Ikea is ramping up its food offer with the roll out of its own label food range as well as trials of ready meals and organic lines within its shop-within-a-shop Swedish Food Markets.
UK food services manager Tony Bowsher said it would introduce 20 Ikea-branded products this year and 30 more during 2006.
Currently, it is trialling a number of lines, including herring, pizza and crayfish at its store in Edmonton, London.
They feature the traditional blue and yellow Ikea logo on pack, but Bowsher said the packaging design was likely to be significantly different as the roll out began. Icon products, such as crispbreads and biscuits will be among the first to receive the Ikea treatment.
The Grocer first revealed Ikea’s intention to move into own label food in July when Jan Kjellman, food services MD, said he was hoping to win over shoppers who eat in its restaurants to the food shops.
Ikea had also begun trialling unbranded ready meals, with its first line a signature dish of Swedish meatballs, and more were on the way, he added.
In addition, “assemble and dine” is to become a new area of focus for Ikea, creating individual item packs that are merchandised together, such as frozen meatballs, mashed potato and sauces, made to the retailer’s own recipes.
It is also trialling an organic line at Edmonton. The organic marmalade is to be flagged up with shelf-edge information, and will be the first in a new range.
Bowsher said he planned to better communicate the quality of its products more in-store and through the Ikea catalogue, as there was a risk that people would assume it was not high quality because it was low cost.
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