IKEA product shortages could last until summer 2022

Ikea has revealed that shortages of around 1000 of its products are forecast to last until next summer in the UK. The news comes while tens of thousands of containers continue to congest ports around the country, which are delaying the process of bringing goods to the shelves. 

Whether you’re ready to renovate your living room or experiment with an IKEA hack – you may need to wait for several more months, as the chief executive of Inter Ikea (owner of the Ikea brand), Jon Abrahamsson Ring, predicted the shortage could last until the end of August. 

In conversation with the Financial Times, Jon shared that the limited availability and raw materials challenge will ‘continue for the better part, if not the whole, of [the financial year to the end of August].’ This is longer than the brand anticipated at the start of the stock crisis. 

Ikea has already purchased additional shipping containers and charter vessels in a bid to improve the stock crisis. However, the traffic in the port in Felixstowe means IKEA (like many other retailers) continues to face a shortage – and may continue to do so for as many as ten months into the future. 

The problem at the Sussex port comes from a shortage of lorry drivers – as a result of the pandemic and business problems following Brexit. These factors are causing problems with supply chains that are consequently affecting the modern decor label. 

In his interview, Jon added that IKEA was unlikely to make significant changes to its supply chain – as the brand continues to work through a surge in demand that came from the Covid lockdowns in 2020. 

He says the brand will ‘continue to work very closely with a focused number of suppliers’ to ensure they work through the shortage as efficiently as possible. 

'Like many retailers, we are experiencing ongoing challenges with our supply chains due to a combination of factors including COVID-19, Brexit, and HGV driver shortages, with raw materials, production, and transportation all having been impacted,' an IKEA spokesman also shared with Livingetc.

The spokesperson continues: 'As a result, we are experiencing unavailability across some of our ranges, and apologies for the inconvenience this might cause.'

'Since the start of the pandemic, we have explored and implemented alternative routes, including increasing transportation by rail, to secure the best possible product availability for our customers,' they add. 

Across all 22 of its UK stores, IKEA reported that they are experiencing ‘low availability in some ranges, including mattresses’ meaning your modern bedroom ideas may need to remain on hold for a little while longer.