Over the past few years, there has been many rumours over Ikea’s expansion into the world of rental. However, it is now looking more likely that the furniture giants will offer their products to hire, with an Ikea spokesman recently sharing the brand’s mission to become a ‘fully circular business’ in a “circular economy”.
According to a spokesman, they are close to launching a ‘scalable subscription service’, one that will make more sense for this generation of furniture shoppers.
Basically, as modern consumers, we are moving away from furniture that lasts a lifetime, tending to move around a lot and not stay with our furniture like our ancestors before us did. This is why having the option to lease a sofa or bookcase just makes sense!
They will reportedly focus on the commercial market to start with, renting chairs, desks and other office items to businesses. This will initially begin in Switzerland.
A spokesman commented:
“At Ingka Group, we have an ambition to inspire and enable people to play an active role in making the circular economy a reality, which we can support by developing new ways for people to buy, care for and pass on products.
“In certain markets, such as Switzerland, we’re exploring and testing potential solutions and have a pilot project to look into the leasing of furniture, but it’s still too early to confirm exactly what this will look like” they confirmed.
Moving with the times
Chief executive of Inter Ikea, Torbjorn Loof, has also rationalised this move into leasing, questioning why we are leasing items such as cars but not kitchens. Suggesting that Ikea’s leasing options will go further than chairs and tables, we at Anythingforhire.com cannot wait.
What are your thoughts on this? Would you hire flatpack furniture from Ikea?
