Furniture and homewares giant IKEA has brought a bright yellow telephone box to the Sunshine Coast in a bid to spruik its online offerings.
Located outside Alex Surf Club, when visitors step into the telephone box they can use a tablet mounted inside that has a direct line to the IKEA customer centre.
IKEA selling manager Gary Cocks said the phone box would show visitors how to interact and shop via the remote shopping channel, which is available by phone and internet.
“We know customers love the unique experience of coming to a physical IKEA store but we also know that especially for our customers living in a regional city or town around Australia it’s often not practical to visit us in person,” he said.
The nearest IKEA store to the Sunshine Coast is at North Lakes in Brisbane’s north. Sunshine Coast News asked if there was plans to expand to the Coast in the future.
“While we currently have no plans to announce for a physical IKEA store for the Sunshine Coast, we are constantly researching where our customer need is the greatest to inform our expansion strategy, and this can involve looking at potential physical sites in many locations across the country,” a spokesperson said.
Mr Cocks said the phone booth would also be visiting Newcastle and Geelong in coming weeks.
“By introducing remote shopping, we want to create the experience of having the home furnishing expertise IKEA is known and loved for on-hand for our customers regardless of where they are in Australia,” he said.
“Many of our customers are unaware of our remote shopping offer, so the phone booth is a great way to raise awareness of the many ways to shop with IKEA.
“We have a long-term ambition that 10 per cent of all sales will come from remote shopping. It is a real game-changer for IKEA Australia, making it easy and convenient for the many people to buy from IKEA, whenever, wherever and however they like.”
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