What: A new initiative in terms of circular economy.

Why it is important: An option to buy back second hand products and grant customers store credits could be an interesting initiative to look at by department stores.

Ikea has launched a new service, allowing customers to re-sell their used pieces of furniture to the company. This test is part of a series of initiatives towards circularity as Ikea aims to be carbon positive by the end of the decade.

This service is proposed in several countries (US, UK, Singapore) and Ikea has launched a pilot store in the US where second-hand units will be resold.

The process is simple: customers have to fill in a form describing the state of the product (only some categories are for the moment covered), then the product is checked when brought in the store. If it is accepted, the customer receives a store credit and Ikea will refurbish the returned piece (to make sure it is safe to be sold, excluding any cosmetic repairs) and sell it ‘as is’.

The US store will serve as a testing ground for seemingly simple questions, such as to know if second hand products should be sold assembled or in flat packs like new products.

Ikea is launching a furniture buyback program