October 30, 2013
IKEA Helps Customers Sell Second-Hand Furniture
IKEA regularly makes lists identifying the greenest brands on the planet, so it’s not a surprise the company ran an advertising and social media campaign in Norway to help customers sell lightly used IKEA furniture.
According to reports, IKEA and its agency SMFB, created "The Second Hand Campaign," which advertised used IKEA furniture owned by 50 people in print ads, broadcast commercials, billboards and web banners.
The ads included photos of the furniture being sold along with the phone numbers of the people looking to sell the pieces. IKEA also turned its Facebook page into a virtual market where sellers and buyers could negotiate deals every Sunday.
The campaign ran for eight weeks until every piece was sold. According to a video case study on the campaign on Creativity, sales of IKEA furniture sales increased during the campaign.
As a piece on the brandchannel site pointed out, this was not IKEA’s first foray into selling used furniture. Back in 2010, the company began selling second-hand furniture online in Sweden.
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Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Would “The Second Hand Campaign” or something like it work for IKEA in the U.S.? Does this type of campaign offer an opportunity for other retailers?
Poll
Does the phrase “Craig’s List Killer” ring a bell?
I think IKEA needs to be very careful before it promotes a forum like this in the U.S. The great publicity associated with being a sustainable retailer could just as easily turn into a public relations nightmare with one incident.
The notion of product “life cycle” extending from the point of raw material sourcing through final disposition has a lot of traction across the world – except in America.
So yes, an approach where a retailer takes responsibility for – or at the very least facilitates – the transition of ownership from their customer to another household could potentially gain traction here.
This was a limited time campaign in Norway? Why was the program kept as an ongoing program?
It may work in the US as a one time event if consumers receive money to buy newer IKEA items. However, this activity is not a long-term resolution to a sustainable way of handling the disposition of products. As a one-time activity, it appears to be more a way to get consumers to purchase new products than a long-term concern about the disposition of products. As a one-time activity, the program may be perceived as a way to help out consumers but not as a sustainable environmental effort.
Like some another retailer we all know and love who is setting up used areas in their stores, IKEA could definitely pull it off and win.
Being such an iconic brand with a great reputation, people would not have to be sold a value proposition to purchase its lightly used products.
This is a win win!
This was a campaign, not a new offering or platform, so it feels like a bit of a gimmick. That being said, this could work in select markets in the US. Patagonia is already doing it in a more ongoing way with apparel.
A progressive company with the right demographic may be able to make a go of it. IKEA certainly looks like it fits the bill on both. The largest hurdle may be to the consumer who has to disassemble a piece of furniture.
Perhaps. Selling second-hand items in the USA might also decrease the sales of new products here, since most consumers prefer to purchase things from IKEA because they are easy to set up and relatively low cost.
J.Jill has an ongoing program that offers customers who bring in a “lightly used” J.Jill garment a 10% discount on one new item. The items are then donated to a charity. This is a great way to drive traffic and up-cycle clothing.
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Does the phrase “Craig’s List Killer” ring a bell?
I think IKEA needs to be very careful before it promotes a forum like this in the U.S. The great publicity associated with being a sustainable retailer could just as easily turn into a public relations nightmare with one incident.
The notion of product “life cycle” extending from the point of raw material sourcing through final disposition has a lot of traction across the world – except in America.
So yes, an approach where a retailer takes responsibility for – or at the very least facilitates – the transition of ownership from their customer to another household could potentially gain traction here.
This was a limited time campaign in Norway? Why was the program kept as an ongoing program?
It may work in the US as a one time event if consumers receive money to buy newer IKEA items. However, this activity is not a long-term resolution to a sustainable way of handling the disposition of products. As a one-time activity, it appears to be more a way to get consumers to purchase new products than a long-term concern about the disposition of products. As a one-time activity, the program may be perceived as a way to help out consumers but not as a sustainable environmental effort.
Like some another retailer we all know and love who is setting up used areas in their stores, IKEA could definitely pull it off and win.
Being such an iconic brand with a great reputation, people would not have to be sold a value proposition to purchase its lightly used products.
This is a win win!
This was a campaign, not a new offering or platform, so it feels like a bit of a gimmick. That being said, this could work in select markets in the US. Patagonia is already doing it in a more ongoing way with apparel.
A progressive company with the right demographic may be able to make a go of it. IKEA certainly looks like it fits the bill on both. The largest hurdle may be to the consumer who has to disassemble a piece of furniture.
Perhaps. Selling second-hand items in the USA might also decrease the sales of new products here, since most consumers prefer to purchase things from IKEA because they are easy to set up and relatively low cost.
J.Jill has an ongoing program that offers customers who bring in a “lightly used” J.Jill garment a 10% discount on one new item. The items are then donated to a charity. This is a great way to drive traffic and up-cycle clothing.