IKEA brought entertainment directly into the physical space, by hosting a live music festival right in the store! Music fans could select an IKEA chair on the ecommerce website to get a ticket. Then the chair they chose became their seat during the concert. Concert wristbands also gave consumers discounts on other purchases.

By dramatically changing the shopping experience and designing a surprising new user journey, IKEA created a powerful incentive for consumers who seldom set foot in their brick-and-mortar locations to make a real-world visit, driving purchases in store.

As the pandemic impacted society over the past two years, people in Taiwan increasingly came to rely on the convenience of online shopping. This trend reduced the number of customers visiting IKEA Taiwan’s physical stores. As a result, the atmosphere in stores began to feel more cheerless and lonely, and sales took a hit. Making people fall in love again by visiting IKEA stores became the brand’s most pressing mission in 2022.

What if a chair at IKEA could be a ticket to a concert?

Introducing “Couchella”: a 4-day music festival happening right inside IKEA, where the chair you choose from the store becomes your actual seat for the show!

According to previous research, the longer consumers spend in IKEA stores, the more they spend. Therefore, enticing more consumers to visit physical stores is a top priority.

We found that Taiwanese consumers are not unwilling to leave their homes and get out into the world. But they do need a fresh, interesting experience in a physical venue. Especially in recent years, music events have become more and more popular in Taiwan. Music festivals and concerts large and small have been growing in number with every passing year. Therefore, we decided to hold a special event to attract more consumers into the store. We aimed to drive purchases by creating a real experience in a real place.

Right inside an IKEA store, we held a four-day music festival, which we called “Couchella.” It featured several new music stars that are currently hot. And based on their musical style, we had them perform in different showrooms of the store: living room, bedroom, office, or kitchen. As the event finale, the acclaimed and talented diva Jia Jia sang in the restaurant area, and the popular band AccuseFive headlined the main stage.

Consumers got online and chose their favorite IKEA chairs in advance, and those chairs became the actual seats they sat on to enjoy the concerts. Just like at any concert, merchandise was for sale, including T-shirts, thundersticks, and shopping bags. Concert admission wristbands also gave fans discounts on the products they purchased. In between music sets, the fans could roam the whole store, discovering lots of surprising products, which generated more shopping opportunities.

Over 40,000 hopeful fans joined the lottery for tickets – so many people registered that the booking site temporarily crashed.

Audience members bought 104 pieces of furniture (seats).

Weekday foot-traffic increased 200%.

Home decoration sales increased an extra 15%.

Couchella was an unforgettable experience for those lucky enough to attend, and it now forms a part of the ongoing strategy in Taipei.