Ikea Canada Reports Continued Growth in Fiscal Year 2023

Ikea Canada has solidified its position as this country’s second largest furniture and home furnishings retailer.

Sales for the company’s latest fiscal year increased by 10.9 per cent to $2.9 billion, while national store visits by consumers advanced 6.3 per cent to 28.6 million.

These are just two key points revealed in the company’s recently published summary report for fiscal year 2023, which ended Aug. 31.

In a statement, the retailer maintained the results reflected its “continued growth and commitment to making quality and affordable home furnishings more accessible to Canadians.”

While a new annual high for the subsidiary of Ingka Holding and the Stichting Ingka Foundation, which is based in Liechtenstein, Ikea Canada’s $2.9 billion is just short of the $3.1 billion in annual system-wide sales recorded by LFL Group, parent to Leon’s, The Brick and Appliance Canada, for its fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2022.

Ikea Canada also noted that while in-person store visits climbed on a year-over-year basis, online shopping continues to play an important role in its business as customers made 166.4 million visits to its website and the Ikea app.

E-commerce accounted for 28.4 per cent of sales for the 2023 fiscal year, roughly $826 million. Although that is 29 per cent greater than the $640.5 million (24.3. per cent of sales) generated in the previous fiscal year, it’s below the record $969.5 million generated in fiscal year 2021.

Additionally, the company delivered 1.61 million orders while 602,260 ‘click and collect’ orders were processed.

Food sales increased 27 per cent to $123 million, with Canadians enjoying more than 15.6 million meatballs, 2.1 million plant balls, three million hot dogs and 1.7 million frozen yogurts.

The number one product family in children’s storage is Trofast. In 2023, the company sold more than 750,000 pieces of Trofast, which equates to $11.4 million in sales. One of the top-selling chests of drawers in Canada is the Hemnes eight-drawer dresser. Customers not only use this in their bedroom but also in other areas of the home, including hallways and living rooms.

With eight decades of global retail experience and more than four decades in the Canadian market, Ikea Canada is focused on accelerating its business transformation to deliver a seamless customer journey across all customer meeting points. This includes introducing new ways to shop, enhancing store experiences, bolstering digital capabilities and services, and optimizing fulfilment networks for improved product availability.

“We know more Canadians want quality and affordable home furnishings, especially given the current cost-of-living crisis,” said the company’s new CEO, Selwyn Crittendon, in a statement. “We’re energized to be bringing touchpoints closer to where Canadians live and work, while strengthening our commitment to supporting the communities we serve and to our shared home, the planet.”

Crittendon also noted several milestones in the company’s 2023 performance. This included plans to invest more than $400 million in projects to transform its fulfilment networks in both the Greater Vancouver and Toronto areas; opening its first new Canadian distribution centre in more than three decades in Beauharnois, Que.; launching Ikea Kreativ, a new artificial intelligence experience designed to enable customers to integrate and visualize design solutions for their own living spaces via the Ikea app; and installing 14 new electric vehicle chargers dedicated for home delivery trucks, which enabled more than 38,500 zero-emission home deliveries across Canada.