The Swedish multinational continues with tests to innovate its services and better provide a better experience to its customers. Now the bet goes through the sector with the acquisition of TaskRabbit, the online platform dedicated to connecting professionals in the home repair industry with customers who need their services.
According to the official announcement, Ikea has bought 100% of the shares of the American TaskRabbit, but notes that it will continue to operate independently.
Ikea buys the TaskRabbit platform to offer the furniture assembly service
“By belonging to the Ikea Group, TaskRabbit will be able to achieve even greater goals, increase the potential earnings of the “Taskers” (workers of the collaborative company), and offer consumers a wider range of affordable services”, Philpot via a press release.
Once the acquisition is complete, Ikea will be able to offer its customers the services that TaskRabbit provides, which makes a lot of sense considering that most Ikea furniture is delivered disassembled, and help is often needed to assemble them. In addition to this feature, Ikea customers will be able to use the platform for any home repair or service: from water leaks, moving help, gardening help, to anything that needs fixing.
In fact last December, Ikea successfully tested the platformputting the talent offered by TaskRabbit at the service of its clients to assemble newly acquired furniture in London.
Ikea’s effort to integrate into the digital world
Jesper BrodinCEO of Ikea: “In a rapidly changing environment, we continually strive to develop new and improved products and services to make our customers’ lives a little easier. Entering the demanded collaborative economy allows us to provide support. We’ll be able to learn from TaskRabbit’s digital experts, while providing Ikea customers with alternative, flexible and affordable solutions capable of meeting their needs.
TaskRabbit was founded nine years ago in San Francisco, where it is still based, and is currently present in 40 US cities and Londonbut they plan to expand to new markets soon.
The financial terms of this agreement have not been disclosed, but the fact is that TaskRabbit has already raised $38 million (around 32 million euros) in different rounds of financing led by companies such as Founders Fund, Firts Round, Floodgate and others.
Although Ikea’s main focus is still its physical stores, it has recently made the determination to shore up your digital presencefrom starting the sale of its furniture, studying the idea of its products, to developing an augmented reality app helping its consumers to visualize the furniture in their homes.
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