TOKYO, Oct. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Ingka Group[1] (Ingka Holding B.V. and its affiliates), the parent company of IKEA Japan, the Japanese subsidiary of IKEA, a Swedish home furnishing company with a vision of "creating a better everyday life for the many people," has announced that this year, in celebration of Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year worldwide, they will be running a furniture buyback campaign called "Buyback Friday" to meet customer needs and contribute to the circular economy.
For the first time in its 77-year history, IKEA will be running the #BuybackFriday campaign in 27 IKEA stores around the world, buying back thousands of unwanted furniture items and giving them to new customers who need them. Products that are deemed unsalable will be recycled responsibly.
In Japan, the campaign, known as "Sustainable Week," will run from November 26th to December 6th. (Details of the campaign in Japan will be announced at a later date.) This campaign, in which furniture is purchased from customers and resold, is one of Ingka Group's efforts to further develop its circular services and promote sustainable consumption.
Stefan Vanoverbeke, Deputy Manager of Retail Operations at Ingka Group, said: "IKEA wants to offer sustainable solutions for our customers' loved furniture, even the furniture they've used for a long time. By looking at how our customers bring new things into their homes, how they use them and how they repurpose them when they no longer need them, we are exploring new business models, aiming to offer a service that is scalable and commercially viable. So this Black Friday, rather than encouraging impulse buys, we want to help our customers give their furniture a second life."
Ingka Group, and IKEA as a whole, aims to be a circular, climate-positive business by 2030*, and this includes making all IKEA products from renewable or recycled materials. Transforming our retail operations is an essential part of reaching our goal.
Currently, 45% of global carbon emissions come from the production and use of everyday items, including furniture**. Through this campaign, we aim to encourage people to adopt more sustainable consumption practices and provide an opportunity to reflect on the environmental impact of their consumption on the biggest shopping day of the year.
Ingka Group is exploring new solutions to make circular consumption more accessible and convenient for customers***. Last year, we collected, repackaged, and resold products, giving 47 million items a second life.
"IKEA's vision of 'making everyday life better for the many people' means making sustainable lifestyles easier and more affordable. Climate change is calling for a fundamental rethinking of our consumption habits, so a circular economy not only represents a new business opportunity, but also a personal responsibility," says Pia Heidenmark Cook, Chief Sustainability Officer, Ingka Group. "A circular economy can only be achieved through cooperation and investment between customers, businesses, local communities and governments. Together, we can create a cycle where we eliminate waste and repair, reuse, repair and recycle."
IKEA continues to take action on climate change. We support the development of the European Green Deal recovery bill and are committed to supporting the transition to a climate-neutral and circular economy, constantly seeking solutions for our customers, local communities, co-workers and the planet as we work towards halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 as outlined in the Exponential Climate Roadmap****.
[1] Ingka Group operates as a franchisee in the IKEA franchise system and operates 380 IKEA stores in 30 countries. Ingka Group has three business areas: IKEA Retail, Ingka Investments and Ingka Centres.
*Becoming climate positive means reducing greenhouse gases beyond what our value chain emits. We go beyond just one company by reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, storing carbon in our land, factories and products, and addressing our larger footprint than our value chain, working with others to achieve a 1.5°C world. Read more about IKEA's commitment here. (English site: https://about.ikea.com/en/sustainability/becoming-climate-positive)
**Ellen MacArthur Foundation Circular Economy and Climate Change 2019 report. (English site: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/Completing_The_Picture_How_The_Circular_Economy-_Tackles_Climate_Change_V3_26_September.pdf)
***At Ingka Group, we design our products circularly by extending the life of our products through repair, reuse, refurbishment and recycling, and exploring how we can turn these insights into achievable, high-growth propositions.
****The Exponential Climate Action Roadmap outlines the global economic transformation needed by 2030 to meet the requirements of the Paris Climate Agreement.
• IKEA Australia has taken back more than 10,000 pieces of furniture through its furniture buy-back service, preventing more than 100 tonnes of product from ending up in landfill. The service has been available in 10 stores since October 2019.
•IKEA Belgium offers customers various options to give their furniture a second life (e.g., reselling, repairing, returning, or donating old furniture to charity).
• IKEA Sweden is working with Blocket.se, an online classifieds marketplace, to encourage customers to buy and sell second-hand products. It has also organized a Family Mega Event, focusing on product circulation and textile takeback. This autumn, the world's first second-hand IKEA store (https://www.ingka.com/news/worlds-first-second-hand-ikea-store-to-open-in-sweden/) will open in a shopping centre in Stockholm.
• IKEA France's Circular Hub in Reims sells affordable second-hand items and offers workshops on how to maintain products.
• IKEA Japan offers a furniture buyback service. Since the service launched, we have purchased and passed on over 13,000 items.
About the Ingka Group
The Ingka Group (Ingka Holding B.V. and businesses managed by Ingka Holding B.V.) is one of 12 different corporate groups that own and operate IKEA retail businesses under franchise agreements with Inter IKEA Systems B.V. The Ingka Group consists of three businesses: IKEA Retail, Ingka Investments, and Ingka Centres. Ingka Group is a strategic partner in the IKEA franchise business and operates 380 IKEA stores in 30 countries. In 2019 so far, our stores have attracted a total of approximately 839 million customers, and approximately 2.6 billion people have visited www.IKEA.com. The Ingka Group operates under the IKEA vision ("Creating a better everyday life for the many people"), delivering products that combine excellent design, functionality, quality, and sustainability at affordable prices to as many people as possible.
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For the first time in its 77-year history, IKEA will be running the #BuybackFriday campaign in 27 IKEA stores around the world, buying back thousands of unwanted furniture items and giving them to new customers who need them. Products that are deemed unsalable will be recycled responsibly.
In Japan, the campaign, known as "Sustainable Week," will run from November 26th to December 6th. (Details of the campaign in Japan will be announced at a later date.) This campaign, in which furniture is purchased from customers and resold, is one of Ingka Group's efforts to further develop its circular services and promote sustainable consumption.
Stefan Vanoverbeke, Deputy Manager of Retail Operations at Ingka Group, said: "IKEA wants to offer sustainable solutions for our customers' loved furniture, even the furniture they've used for a long time. By looking at how our customers bring new things into their homes, how they use them and how they repurpose them when they no longer need them, we are exploring new business models, aiming to offer a service that is scalable and commercially viable. So this Black Friday, rather than encouraging impulse buys, we want to help our customers give their furniture a second life."
Ingka Group, and IKEA as a whole, aims to be a circular, climate-positive business by 2030*, and this includes making all IKEA products from renewable or recycled materials. Transforming our retail operations is an essential part of reaching our goal.
Currently, 45% of global carbon emissions come from the production and use of everyday items, including furniture**. Through this campaign, we aim to encourage people to adopt more sustainable consumption practices and provide an opportunity to reflect on the environmental impact of their consumption on the biggest shopping day of the year.
Ingka Group is exploring new solutions to make circular consumption more accessible and convenient for customers***. Last year, we collected, repackaged, and resold products, giving 47 million items a second life.
"IKEA's vision of 'making everyday life better for the many people' means making sustainable lifestyles easier and more affordable. Climate change is calling for a fundamental rethinking of our consumption habits, so a circular economy not only represents a new business opportunity, but also a personal responsibility," says Pia Heidenmark Cook, Chief Sustainability Officer, Ingka Group. "A circular economy can only be achieved through cooperation and investment between customers, businesses, local communities and governments. Together, we can create a cycle where we eliminate waste and repair, reuse, repair and recycle."
IKEA continues to take action on climate change. We support the development of the European Green Deal recovery bill and are committed to supporting the transition to a climate-neutral and circular economy, constantly seeking solutions for our customers, local communities, co-workers and the planet as we work towards halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 as outlined in the Exponential Climate Roadmap****.
[1] Ingka Group operates as a franchisee in the IKEA franchise system and operates 380 IKEA stores in 30 countries. Ingka Group has three business areas: IKEA Retail, Ingka Investments and Ingka Centres.
*Becoming climate positive means reducing greenhouse gases beyond what our value chain emits. We go beyond just one company by reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, storing carbon in our land, factories and products, and addressing our larger footprint than our value chain, working with others to achieve a 1.5°C world. Read more about IKEA's commitment here. (English site: https://about.ikea.com/en/sustainability/becoming-climate-positive)
**Ellen MacArthur Foundation Circular Economy and Climate Change 2019 report. (English site: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/Completing_The_Picture_How_The_Circular_Economy-_Tackles_Climate_Change_V3_26_September.pdf)
***At Ingka Group, we design our products circularly by extending the life of our products through repair, reuse, refurbishment and recycling, and exploring how we can turn these insights into achievable, high-growth propositions.
****The Exponential Climate Action Roadmap outlines the global economic transformation needed by 2030 to meet the requirements of the Paris Climate Agreement.
• IKEA Australia has taken back more than 10,000 pieces of furniture through its furniture buy-back service, preventing more than 100 tonnes of product from ending up in landfill. The service has been available in 10 stores since October 2019.
•IKEA Belgium offers customers various options to give their furniture a second life (e.g., reselling, repairing, returning, or donating old furniture to charity).
• IKEA Sweden is working with Blocket.se, an online classifieds marketplace, to encourage customers to buy and sell second-hand products. It has also organized a Family Mega Event, focusing on product circulation and textile takeback. This autumn, the world's first second-hand IKEA store (https://www.ingka.com/news/worlds-first-second-hand-ikea-store-to-open-in-sweden/) will open in a shopping centre in Stockholm.
• IKEA France's Circular Hub in Reims sells affordable second-hand items and offers workshops on how to maintain products.
• IKEA Japan offers a furniture buyback service. Since the service launched, we have purchased and passed on over 13,000 items.
About the Ingka Group
The Ingka Group (Ingka Holding B.V. and businesses managed by Ingka Holding B.V.) is one of 12 different corporate groups that own and operate IKEA retail businesses under franchise agreements with Inter IKEA Systems B.V. The Ingka Group consists of three businesses: IKEA Retail, Ingka Investments, and Ingka Centres. Ingka Group is a strategic partner in the IKEA franchise business and operates 380 IKEA stores in 30 countries. In 2019 so far, our stores have attracted a total of approximately 839 million customers, and approximately 2.6 billion people have visited www.IKEA.com. The Ingka Group operates under the IKEA vision ("Creating a better everyday life for the many people"), delivering products that combine excellent design, functionality, quality, and sustainability at affordable prices to as many people as possible.
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