IKEA has acquired TaskRabbit!
The Swedish retailer released a press release on Thursday evening saying “IKEA Group (Ingka Holding B.V. and its controlled entities), the world’s largest home furnishing retailer, has signed a conditional agreement to acquire 100% of the shares in TaskRabbit, Inc., an on-demand services platform company. TaskRabbit currently operates in the United States and London (UK) and will continue to function as an independent company.”
Although most Swedes have a Ph.D. in IKEA furniture assembling, the rest of the world is still trying to get a hang of it, or most likely just giving up as Assembling Ikea furniture is the most requested job on the TaskRabbit platform.
So what does this mean for IKEA shoppers?
This means that it will get way easier for Ikea customers in London locations, and all over the United States, to get someone over pronto to put together your Ikea furniture. Yes, you heard me. You don’t ever have to deal with that swirly manual screwdriver ever again.
It also means that Ikea is gearing up to take a step further into the digital world, probably feeling a bit stressed to do so by competitor Amazon.
“We will be able to learn from TaskRabbit’s digital expertise, while also providing IKEA customers additional ways to access flexible and affordable service solutions to meet the needs of today’s customer,” said Jesper Brodin, president, and CEO of IKEA Group, in the press release.
I suppose they felt that the assembly videos they posted on youtube just weren’t enough.
Good things ahead for Ikea! Now can you please also hear our prayers and create an online shop for your food, please? Thanks!
