IKEA’s Place App
IKEA offers well-designed, functional and affordable, high-quality home furnishing, produced with care for people and the environment. It was an early adopter of Apple’s powerful ARKit platform. Back in 2017, the company introduced its Place augmented reality app that allowed customers try out various pieces from it’s seasonal collections in their home, without having to actually go to the store. By that time the app was limited to testing just a single piece of furniture or decor item at a time, so if the customer wanted to furnish an entire room at Ikea, he or she still had to make the trek to an actual store and navigate its sprawling showrooms. Today, the app has received major updates with a new interface, improved curation, a wish list so you can remember what you wanted to buy, an easier-to-digest privacy policy, support for viewing entire rooms in augmented reality, and more.
New updates allow people to map out an entire room with new furniture to see how it would look. For instance, you can say that you’re planning to redesign your bedroom, and the IKEA Place application will let you get a closer look at a room’s worth of handpicked furniture via augmented reality. Furthermore, you can point your iPhone at a piece of furniture, and the app will suggest pieces that are similar.
With many more features in the pipeline, IKEA Place will continue to bring new ways of experiencing IKEA to new and existing customers. Through this app the goal to inspire people through combining technology with knowledge of how people live their lives. As Kerin mentions in his book, technological innovations can replace existing products and services and, can also have an impact on customer value by improving the quality of products, and providing new products that were not previously feasible.
“Sometimes we all need that little bit of inspiration that sparks new ideas,” says Gerry Rogers, Digital Transformation Leader at Inter IKEA Group. “That’s exactly what we want to achieve with IKEA Place.”[1]
Augmented reality is one of the biggest technology trends right now, and it’s only going to get bigger as AR ready smartphones and other devices become more accessible. We live in a world in which people constantly lack of time. People spend most of their time at work, or with their family, or studying and making time to go to department stores is often a bit difficult. By using AR, IKEA is providing people the the opportunity to have a shop-like experience from the comfort of their homes. The company recognizes the retail landscape is changing. With customers opting for convenience over physical stores, they have chosen to focus on digital while also placing an emphasis on sustainability. The app has the power to reach thousands of people looking for more comfortable options and turn them into loyal customers that when remodeling their homes and offices will have the option of viewing the changes through their cell phones. Also, online sales are increasing and the app will contribute significantly to that growth. The focus in the app is something that will keep the company both relevant and profitable.
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