“Yandex.Market” redeemed all unsold IKEA products

Online retailer «Yandex.Market has agreed to buy out all IKEA products remaining in Russia, the Russian company said in a statement. The documents were signed on 16 November.

It is specified that the agreement covers more than 20 million products in all categories that are presented in the Swedish network, including home accessories and soft toys. Yandex.Market announced that it would launch the sale of these products before the end of the year. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

“Yandex.Market will act as a seller of these goods, so we will try to provide attractive prices for buyers,” a representative of the marketplace explained. At the same time, Yandex.Market cannot control the prices of goods from third-party sellers. The Home Goods category has become one of the growth drivers of the service’s (GMV) turnover in Q3 2022. In general, in 2022, the share of the direction is 21% of the total GMV of Yandex.Market, according to the company.

General Director of Infoline-analytics Mikhail Burmistrov considers the deal very successful for Yandex.Market and profitable for IKEA, and doubts that the goods were transferred to Yandex at a big discount during its conclusion. The expert believes that the decision is beneficial for IKEA, which minimizes the cost of leaving the country, and Yandex gains a competitive advantage in the fight against larger market players Ozon and Wildberries.

According to Burmistrov, the purchase of inventory balances in the horizon of the current quarter and the first quarter of 2023 will allow Yandex.Market to significantly increase turnover in the Home Goods category and compete more effectively for sellers. A number of suppliers who previously worked with IKEA will have an additional interest in working with Yandex: it will show similar products using a recommender system, which will increase sales, incl. third-party sellers, the expert explains.

Data Insight partner Boris Ovchinnikov believes that Yandex will use a flexible approach to pricing, when bulky and rarely bought goods are sold at a big discount, while hot goods, especially all sorts of decorative trifles, will be sold at a noticeable markup. “This is necessary not only to make money, but also to stretch the balances for a longer time, so that you can say “buy IKEA goods on Yandex.market,” the expert believes.

Earlier, Wildberries bought out the inventory of the Inditex group in Russia (brands Zara, Stradivarius, etc.), and Yandex.Market bought the stock of the sports retailer Decathlon. This allowed Wildberries to get very good additional growth dynamics in the fashion category, and the previous deal was also successful for Yandex, Burmistrov believes.

IKEA products began to be sold in a special section on the Yandex.Market website in early August. Then it was reported that products from 11 IKEA suppliers, including from foreign partners, were on sale.

On March 4, IKEA temporarily closed its stores in Russia amid Russia’s NWO in Ukraine, logistical problems and sanctions. In mid-June, it became known that the company was looking for buyers for its four factories in Russia, as well as reducing staff and selling off the rest of the goods. The sales took place in the summer, after which IKEA began the process of completely closing stores and liquidating the Ikea Dom legal entity, which was responsible for the development of the retail network.

In 2021, the turnover of the Russian “daughter” of IKEA “IKEA Dom”, which owned the group’s stores, amounted to 157.2 billion rubles. according to RAS, and net profit – 7.7 billion rubles, follows from the data of SPARK-Interfax. In total, IKEA had 26 stores and studios in 12 Russian cities.

Mega shopping centers, also owned by the IKEA-owning Ingka Centers group, continue to operate. From September 1, IKEA factories also resumed their activities as part of pre-sale preparation. They can be redeemed AFK SistemaVedomosti wrote earlier after a conversation with Vladimir Yevtushenkov.