From the showroom to a virtual room: Enhancing the customer experience with virtual reality.

Sitting in the Brimnes meeting room in their Hognoul offices near Liège, Philippe Delvenne, Marketing and Sustainability Manager at IKEA, pondered the future of the consumer experience at IKEA. In a world facing constant digital disruptions and evolutions, bringing novelty and excitement to consumers was a constant challenge to stay ahead of the curve. Nonetheless, digital innovation could not be implemented on a whim: they had to be thought-through, realistic and add real value to consumers. Further, Philippe’s hands were often tied, as big digital innovations had go through a large amount of corporate levels and boards, and be approved by IKEA’s headquarters in Sweden. Philippe’s intuition leaned toward a more interactive and digitalized consumer experience, where immersive technologies would seamlessly integrate with real-life visits and purchases. In his vision, virtual reality (VR) could offer clear advantages, like in other sectors such as tourism or gaming. It was just a matter of finding the right approach and convincing his board of the added value of VR experience for IKEA consumers.