If you have ever purchased Ikea furniture, you understand the struggle of trying to assemble it. The “simple” diagrams are not easy to follow, some of the screws or nails go missing, and sometimes the piece falls apart after you finish building it.
Ikea is hoping to solve this problem for future buyers with its acquisition of TaskRabbit, a platform that connects freelance workers to jobs. The idea is that you’ll buy the furniture from Ikea, and then hire a Tasker from TaskRabbit to build it for you. TaskRabbit and Ikea already have a pilot partnership to assemble furniture in the UK.
The deal is a great example of acquiring to meet the needs of your customers, which is critical to long-term success. Existing Ikea customers are probably already using TaskRabbit or other services to find handy workers to build their furniture so it makes sense that Ikea would take advantage of the opportunity to make it easier for consumers to build their bookcases, shelves, and sofas.
Additionally, the deal allows Ikea to step into the gig economy and beef up its technological capabilities. “We will be able to learn from TaskRabbit’s digital expertise, while also providing IKEA customers additional ways to access flexible and affordable service solutions to meet the needs of today’s customer,” says Jesper Brodin, President and CEO of IKEA Group.
With Ikea, TaskRabbit will gain greater exposure to potential customers who may require other services Taskers are able to provide like cleaning, moving and packing, yardwork, and other home improvement projects.
We’ll have to wait to see how Ikea integrates TaskRabbit, but for now you can rest easy, knowing the next time you buy an Ikea bookshelf the unpleasant task of assembling the project will be in someone else’s good hands.
