IKEA Retail (Ingka Group)

Deepening Customer Engagement with IKEA Retail

frog and IKEA Retail (Ingka Group) worked together to transform an underutilized customer club into a core part of its customer engagement strategy

Creating a more rewarding experience

Inspired to create a better everyday life for the many people, IKEA Retail (Ingka Group) brings the IKEA brand to millions globally. IKEA has long instilled trust with customers for providing affordable, innovative furnishings worldwide. With 180+ million members, if IKEA’s iconic customer club, IKEA Family, was a country it would be the eighth largest in the world by population. IKEA came to frog to craft a revitalized membership experience that actively engages its members through rewards and utilizes its vast home furnishing expertise.

frog collaborated with IKEA growth and marketing stakeholders from both retail and digital to design and build the technical solution, help shape core operational components and ultimately to create a more rewarding experience throughout the project journey. Our teams launched customer trials in Sweden and Spain, before establishing a full pilot in Portugal. The result is rewards from IKEA Family: a proposition and global rewards framework which operates as a consistent way of recognizing customer loyalty, whilst offering local countries flexibility to adjust the ways customers can collect points, as well as the rewards they can access.

The extensive research and customer testing conducted by frog led us to build a proposition on the premise that the home is never done. Rewards from IKEA Family focuses on helping customers bring their home furnishing dreams to life, no matter the size of their wallet or the scale of their ambitions. Whether it’s a large renovation or a seasonal refresh, there are always ways in which people can create a better life at home. The home is one of the biggest investments that people have—financially and emotionally—and improving it is a continuous goal, yet many people lack the tools and/or the confidence to realize their home furnishing vision.

frog identified that the opportunity lay in helping people with these home transformations and in supporting the customer’s home furnishing journeys to turn their dreams into reality. IKEA are now able to reward customers for getting help and advice using IKEA’s various planning and design tools and services, as well as for the purchases they make. Through this collaboration, IKEA Family transformed from a transactional-based to an engagement-driven membership system, further strengthening its brand image.

In 2022, following the launch of rewards from IKEA, IKEA Italy and IKEA Portugal saw active members increase by 11%, plus an 8% rise in share of linked sales. In fiscal year 2023, IKEA Portugal enjoyed a +37x ROI factor.*

*Stated figures include results until end of April 2023.

Unlocking rewards

How does it work?

IKEA Family customers collect points which they can use to unlock a variety of helpful rewards. Customers can collect points by making online or in-store purchases, attending events, booking planning sessions, saving wish lists, or simply logging into their account. As their collection grows, the points unlock helpful rewards designed to bring ideas to life. Ranging from design advice to product discounts, delivery and assembly services, to a free meal in the IKEA restaurant, rewards from IKEA Family is intended to give members the help they need to bring their dreams at home to life.

Unlike most high street reward schemes, rewards from IKEA Family helps the many by giving members points for their engagement as well as spend. It recognises customers for their loyalty and strengthens their relationship with IKEA, even if they never make a purchase, ultimately promoting long-term customer lifetime value. With this proposition, IKEA has unlimited potential to really drive value home for consumers all over the world.

Members have access to many different rewards to help bring their dreams to life
Rewards are personal, and this new offering allows customers to choose something that works for them, when they need it
Video_Cover_Reward_keys_IKEA
Play
This might be a world first in terms of the really thoughtful approach to creating and rewarding customer loyalty

Paula Thomas, ‘Let’s Talk Loyalty’ podcast

  • Delivering at scale

    Project highlights

  • Challenge

    Growing IKEA Family’s impact

    IKEA saw that their customer club had potential to engage more members, in more meaningful ways. They wanted a new rewards concept that would activate support and recruit members towards the highest form of engagement—their home furnishing project journeys.

  • Solution

    Transforming engagement-driven loyalty

    frog collaborated with IKEA to research, design and create a global rewards framework operating as a consistent way of rewarding customers across every country, whilst offering local countries flexibility to adjust.

  • Outcomes

    Substantial growth, increased engagement

    After trials in Sweden and Spain, rewards from IKEA Family has launched in Portugal, Italy, Australia, UK, Ireland and Germany. frog continues to support Ingka as part of the deployment to all remaining Ingka markets, ensuring customers globally can benefit from a more rewarding experience.

Expanding to engage the “many people”

The new proposition is a huge success; IKEA has seen advances and growth across multiple metrics of its membership program since this revitalization was launched. We have already impacted key drivers around engagement and commercial performance. In 2022, following the launch of rewards from IKEA Family, IKEA Italy and IKEA Portugal saw active members increase by 11%, plus an 8% rise in share of linked sales. In fiscal year 2023, IKEA Portugal enjoyed a +37x ROI factor.


Rewards from IKEA Family continues to further the brand’s mission that has always had a simple, straightforward goal in mind: to create a better everyday life for the many people through not only their products, but also the experiences and services around those products as well. Through rewards from IKEA Family, frog helped deliver the first step in evolving IKEA Family from a high-potential but underutilized customer club to a global rewards framework for all its customers.

IKEA’s expansion of the rewards program shows confidence in the potential transformation to drive its membership engagement strategy forward and deepen relationships with customers.

Note: The images presented here are mock-ups and not reflective of the final solution.

Cookies settings were saved successfully!