Plush. Luxurious. Temporary... For $34/month in Holland, you get a bed, desk, table, and chairs. Ikea's now shipping that idea to 29 more countries. It copies the home-y rental partnership between Rent the Runway and West Elm (owned by Williams-Sonoma), and is fueled by demand for subscriptions over ownership.
2 distinct customer types... Many millions of customers. And they all want flexibility. Thanks to Task Rabbit, the gig handyman app Ikea acquired in 2017, these potential furniture renters don't even need to assemble the stuff. Or pronounce Äpplarö.
- College students don't want to buy couches that they'll have to toss on Craigslist two semesters later.
- Startups don't want to waste investor money on desks when the venture could fail before the launch party.
So many trends coming together... Ikea's pouring resources into scaling its anti-ownership rental plan. That's because it snugly fits in with 3 key current themes of twenty and thirty somethings:
- Transient: When you're bouncing city-to-city, you don't want the cost and weight of a dresser with you.
- Not rich: That 1.5-month security deposit was expensive enough.
- Environmentally conscious: Ikea's CEO wants designs like its Poäng armchair to embrace recyclable parts thanks to the new initiative. And to reuse furniture when the rental’s up.