Ikea Launches Its Own Secondhand Marketplace to Compete with Established Resale Platforms.
In a move to capitalize on the growing demand for secondhand furniture and household goods, Swedish furniture giant Ikea is trialling its own online resale platform called Ikea Preowned. This new marketplace will allow Ikea customers to directly buy and sell used Ikea products to one another, rather than relying on third-party sites like eBay or Gumtree.
The Ikea Preowned platform is already operational in Madrid and Oslo, and the company plans to expand the service globally by December 2023. This initiative aligns with Ikea's sustainability goals, as it aims to extend the life cycle of its products and divert them from landfills.
The secondhand furniture market has been steadily growing, driven by consumer interest in more affordable and environmentally-friendly options. On online marketplaces like eBay, Craigslist, Gumtree, Shpock, and Facebook Marketplace, there are already thousands of listings for used Ikea products.
By creating its own resale platform, Ikea hopes to capture a larger share of this lucrative secondhand market. The move also allows the company to focus less on its physical retail stores, which have high operating costs, and shift more towards the burgeoning online sales and assembly services sectors.
The Ikea Preowned platform will feature listings created by individual sellers, with Ikea's algorithms automatically generating key details about the items, such as measurements and original retail prices. This centralized approach could provide a more seamless experience for both buyers and sellers compared to navigating multiple third-party platforms.
The launch of Ikea Preowned comes at a time when environmental advocates have urged furniture manufacturers to embrace a more circular economy model, where products are designed to be reused and repurposed rather than discarded. By taking responsibility for the resale of its own goods, Ikea may be incentivized to create longer-lasting, more durable products that are less prone to ending up in landfills.
Reference: Faarea M. (27 Aug, 2024) Ikea Launches Secondhand Marketplace to Compete with Online Resale Platforms
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