IKEA’s stores are not like any other furniture stores; they are a destination in itself. Singles, couples and families make a devoted commitment to go there specially that they’re located far away from the city centres. IKEA takes this brand loyalty seriously and in fact, the motivation for opening Dubai’s second store was so that customers living nearer to Jebel Ali would not have as far to travel for their IKEA shopping experience. In addition to thanking their customers with a brand-new store, IKEA wanted to reward them with a distinctive brand experience for all the time and effort they have invested over the years getting to IKEA’s first store instead of seeking out convenient alternatives.
Describe the strategy
In order to recognize IKEA’s loyal customers from singles to couples to families, especially Arab expats and Asians, it was only right to to reward them by repaying them for the time spent reaching IKEA’s stores, helping the Dubai community to make the most out of the precious time they have. This was amplified by creating a seamless brand experience, from effortlessly being able to find how much time they spent on previous IKEA trips through an application they already have (Google Maps) to delightfully finding the products in-store with the time currency implemented to showing it to the cashier in-store who converted their time into the currency they can use to buy IKEA products.
Describe the execution
The activation took place on 18th of December in the day of the second store opening in Jebel Ali. Once the Jebel Ali store doors opened, the customers were able to find how much they spent on previous trips from Google Maps Timeline and then shop with their converted time currency by finding the price placements for IKEA selected products as time currencies. Seamlessly going from department to another, they were delighted to see different products as returns for their time spent on their previous IKEA trips, pick it up and feel rewarded.
List the results
The activation resulted in 30% increase in store footfall compared to our KPI in one day.