Already renowned for offering affordable furniture solutions, Swedish firm, Ikea, are now taking things one step further. Piloting a new furniture rental scheme, customers will soon be able to rent sofas, tables and any other household item at an incredibly low cost. Allowing all customers to pay monthly, the company says there is an ethical motivation behind the business move.
Ridding of generation waste
Nowadays, people buy and throw out cheap furniture constantly. Where we used to have furniture for life, people that move around a lot. This means people are refreshing their furniture on a regular basis. But, Ikea are eager to change things, educating people on how much they could potentially be harming the planet.
Eager to solve such issues, Ikea’s rental scheme was born.
‘We are testing radical solutions,’ said Jesper Brodin, chief executive of Ikea at the World Economic Forum.
‘There are very different levels of interest depending which city you are in. So, in London, for example, there are a lot of people who commute and they are not interested, with passion, in building a second home – so rental there is more interesting.’
Particularly geared towards generation Millennial, Ikea say that there is a great demand for this service.
If the scheme proves to be a hit, all Ikea stores could potentially offer furniture rental services. With a buy-back option also hinted on, Ikea seem to be doing all they can to prevent landfills full of unwanted furniture.
The scheme will be tried and tested in Japan. This is however just one example of the brand exercising their Corporate Social Responsibility. In another statement, Ikea announced that they were also working on eco-friendly furniture. They will make this from a cellulose fiber, wanting to make ‘green furniture’.
Share your thoughts on this rental service by leaving your thoughts and opinions with us.
