December 10, 2020 Meet & Greet with Konrad Grüss, Managing Director of Inter IKEA Systems B.V.

On December 10, 2020 the Swedish Chamber hosted our last event for 2020 by welcoming Konrad Grüss, Managing Director of Inter IKEA Systems B.V to a Meet & Greet with the Chamber. Konrad Grüss gave an inspiring presentation both about his personal journey covering 25 years of IKEA and about the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on a global business-like IKEA. He revealed how IKEA – as a group- performed in 2020 and how they managed this extraordinary and challenging year and put the safety and wellbeing of customers and co-workers at the heart of IKEA’s response.

Despite the pandemic, Inter IKEA Group achieved a solid financial result in FY20. When the lockdowns began, Inter IKEA Group took several measures to ensure the safety and security of coworkers and customers and mitigate the negative consequences of the pandemic. Following the fast and strong recovery of retail sales, Inter IKEA Group delivered better results than projected. “We’ve opened 33 new locations worldwide, hosted 4 billion website visits and launched more than 2,000 great new products” says Konrad. All this led to total IKEA retail sales of EUR 39.6 billion for FY20 and investments to support a healthy recovery. “At IKEA we are eager to turn a challenge into an opportunity, he concluded. Looking ahead IKEA will continue their road forward by making IKEA affordable for people who cannot afford IKEA today, reach and interact with many more of the many people, where they are and to create a positive impact for people, society and the planet.

The Swedish Chamber of Commerce would like to thank Konrad Grüss for his inspiring presentation and for his great support to the activities of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in the Netherlands. We would also like to thank all participants in this Round Table for the interesting questions and for your contribution to making the last Round Table of 2020 to a great success.