IKEA says store inventories return to pre-Covid levels

Robert Besser
03 Jul 2022, 16:42 GMT+10

IKEA officials said this week that the furniture retailer's warehouses in Europe are as full as they were before the COVID-19 pandemic
They noted that being fully stocked is due to the easing of transport bottlenecks in the region
To reduce global supply chain disruptions and meet record demand, the company has been narrowing its range, leasing more ships, buying containers and re-routing goods

DELFT, Netherlands: IKEA officials said this week that the furniture retailer's warehouses in Europe are as full as they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.

They noted that being fully stocked is due to the easing of transport bottlenecks in the region.

In order to reduce global supply chain disruptions during the pandemic and meet record demand, the company has been narrowing its range, leasing more ships, buying containers and re-routing goods between warehouses.

Tolga Oncu, retail manager at Ingka Group, told Reuters that in Europe the company's slimmed down range of goods was now fully stocked.

In an interview at the opening of IKEA's first inner-city store in Stockholm, Sweden, Oncu said, "If you look at Europe, our stores are back at the same inventory levels as we were in 2019. This has happened just recently. And now is the time to again start widening the range."

Meanwhile, those is the Swedish fashion industry said that while it was still being affected, supply chain disruptions and delays were gradually easing.

Some 70 percent of IKEA's products are manufactured in Europe, relatively close to its largest sales markets.

While warning that problems remained elsewhere, with regards to Europe, Oncu said, "We have started to see that some transport corridors are improving, the flow of goods is improved, and lead times from suppliers to our stores are shortening."

"What we see in Europe is that the corridors that were clogged are becoming unclogged. The suppliers of our transports are telling us 'we have more capacity now to transport your goods'," he added.