In this instalment of our weekly video series, My Business Leader Secret, we talk to Jesper Brodin, who is the CEO of Ingka Group, which runs Ikea’s global retail business.

Brodin became CEO of Ingka Group in 2017. The retail arm of Ikea employs 216,000 people and runs more than 500 retail locations globally, with a turnover of more than €40bn. Prior to the role, Brodin worked for the Inter Ikea Group, the side of the businesses which designs and manufactures Ikea’s products, as well as managing its brand.

Ikea is going through a change of strategy under Brodin’s tenure.

For more than half a century the business, first founded in the 1940s, grew its global empire with out-of-town warehouses with vast car parks. They were designed to offer a family day-out, with food included.

The first one was built in Stockholm in the 1950s. It was revolutionary and proved to be a blueprint for global success.

But by around 2007 it seemed that Ikea’s growth was stalling as it was failing to account for the digital revolution in shopping. So for the past decade, it’s been investing in
smaller, inner-city stores.

It’s a way to attract people more used to digital shopping, who can click and collect or order a delivery after browsing in-store. It’s also designed to appeal to people who might not have a car.

We caught up with Jesper Brodin outside their latest inner-city store in Oxford Circus, London, which will open in the spring of 2025.

His advice for business leaders is to “manage challenges, but lead from opportunities”.

Watch the rest of the My Business Leader Secret series.