Ikea confirms supply disruption hampering product flow to Ireland

Ikea has admitted that supply chain disruption has hit its Irish business. The Swedish furniture retailer said currently product availability is down by around 10% across its Ireland and UK stores.

Ikea is the latest company to warn of supply chain disruption affecting its Irish operations, with a significant portion of its normal product range currently unavailable to customers in Ireland.

The Swedish homeware retail giant – which operates a huge store in Ballymun in north Dublin and a click-and-collect operation in Carrickmines in south Dublin – said earlier this week that it was suffering supply chain issues and was struggling to meet high demand for certain products, most notably mattresses, especially in the UK.

A company spokesperson has confirmed that Ireland has also been hit.

They said – largely due to the effects of the pandemic – Ikea’s normal product flow across Ireland and the UK has been disrupted, with an estimated 10% of goods currently unavailable to customers in both countries.

“Like many retailers, we are experiencing ongoing challenges with our supply chains due to Covid-19 and labour shortages, with transport, raw materials and sourcing all impacted. 

"In addition, we are seeing higher customer demand as more people are spending more time at home," the spokesperson said.

“As a result, we are experiencing low availability in some of our ranges with approximately 10% unavailable," they said.

The company apologised to customers for any inconvenience caused and said it hopes the level of product unavailability will reduce "as the situation improves in the coming weeks and months". 

"Going forward, we’re constantly looking for more opportunities to secure product availability for our customers,” the company said.

Ikea recently posted profits of €3.7m for its Irish operations for the 12 months to the end of August 2020. That was down from nearly €11.1m generated in the preceding 12 months. 

Revenues also declined – by as much as 13% - from €203.5m to €176.6m. 

The company noted that a rise in online sales during the pandemic lockdowns only partially offsetted the sales decline.

A move from the UK to Belgium for Ikea’s distribution source into Ireland, in direct response to Brexit, brought about “initial disruption” to supply flows due to red tape.

But, the retail giant said it had not had a significant impact on the overall business.