Home furnishings providers have been struggling for months with a reluctance to buy among Austrians, who much prefer to travel and not buy new armchairs or beds. Price treats are needed to lure them back to the stores.
After Ikea in Austria has already reduced prices on more than 50 percent of its entire range since September 2023, the Swedish furniture store is now continuing its reduction program. “Our goal is to reduce prices as close as possible to pre-pandemic levels by August 2025. We want to set a good example. This is not a short-term advertising campaign or sales promotion to boost our sales, but a real paradigm shift in our pricing policy,” explains Ikea boss Alpaslan Deliloglu. They want to take another step towards affordability.
The competition is also active. For example, Kika-Leiner is launching the budget brand OHO! in April! and wants to increase the private label share from 20 to 30 percent. Because you can earn more with these products with fantasy names. Möbelix has been attracting attention for a long time with its affordable prices. “We are proud that we have managed to always be the price leader on the Austrian furniture market,” explains Managing Director Christoph Geiselmayr.
Ikea has already reduced the price of 6,300 items, and this should be around 8,000 by August 2025. The average price drop is currently 15 percent. Live plants are ten percent cheaper. For example, customers now pay minus 20 percent for the popular Billy shelves, while at Kallax it is 14 percent.
To find out how much you will save, all you have to do is go to the homepage of the furniture provider. Old and new costs are displayed there. For cost and environmental reasons, a catalog no longer exists.
Ikea wants to pass on savings
“The most important factor in counter-financing the new pricing policy is consciously refraining from optimizing your own profit,” says Ikea unctuously. All savings must be passed on to customers to support them. Because Ikea only offers its own brands for which you can determine the prices yourself, this is easier than with brand manufacturers with a clear pricing policy.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
