Ikea is investing in its call centre workers to become interior design advisers as the Swedish furniture giant looks to offer more home improvement services and hand run-of-the-mill customer queries to an artificial intelligence bot called Billie. According to Reuters, the retailer has trained 8,500 call centre workers as interior design advisers since 2021, while Billie has handled 47% of customers’ queries to call centres over the past two years.

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The retailer expanded its interior design services to the UK and United States in April 2021, after previous launches in parts of Europe, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere. In the UK, customers pay £25 pounds for a 45-60 minute interior design advice video call and suggested product list, and can pay £125 pounds for three workspace design consultations, a floorplan and 3D visuals.

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Ingka Group global people and culture manager Ulrika Biesert told Reuters: “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.”

When asked if the increased use of AI was likely to lead to a reduction in headcount at the company, Biesert said: “That’s not what we’re seeing right now.”

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Sales by phone or video of products and services through Ingka’s remote interior design channel accounted for $1.40bn of revenue in Ingka’s 2022 financial year – 3.3% of the total. Ingka Group told Reuters it aims to grow that share to 10% by 2028 as part of a push to appeal to future Gen Z customers. In comparison, online sales of products via IKEA’s website, which is owned by Ingka, amounted to 25% of total sales in Ingka’s financial year ending Aug. 31, 2022.

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Sources: https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2023/06/ikea-remote-interior-design/