco Megastore in areas further away from the IKEA Ballymun store, such as Ballinasloe, Newcastle West, Clonmel, and Tramore.
IKEA Ireland will open its first Irish Customer Distribution Centre in 2024 to cut delivery times by more than half and improve stock availability.
This is made possible through Ingka Investments undertaking their globally first ever logistics investment.
When fully up and running, the Customer Distribution Centre will create 120 jobs across warehousing, logistics, and administration.
"IKEA Ballymun has risen to become our globally best performing store by revenue, truly showing the love Irish people have for IKEA," said Marsha Smith, deputy CEO, IKEA Ireland and UK.
"With many customers dedicatedly traveling for hours to visit us, we're excited to ramp up our expansion to areas where we have limited presence today."
"This includes establishing new Plan & Order points and new convenient Pick-up locations, alongside quicker delivery services, all aimed at bringing IKEA closer to our Irish customers."
IKEA's Buy-back and Re-sell scheme saw a significant upswing, with 2,717 pieces of furniture repurchased, marking a 60% year-on-year increase, providing customers with an average in-store credit of €40 for their used IKEA furniture.
Complementing this effort to ensure IKEA furniture got a longer life, IKEA provided 33,302 spare parts at no cost.
The company’s 8MW wind farm near Manorhamilton, Leitrim, produced about four times the amount of electricity that IKEA consumed.
In addition, to produce even more renewable energy, Ingka Investment, the investment arm of the company, announced an investment in 10GW offshore wind project portfolio in Ireland and UK.
IKEA said it has invested significantly in its people in the 2023 financial year and remains committed to paying the voluntary living wage rate, set by the independent Living Wage technical group.
From January 2024, all hourly paid IKEA Ireland co-workers will receive the new €14.80 Living Wage, well above the National Minimum Wage of €12.70 per hour. Salaried co-workers will receive an on average 5% pay increase.
The company said, following the sales performance, every eligible member of the team throughout Ireland will receive a bonus – of at least one and a quarter month’s salary – in time for the festive season.
Additionally, IKEA Ireland will allocate a total of €450,000 in contribution through the company’s "Tack!" loyalty pension programme, an extra pension allocation of up to €1,100 for eligible co-workers.
The reward offer, together with a newly launched flexibility approach, enabling co-workers in Ireland to change contract sizes and shift patterns, work compressed hours, and reduce hours temporarily during student exam time or other life events, has led to the co-worker turnover rate drop significantly to 28%, from 40% previous year.
