The world's largest furniture company Ikea restructures. The company wants to reduce jobs in the administration and at the same time create thousands of jobs in online commerce.
In the coming years, especially in the central functions, 7500 out of 160,000 jobs will be canceled. However, 11,500 new jobs would be created in online retail and new store formats, the company said.
The retail landscape is changing "to an unprecedented extent and pace," said the parent company Ingka. Customer behavior is also changing rapidly and the company wants to meet these needs, explained company boss Jesper Brodin. Ikea wants to focus more on its presence in the cities and the online business in the future
30 new "contact points" planned
"We need to simplify our organization," said Brodin. The job cuts, which account for around five percent of total employment, mainly affect key functions and service offices. "This does not affect the store or sales units," said the manager.
Ikea maintains 367 furniture stores in 30 countries worldwide. Because of the growing market power of online retailers like Amazon, Ikea is expanding its Internet business and testing smaller downtown stores as an alternative to its large, blue-and-yellow shopping malls on the outskirts.
The new planned inner-city formats should complement the "traditional large furniture stores," it said. In the next two years, therefore, 30 new "Ikea contact points" are to be created - in addition to classic furniture stores also "new formats".
The headcount reduction in Germany should initially affect the state headquarters in Wallau and the logistics in Dortmund, said a spokeswoman. The furniture stores are "currently not in focus". At present, it is still unclear how many employees in Germany could be affected by the job redesign.