IKEA Latest Big Retailer to Look to Americas for Sourcing

Worried about global politics, the big international home furnishings retailer is looking to develop more production in the Americas.

As shifting political and social issues change the face of global sourcing models, Ikea is the latest big retailer that wants to increase the amount of goods it gets from factories in the Americas.

Right now, according to a recent Financial Times report, the retailer gets about 10 percent of the merchandise it sells in the Americas from local resources, totaling about 50 suppliers.

“One of the markets where we have less regional presence when it comes to production footprint is North America,” said Susanne Waidzunas, global supply manager for Inter Ikea, the chain’s parent company. “There we do have extra efforts put into reviewing how we could increase our footprint. We see a lot of opportunities in South and Central America.”

In the Financial Times interview, she said there is a “permanent shift” in the global sourcing model and that the company needs to adapt to meet these changing conditions. “We need to get used to a more volatile and, I would say, dynamic world.”

She mentioned the terrorist attacks in shipping lanes in the Middle East stemming from the war in Gaza and the aftershocks of the Covid pandemic as well as the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The newspaper calls Ikea “the latest international group to consider bringing production closer to the U.S., a leading consumer market.”Waidzunas said the American market was “very dependent on ocean flows,” which is why it is rethinking its global sourcing strategy and looking to place more emphasis on nearshoring models.