Ikea cuts 7,500 jobs in e-commerce push

Company is reorganising to focus business on e-commerce, smaller shops in city centres

Swedish furniture giant Ikea said yesterday that it plans to cut 7,500 jobs worldwide by 2020, mainly office jobs, as it reorganises to focus its business on e-commerce and smaller shops in city centres.

The job cuts affect almost 5 per cent of staff at Ingka Holding, IKEA’s parent group. Ikea is its biggest brand with 367 stores in 30 countries and 160,000 employees.

Jobs will be cut across the globe, an Ikea spokesman said.

Ikea — via Ingka — will at the same time recruit 11,500 people in the next two years to meet the company’s “digital capabilities” and its plans to open around 30 new stores.

The company, famous for its flat-pack DIY furniture, has been opening city centre shops in response to changing lifestyles, since fewer people own cars.

“The retail landscape is transforming at a scale and pace we’ve never seen before. As customer behaviours change rapidly, we are investing and developing our business to meet their needs in better and new ways,” Ikea chief executive Jesper Brodin said in a statement yesterday.

In October, Ingka reported sales of €34.8 billion (Dh145 billion) for its 2017-2018 reporting year, up by two per cent from the previous year, which it attributed to stronger online sales and store openings.