For big-box retailers, one of the longest-running experiments is shrinking
As shoppers search for deals this holiday season in an environment where less in price is more for many consumers, more Americans may find the square footage they visit in retail matching this “reduction” mantra.
As shoppers search for deals this holiday season in an environment where less in price is more for many consumers, more Americans may find the square footage they visit in retail matching this “reduction” mantra.
Ikea is known for its behemoth blue and yellow big box footprint, often sprawling to 300,000 square feet in suburbia. But when they opened an 8,800-square-foot store in Gaithersburg, Maryland, earlier this year, they joined the latest in a long line of retailers to embrace a smaller-is-bigger strategy. Target, Macy’s, Nordstrom, and others have experimented with small format stores over the past decade. Kmart’s lone remaining U.S. outpost in Miami is a third of the size of its once dominant big boxes.
Chain store experiments with smaller formats go back to at least 2011, when Walmart introduced a “Walmart Express” concept to compete with dollar stores, but shelved the format five years later. Walmart has continued to open smaller format Neighbor Market concepts.
For Ikea, the smaller format stores are part of bringing the brand to where their customers are. Two more smaller format Ikeas opened this autumn, one in Alpharetta, Georgia, and the other in South Charlotte, North Carolina, bringing the total to 11.
“A Plan and Order point with Pick-up is one of many new format stores that are part of the growth strategy for Ikea U.S.— increasing accessibility to the brand and ensuring there are more ways to meet customers where they are and how they like to shop,” an Ikea spokesman said, saying that the smaller stores offer a more personalized experience.
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