IKEA Procurement is Taking Serious Steps to Address the Sourcing Issues at the Retailer

Swedish furniture retailer, IKEA has not been having an easy time of things in the UK of late. Reports that the British arm of company is struggling to procure up to 1,000 product lines abound and the pressure doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon.

The retailer was already experiencing issues with its supply chain, but the twin challenges of Brexit and COVID-19 has created a perfect storm which has only served to worsen the situation.

“What we are seeing is a perfect storm of issues, including the disruption of global trade flows and a shortage of drivers, which have been exacerbated by the pandemic and Brexit,” said the company in a press statement.

So great is the problem, procurement officers at IKEA have now taken the extreme step of buying its own containers and chartering its own cargo ships to try at get goods flowing more reliably once again.

“Congestion in ports combined with historically high demand has created an imbalance in the entire world market for maritime transport,” said IKEA Product Deliveries Director, Mikael Redin. “The move has also been motivated by issues such as the Suez canal accident, which caused great disruption.”