How Ikea NZ will be the same - and how it will be different - to overseas stores
Thursday, 7 August 2025
Would you find a gym set-up in the garage an unusual sight? Or is that just par for the course in a Kiwi home?
The folk from Ikea Sweden are amazed at how New Zealanders use their garages, according to Edward Hincks, Ikea NZ’s home furnishing and retail design manager.
Quite apart from storing cars, Kiwis use their garages for home gyms, general storage, to run a side hustle business, to do their laundry, and for the children to play in, which Hincks says is different to other countries around the world (Ikea is in more than 30 markets).
So when New Zealand’s first Ikea store opens its doors later this year, our special use of the space will be reflected in the mega-store’s display.
Hincks, who is 20 years into his career with the Swedish home furnishings giant, has been in Auckland for nine months working as what he says is effectively creative director for the store. His team of 19 has been fully recruited.
While New Zealand shoppers will expect the 34,000m² space to look like other Ikea stores they’ve visited internationally, with the same branding and walk-through flow, there will be some Kiwi elements.
Hincks says the idea is to solve problems that New Zealanders have in the home, and the company gained insights into those challenges by doing the Life at Home report last year: 47 Ikea staff visited 500 homes across the country, and also conducted a qualitative study involving 506 Kiwis.
That’s where the garage insight came from - apparently 93% of us use the garage for something other than car storage.
Storage was a common concern. A resounding 88% of homes had crowded entranceways.
Hincks’ own favourite Ikea product is a powder-coated steel shoe rack, the Mackapar, which is currently selling for A$29 in Australia (NZ$32).
“It sounds unglamorous,” he says, “but shoes are such a problem. I do like shoes, and I’ve noticed moving to New Zealand there’s not a great deal of storage options, if you’re renting too.”
He recommends them to help people feel a bit more organised at each end of the day.
Hincks himself is renting in St Heliers. He’s enjoying the Kiwi experience after nine years with the company in Helsinki, Finland, where the temperature gets down to -22 degrees in winter (“and the winter basically lasts nine months”).
He started his career with the company in Richmond, Melbourne, and has worked for them on projects in China and Japan as well as Finland, before moving closer to home in Aotearoa.
He says he get two reactions when people find out he works for Ikea: ‘We’ve been waiting for you for ages,’ and ‘When’s the store opening?’
“My landlord when she found out I was working for Ikea, she couldn’t wait to come up and look at my apartment.”
He says he’s an “Ikea nerd”, and does have a lot of Ikea furnishings. He often buys pieces from the company’s limited collections, one example being USB-powered LED lights that the company designed in collaboration with electronic dance supergroup Swedish House Mafia, part of its Obegransad collection.
“It’s great if you’re having a cocktail party or something.”
As well as the Mackapar shoe rack, Hincks has chosen four other products that he thinks will appeal to New Zealand shoppers.
He chose the Kallax shelving unit for its versatility. “It works as a room divider, custom entertainment unit, display cabinet and storage for children’s toys, craft or homework. It’s perfect for busy families who need their furniture to literally do it all.”
He chose the Uppdatera box for its space-saving potential.
“It’s thoughtfully designed to tackle messy drawers, cluttered cupboards, and every ‘junk spot’ in between, because when you’re working with limited space, organisation isn’t a luxury, it’s essential.”
The Ikea 365+ kitchen storage containers are stackable and should help bring order to pantries, Hincks says. Nearly half of Kiwi households struggle with kitchen storage.
The Billy bookcase is an Ikea icon, and Hincks says the Life at Home report showed that Kiwis want to be able to display “sentimental items connected to memories”.
“In fact, 31% of New Zealanders say that a sense of belonging comes from displaying their personality at home.”
Hincks says all of the Ikea products - the range is expected to include about 7000 items - are designed in Sweden. However, the company is open to collaborations with Kiwi designers in the future.
The offering will be monitored to see what goes well with New Zealand consumers, and the company will do further Life at Home studies to keep a finger on the pulse of the Kiwi way of life.
Hincks could not say when the Sylvia Park store would open, instead sticking to the company’s advice that it will be late this year. When the physical store opens, e-commerce will be available to shoppers outside of Auckland.