The Ikea shop in Arlon now has an additional 1,700m2 dedicated exclusively to e-commerce. In response to the growth in this sales channel during the pandemic, the Swedish retailer has decided to organise the preparation of orders in a separate area, first in the and then in a more permanent solution.
40% of deliveries are to Luxembourg.
Operational since the beginning of July, the €5.2m extension handles around a hundred orders a day, which are prepared and then loaded up for home delivery. The service costs between €59 and €229, depending on the products purchased, and goes across the border. “40% of deliveries are to Luxembourg,” explained Chris Burman, store manager for Ikea Arlon on Friday 14 July.
A unique infrastructure
From 6,000 in 2020, the number of deliveries is expected to rise to 32,000 by the end of this year, which is obviously fuelling commercial ambitions. Currently, almost 12% of sales at the Arlon outlet are made online, 7% of which include deliveries.
Customers can also place click & collect orders for a preparation charge of €4.99. All orders placed before 2pm are available for collection the next day, thanks to a separate entrance and seven parking spaces dedicated to loading orders.
Parking spaces just outside the dedicated click & collect entrance allow orders to be loaded quickly. Photo: Guy Wolff / Maison Moderne
“Ikea Arlon is the only store in Belgium to have such an infrastructure for click & collect,” said its manager. Although the shop ranks sixth out of a total of eight outlets in terms of turnover, “we are the shop with the strongest growth, of around 30% over the last four years.”
Luxembourg residents a key customer base for Ikea Arlon
With these two new services, Ikea is giving itself the means to continue its growth and is turning its attention to customers who reside in Luxembourg. The next frontier to be abolished will be that of orders sent as parcels. Available in Belgium for €4.99, this service should arrive in the grand duchy in a few months’ time.
Last year, 934,000 visitors strolled the aisles of Ikea Arlon, 60% of them Luxembourg residents. After the first half of this year, the counter already stands at 793,000. It’s proof, if it were needed, that while e-commerce may be on a roll, physical retailing has not said its last word.
This article was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.