Ingka Group, which operates a majority of Ikea stores in the world, is piloting a new resale marketplace initiative called Ikea Preowned. The digital marketplace is designed for customers to buy and sell used Ikea furniture directly with one another.
The online peer-to-peer platform is currently being tested in Madrid and Oslo until December, with the potential for a global rollout if the trial proves successful.
“We will start in Oslo and Madrid, yet the ambition is higher,” Jesper Brodin, CEO of Ingka Group, said in a LinkedIn post. “With the test, we will get deeper insights in how we can meet people’s dreams and needs in life at home, by making the Ikea range more accessible at an even lower price and as a part of our sustainability efforts.”
Ikea ranks No. 7 in the Europe Database, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest online retailers in the region. Digital Commerce 360 projects that Ikea web sales will reach $10.76 billion in 2024.
Ikea web sales by year
Ikea Preowned user experience and future plans
During the pilot phase, Ingka will engage with users “to understand customers’ behaviors and interests towards a digital secondhand marketplace, as well as what it would mean for us from a business perspective,” Brodin said in a statement announcing the new platform.
Currently, Ikea Preowned is free to use, though the company may introduce what Brodin described to the Financial Times as “a symbolic fee, a humble fee” in the future.
So far, most of the products listed on the platform fall within categories such as living room, children’s furniture, and storage.
Buyers can reserve preowned Ikea items, arrange a meetup with the seller, and inspect the item before deciding to finalize the purchase. If the item doesn’t meet their expectations, they can cancel the purchase and receive a refund.
Meanwhile, sellers can list Ikea furniture with their own photos and prices, while Ikea’s algorithms add promotional images, measurements, and product details. Each listing also includes assembly guides and care instructions. After a sale, sellers can choose between a bank transfer or an Ikea gift card, which comes with an additional 15% off of future purchases.
A dedicated online platform for Ikea products
Ikea furniture is already a staple on online resale platforms like eBay, Craigslist, Gumtree, and Facebook Marketplace. Ikea products now account for 10% of the secondhand home furnishings market, according to Brodin.
In addition to this, Ikea has a buy-back program in some stores where it purchases used furniture from customers and resells it as pre-owned.
However, Ikea Preowned sets itself apart by offering a dedicated online platform exclusively for buying and selling Ikea items, with the goal of capturing a larger share of the secondhand market and shifting focus from physical stores to the growing online sales sector.
Brodin also highlighted that the global secondhand furniture market is projected to grow by 6.4% annually starting in 2024, reflecting a broader trend of consumers turning to pre-owned options for high-value items.
Ikea works to support sustainability through resale
Ingka Group noted that Ikea Preowned is part of its larger efforts to help customers extend the life of products. The company offers a range of services, including in-store buybacks, replacement parts, and recycling programs like RetourMatras, which repurposes old mattresses.
The initiatives align with Ikea’s sustainability goals and contribute to the circular economy by keeping products out of landfills.
The Global Circularity Gap Report 2024, an effort between Deloitte and the Circle Economy Foundation, found that the circular economy has reached megatrend status. The volume of discussions, debates, and articles on the topic has nearly tripled over the past five years.
However, global circularity still remains in decline, with the share of secondary materials in the world’s economy falling to 7.2% in 2023 from 9.1% in 2018 — a 21% decrease over five years.
The report says systemic change requires coordinated efforts from governments, financial actors, and citizens to introduce policies that promote circular practices and penalize harmful ones. It also calls for adjusting fiscal policies to reflect true prices and ensure funding for circular solutions.
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