Ikea: Inspiration Retail Tour

Facing the challenges of change without ever ceasing to ask how customers’ expectations and needs are evolving is part of the approach shared by all the companies that succeed in today’s market.

When in October last year we were contacted by Ikea, the retail giant that has always stood out for its ability to grasp the evolution of contemporary lifestyles and quickly turn it into competitive advantage, we set to work straight away with great enthusiasm.

At that time the company was about to start an important review of the way it displays its range, and in particular of the customer experience at its long-established Milan stores. Showing great open-mindedness, the request we received was: which retail formats are the most innovative today? Which experiences and brands, regardless of sector, are trying out a new way of relating to customers? How can a customer experience be made truly memorable by building on dimensions such as service and omnichannel?

We took up the challenge and, starting from this brief, designed a set of inspirational routes for more than 60 Ikea employees, all sharing the wish not to settle for the many successes already achieved but ready to question themselves and use their lateral thinking to look for new stimuli and design the Ikea of the future.

So a large group of visual merchandisers, designers, architects, marketing managers and store managers, divided into 5 teams (each led by a Milano Retail Tour researcher and with its own shuttle), spent a whole day moving around Milan to discover the most innovative places on the Milanese retail scene.

The experience began with the ethnographer’s kit being handed out to participants, complete with personalised Moleskine notebooks, and with the launch of the brief at Cascina Cuccagna in Milan, perfect as the headquarters for the whole operation not only for its wonderful spaces but also for the history and values that have driven the project from the start.

After an intense first morning of observation in the field, the groups met for a first debrief over lunch at Santeria Social Club. Just enough time to recharge and the exploration resumed, until it was time for everyone to gather again at Cascina Cuccagna for the second part of the day: the debrief and sharing session in the classroom.

In the afternoon the groups went back over the notes in their Moleskines, discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the places they had visited and filled in interpretation grids, which were the basis for then sharing in plenary the results that emerged from the visits. It was at this stage that participants, moderated by the MiRT researchers, turned the insights gathered in the field into concrete ideas to keep in mind when thinking about the Ikea to come.

The discussion continued over a pleasant aperitivo, during which those present raised a glass, with renewed team spirit, to having reached the goals of the day.

Thanks to this experience, participants not only had the chance to get up to date, accompanied by professional researchers, on the new trends in retail, but also trained their “sensitivity” to the outside world and their lateral thinking, because they were prompted to keep making connections between their own world and the inspirational potential of the places they visited. So it was at once a professional update and a valuable moment of team building, aimed at bringing colleagues closer in culture and thinking, with a resulting increase in their engagement and motivation.