Swedish flatpack furniture retailer Ikea announced on Monday it is trialing its own online marketplace for its secondhand furniture so that customers can sell directly to each other.
"We are testing a digital secondhand marketplace in Oslo and Madrid to help customers connect, buy and sell preowned Ikea items between each other," Tolga Oncu, head of retail at Ikea Retail, told Agence France-Presse (AFP), confirming a report in the Financial Times.
Ikea is called Preowned. The marketplace opened for a trial period this summer and will continue until December, the company said.
"After December, we will evaluate and decide on the next steps," Oncu said.
The move is the company's latest initiative to address concerns that its affordable, flatpack business model leads to overconsumption and waste.
It has previously unveiled plans to rent, repair and recycle furniture to be a circular business by 2030.
However, unlike previously, when Ikea bought customers' used furniture, fixed it up and resold it in its stores, customers can now sell directly to each other on the platform.
Ikea said the global secondhand furniture market was proliferating, with a projected annual growth rate of 6.4% in 2024.
It said Ikea products comprise 10% of the secondhand home furnishing market.
The move is also part of the company's shift from previously offering only large warehouse stores outside cities to now offering smaller locations in city centers and online shopping.
