'We know that customers in Singapore are feeling the pinch': IKEA slashes prices for over 140 products

[The_King]

SINGAPORE: IKEA Singapore in September reduced the prices of 144 products, with price cuts planned for more than 60 other products by Apr 1, 2024.

This comes after IKEA announced last week that it would be cutting the prices of some of its products globally.

“I think 2023 was the year where we turned the corner on prices and started lowering them again,” chief executive of Inter-IKEA Group Jon Abrahamsson Ring told Bloomberg, referring to the wholesale prices that are charged to retailers such as IKEA Singapore. 

Inter-IKEA group is the global franchisor responsible for the range and supply for 12 IKEA franchisees around the world.

At the beginning of 2023, the furniture giant had hiked prices due to rising costs in its supply chain, but since May, costs have been reduced as “raw material prices, transportation costs are going in the right direction”, Mr Ring told Bloomberg.

This has translated to a price drop of up to 20 per cent for products like the MALM chest of drawers in white, said Mr Gerard Jansen, retail director of IKEA Singapore, on Tuesday (Oct 17), in response to CNA's queries.

Those drawers now cost S$199 (US$145), compared with their usual price of S$249. Other price reductions include the Kallax shelving unit - from S$109 to S$89 - while a 45-litre Samla box now costs S$8. 

 

 

“We are delighted that wholesale prices will finally come down on IKEA products in the future and we always pass on savings where we can,” said Mr Jansen. 

He added that IKEA’s 2022 Life at Home report revealed that 74 per cent of Singaporean respondents - over 1,000 were surveyed - expressed worries about their household finances.

“That’s why we work hard to keep prices as low as possible on essential and best-selling items so these savings really matter and count for the many Singaporeans looking to get the most for their home,” said Mr Jansen.

"The IKEA vision is to create a better everyday life for many people by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them." 

IKEA Singapore saw a dip in revenue from last year, down 2.0 per cent, as it closed its financial year on Aug 31 with a turnover of S$384.2 million.