IKEA Is Reconsidering Its Famous Maze Routes With ‘Immersive’ Store Layouts
Image via IKEA
Arguably one of the key characteristics of a trip to IKEA is getting somewhat lost in the maze-like layout of the store, but it’s never a daunting enough factor to keep us away. However, we might be losing that with the company’s new plans.
The Swedish furniture retailer aims to create a “more immersive experience” for its customers, The Guardian reports. The new concept, called Home of Tomorrow, is apparently aimed at promoting sustainable living, presumably through the new ways in which consumers and window-shoppers interact with the products on display.
According to industry media reports, there are plans for customers to be able to lounge around on furniture, using the spaces for more than just merchandise display. In some areas, they’d be invited to hang out with influencers, or take part in activities like light therapy. Workshops on making and repairing household items are also reportedly in the works.
This concept isn’t entirely new; it was trialed in a space in Szczecin, Poland, last summer, before a conventional IKEA store opened in that location. There, it was marketed as an opportunity to learn more about incorporating sustainability into daily life. One of the activities on offer was a soil-free home garden, where customers could learn to create their own indoor farms.
On its website, IKEA explains that the Home of Tomorrow is a place where its customers will learn ways to transform their homes into places with “full respect for nature,” encouraging them to work towards a larger-scale change in the world.
The experimental Home of Tomorrow spaces are planned to be trialed in Shanghai, before moving on to London and Vienna. If met with success, locations across Europe could also see these popping up.
Depending on the scale of success, Home of Tomorrow may evolve to become the standard layout of an IKEA store, banishing the old model as we know it.
Hej, Xuhui! 👋 Today we unveil the Home Experience of Tomorrow, an entirely re-imagined IKEA Shanghai Xuhui. It’s an innovative store design offering not only breath-taking items but breath-taking moments. Welcome! pic.twitter.com/T8phfZ5JdY
— IKEA (@IKEA) August 12, 2021
[via The Guardian, image via IKEA]
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