The first IKEA company was founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943, in Småland, southern Sweden. Back then, life wasn’t always easy in that part of the world. People had to be resourceful to make ends meet, and by working hard together, they managed to make a little go a long way.
This approach continues to shape our way of doing business, and we take pride in our heritage, which strengthens and makes us who we are today. As an IKEA franchisee with IKEA retail operations all around the world, it also drives our culture of togetherness, simplicity and responsibility.
Ingka Group consists of three business areas.
Our core business is IKEA Retail, which consists of 374 IKEA stores across 30 markets, and counting. Each year, we welcome 839 million visitors to these stores, and we have more than 2.6 billion visits to IKEA.com.
Ingka Centres creates great meeting places where each centre is anchored by an IKEA store. So far, we’ve established 45 Ingka Centres across Europe, Russia and China – and more are on the way.
We make responsible investments in our core business, or in areas that add value for our customers. Ingka Investments allows us to grow our IKEA Retail business, by partnering with companies that share our values – such as TaskRabbit.
The world around us is changing – and quickly. As more people move into big cities, our living spaces are getting smaller. The climate crisis is beginning to affect us all. The planet’s limited resources mean unsustainable consumption must be addressed. At the same time, digitalisation and new technology are changing many things for the better. All this means both new challenges and new opportunities. It means we’ve got a real chance to make a positive impact on society and our planet.
As our industry continues to change, we are determined to put us in the lead. This is why we’re completely updating our business model. In the biggest transformation in IKEA history, we’re simplifying what we do – and how we do it. Our aim is to become more convenient, affordable and sustainable for the many people.
To support this transformation, we have listed the 10 most important jobs we need to do in the next three years to get there.
Every aspect of our business is driven and inspired by the IKEA vision: To create a better everyday life for the many people. We do this by offering affordable and sustainable home furnishing solutions in both physical and digital environments in 30 countries across the world.
Every year, we set out to understand more about what makes a better life at home by connecting with thousands of people. We collect our findings from our home visits in what we call the Life at Home Report.
Simplicity, cost consciousness, entrepreneurship and togetherness are important to us. With humbleness, we want to lead by example and contribute to a better tomorrow for our customers, our business and ourselves.
Our key values are the foundation of everything we do:
Our co-workers form the very foundation of our business, and without their passion, knowledge and customer focus, we wouldn’t be where we are today. Because it’s by understanding our customers’ changing needs that our co-workers help them create a better everyday life at home.
We believe moving forward is the best way of honouring our heritage. Creating new innovative solutions by investing in digital competence and new capabilities. Doing this without losing site of our roots, vision and values.
To guide us on this journey, we have our Ingka Group people strategy. This puts the focus on our co-workers, by providing a framework for our priorities that helps us stay close to our vision and culture – and even closer to our customers.
We want to be a company that people are proud to be a part of. So our values are always at the heart of everything we do – and are what make us stand out from the crowd.
Working with us is like working with friends. We’re a diverse group of down-to-earth people with a passion for home furnishing and a vision to create a better everyday for the many people. Our culture of togetherness, enthusiasm and fun means many talents find their way to us. And we’re always looking for more people who share our positive mindset.
We’re transforming our business for the future, and over the next three years, will make the changes needed to lay the foundations for our long-term growth. To do this, we’re reassessing all parts of our organisation – simplifying how we lead, work and organise, as well as how we find new talent.
Equality is a fundamental human right that’s reflected in our values and is the reason we’re going all-in for equality. It’s also why we focus on the diversity of our workforce and foster a culture of inclusion. Because everyone should feel valued for their unique contribution.
When it comes to gender equality, our ambition is to reach a 50/50 gender balance across all levels and positions. And we’re making good progress: today, half of our managers are women, as are more than half of our co-workers and 30% of Ingka Group Management.
But, for us, achieving gender balance is just the beginning, because we want to integrate diversity into all of our business practices.
