Ikea renews its augmented reality app

Ikea is launching a new app, which enables customers to visualize products in the context of their own homes and then order these items through the app. The new Ikea app will be launched first in France and the Netherlands.

Ikea is slowly changing its business model. Instead of luring customers into its self-service, out-of-town stores, the Swedish furniture giant is focusing more on helping customers shopping for Ikea products through an app or website.

App more extensive than 2017 version

In 2017, Ikea already launched an augmented reality app, which let customers see how over 2,000 items would fit into their homes. But the main difference with the newly launched app is that back then, after customers saw how a Billy cabinet would fit into their living room, it wasn’t possible to shop from the app.

Roll out in Europe

The app will first be launched in France and the Netherlands and by the end of the year it will be rolled out in the retailer’s top eight markets, including Germany. “It’s a completely new experience”, Barbara Martin Coppola, chief digital officer at IKEA, told Reuters in an interview. “The app is combined with the store experience, with the online experience.” The new app will replace Ikea’s existing app Place AR.