The owner of most IKEA outlets worldwide, Ingka, has announced that sports retailer Decathlon will open a store within one of its British locations.
This initiative forms part of a trial by the budget furniture giant to integrate third-party businesses, aiming to attract more shoppers.
Ingka is testing whether renting space to other brands can increase visits and monetise its existing square metres, as it revamps its giant stores for value-driven consumers.
Ingka Group announced plans for a Decathlon store to open within the IKEA store in Croydon this spring. The Decathlon store will be a standalone unit with a dedicated customer entrance, spanning 1,188 m² of retail space inside the 25,000 m² IKEA store.
Javier Quinones, Ingka Group’s commercial manager, explained: “We believe complementary offers can encourage more people to visit our stores and engage with the products in new ways.”
Known for its traditional out-of-town “blue-box” stores, IKEA has spent the past decade revamping its formats, developing smaller inner-city outlets and showrooms while investing in digital services to adapt to new shopping habits.
It has also cut prices across a range of products recently, in an attempt to bring back cash-strapped consumers. Ingka Group, the main IKEA franchisee with stores in 32 countries, reported its lowest annual sales last year since 2021.
Footfall was up 1.3 per cent globally last year, however, growth which Quinones said IKEA wants to accelerate.
A 1,188 square metre Decathlon store will open during the spring inside IKEA’s 25,000 square metre store in Croydon, south London, IKEA said in a statement.
IKEA will rent out the space, with its own entrance, to privately owned Decathlon, which is known for big-box stores that sell equipment from tents and bicycles to running shoes.
That will be the first time a major international brand is brought into an IKEA blue-box store, though smaller Nordic electronics retailer Kjell & Company KJELL.ST opened in two Swedish IKEA stores during the autumn.
IKEA said it was also revamping its Klagenfurt location in Austria, where home and garden specialist Thomas Philipps will open a store.
“For this pilot, we have… selected tenants with broad appeal and a strong commitment to affordability and quality,” said Quinones.
He added IKEA was exploring similar opportunities in some additional countries in Europe and North America.
Ingka is investing more than 5 billion euros ($5.90 billion) during the 2024-2026 period to open new locations and improve existing stores.
