Today in retail: Ikea lays service foundations

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Ikea has today followed a path well-trodden by the likes of John Lewis and Dixons Carphone by ramping up its services proposition.

The Swedish furniture giant has acquired odd-jobs firm TaskRabbit, which sends workers to people’s homes to carry out chores such as assembling flat-pack furniture.

It comes after John Lewis launched a trial of its Home Solutions tradesmen service, which allows customers to book approved plumbers, gardeners and electricians to carry out work in their homes.

And Dixons Carphone has a well-established repair and fitting service, recently rebranded as Team Knowhow.

As consumer habits and demands continue to change rapidly, retailers must continue that shift away from simply selling products to providing a wider level of service.

Those that do it well could gain a crucial advantage in the bid to navigate a turbulent trading climate.

Elsewhere today, the trial of three former Tesco executives accused of fraud got under way, The Body Shop poached Charles Tyrwhitt boss David Boynton as its new chief executive, and new figures revealed that consumer confidence rose this month.

Quote of the day

“Consumers are still spending out there, and have repeatedly defied predictions of a downturn since last year’s Brexit vote, partly by running down savings and/or borrowing more.”

– GfK head of market dynamics Joe Staton explains why consumer confidence and spending held up in September