IKEA aims to develop services, not downsize workforce
ALBAWABA – Swedish furniture giant IKEA is training call center employees to boost the launch of its novelty virtual interior design advisory service via video calls in new territories, Reuters reported Tuesday.
IKEA customers, upon calling the company’s call center, will have the option of talking to an Artificial Intelligence (AI) bot, called Billie, or talking to an interior design advisor.
Customers can pay the equivalent of $31.44 for a 45-60 minute interior design advisory service, over video calls, in which IKEA advisors will provide them with suggested product lists. Alternatively, they can pay the equivalent of $157.34 for three workspace design consultations, a floorplan and 3D visuals.
So far, IKEA has trained 8,500 call center workers for this transformation since 2021. Whereas Billie, which was launched in the same year, has handled 47 percent of the customers’ queries to the call center, according to Reuters.
When Reuters asked Ingka Group as to whether AI will replace call center employees and downsize the workforce, Ingka global people and culture manager Ulrika Biesert said "that's not what we're seeing right now."
"We're committed to strengthening co-workers' employability in Ingka, through lifelong learning and development and reskilling, and to accelerate the creation of new jobs," the executive said.
In April, IKEA expanded the virtual interior design service to the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US), as a virtual sales channel. The service was previously launched in parts of Europe, Australia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and elsewhere, and there are plans for further expansion in the coming future.
Sales by phone or video of products and services through Ingka's remote interior design channel accounted for $1.40 billion of revenue in Ingka's 2022 financial year - 3.3 percent of the total.
Ingka Group told Reuters it aims to grow that share to 10 percent by 2028 as part of a push to appeal to future Gen Z customers.
