(MT Newswires) -- Jon Abrahamsson Ring, CEO of IKEA, stresses the importance of inventory management and customer experience. He observes that consumers, despite a robust market in the US, are becoming more selective and are tending to move away from luxury goods.

He identifies three main trends:

The importance of the home continues to grow since the onset of the pandemic, with a global demand to improve and secure the domestic space.
Inflation is reducing purchasing power, increasing the proportion of the budget spent on necessities.
Consumers are looking for better value for their money, which benefits IKEA, especially against the backdrop of a slight decline in the home furnishings category.

IKEA is responding to these trends by reducing the prices of its products, taking advantage of lower raw material and transport costs. Ring is proud that prices have been reduced on almost 1000 of the 9150 products in the United States.

He also talks about IKEA's evolution in the US, with different shop formats and growth in e-commerce, which now accounts for 25% of sales, pointing out that this is a significant increase from 5% before the pandemic. Ring points out that IKEA department stores still attract 860 million visitors a year and that smaller shop formats offer great opportunities, although customers expect a similar experience to that of department stores.

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