Kevin Gamble (IKEA) on Digitalization: ‘More Time for Value-Adding Work’

Before joining Ikea, Gamble advanced through various companies to become a project manager at the Canadian company Thrillworks, which works on humanizing customers’ digital experience. Here, he held final responsibility for various customer projects. Working for 14 years in Canada, his knowledge, insight, and achievements speak for themselves, without compromising his authenticity. On LinkedIn, he presents himself not only as a digital leader but also as an ‘awesomologist’. Not many are familiar with this term, so Delmulle asks. ‘It started as a joke more than 15 years ago,’ Gamble explains. ‘A friend said he was going to study Awesomology. I put it on my resume because when employers see a stack of resumes, such a term stands out. I left it there, and everyone asks: what kind of specialty is that?’

You have built a career primarily as a digital leader. What does digital transformation mean for Ikea?
‘During the pandemic, the demand for digital services rose exponentially. Customers no longer came to the stores, but the demand for products remained. This changed customer expectations and accelerated the need for digital transformation.’

How did this demand for digital services impact Ikea?
‘During the pandemic, we had to think about ways to serve customers without them needing to come to our physical stores. We had stores that were not being used but we had physical spaces that could be used for customers to collect items. The numbers painted on the parking spaces are a reminder of that time. That however is not an example of digital transformation, but a testimony to our adaptability.’

Was this like what happened across the retail sector, or was it different at Ikea?
‘Ikea is strong in monitoring customer expectations, so we quickly recognized the need for digital transformation. Before that, the demand for digital services was much smaller. That is why the digital transformation had a modest pace. Ikea has been around for 80 years, but the first e-commerce website went live in 2012. Ikea was what you would call way behind the game. There was some catching up to do, even though Ikea was very successful back then.’

So, Ikea managed to pragmatically start a digital transformation?
‘Yes. We developed an app that tells customers where to find items in the store. You see a map guiding you to where the products you are looking for are located. These capabilities were tested and rolled out in Spain. It meets a clear customer demand. Even if customers know roughly where the items are in the store, they often do not know exactly where. The app works as a guide and as a mini store in your hand. You can scan all the items you want to buy. At the checkout, you then scan the QR code and pay without having to join the queue.’

How does the physical world of the store interact with the digital possibilities that Ikea offers?
‘Before, if you had a question about, for example, the dimensions of a room in your house and a sofa, you would call the store. Now you take a photo of your room with the app. On that photo, you can remove items like a chair or a sofa and replace them with digital Ikea furniture. This way, you design your room without needing to use a tape measure. You can think and decide about the best layout for your room at home, seeing it as though you are doing it.’

What is the next focus in the digital transformation?
‘Generative artificial intelligence. We already use it for the chatbot. Furthermore, we are now deploying it for inventory management. We are currently training employees to use Microsoft CoPilot. The question is how we can better utilize generative artificial intelligence in practice. Step by step, we are making progress.’

Opinions on generative artificial intelligence (AI) are divided into two camps. Some see it as the next big thing and energetically embrace it, while others see the risks and choose a slower approach. What is your view on this?
‘New technology always challenges the status quo. My father was an IT manager who worked with computers as big as a room. He had to store all the data on cassettes. However, my mobile phone has more power than such a supercomputer from back then. I view generative AI similarly, as a technology that is rapidly expanding without us yet knowing how it will change the world. Until we see practical examples of what we can really do with it, it remains something to play with.’

Ikea is known for its excellent customer experience. How do you ensure that the physical customer experience gets carried through digitally?
‘We do this by maintaining our unique tone of voice. No matter how customers approach us, we always want them to feel like we are standing next to them, also digitally, so that as a customer, you always have the experience of talking to a staff member.’

How do you aim to achieve this?
‘By adhering to our eight values worldwide, from togetherness and caring for people and the planet to cost consciousness and continuous improvement. These are the values we select employees for, wherever in the world it may be, in India, China, France, or Canada. Wherever I go in the world, at Ikea I meet people who share these values. This unity helps us to respond to customers during the digital transformation in the way we always have.’

Thanks to extensive digitization, many processes become easier and faster. At the same time, much of the operational work remains human-centric. Therefore, the focus in many digital transformations is on human-centered technology. What does this mean for Ikea?
‘It means we must figure out how we can provide employees with the tools to work more efficiently, such as better schedules and agendas, and teach them to use the scan & go service. We have digitized numerous continuous interactions at work, allowing employees more time to prepare items or help customers; work that adds value. This creates a better work environment with happier employees and more satisfied customers.’

If you are successful, it is harder to innovate. How do you ensure that you keep changing?
‘We act when we notice that there is something that customers really want. And if the customer wants something, it always should have been ready yesterday. The app we developed, for instance: it functions so naturally that it suddenly seems as though customers have always asked for it. This is the reason we keep a close eye on customer demand. We always ask for a review when a customer orders online. We have tablets in the stores where customers can indicate how satisfied they are. And not to forget the old-fashioned way: walk through the store and ask your customers what their experience is.’

You have been at Ikea for over five years, the world is changing quickly. How do you deal with this as a chief digital officer?
‘My advantage is that I work with 29 country digital managers, as we have a presence in this many countries. We exchange insights, knowledge, and ideas in a group chat: what do you think of this, try this, have you tested that? Call it crowdsourcing on a scale of 29 countries. One example is Ikea Paris, a narrow, long store. Customers there experience digital immersion. There are rooms where what the client wants to look at gets projected onto three walls, eliminating the need to go through the entire store. If a client wants to look at a bedroom, they can get a virtual presentation. The investment: a few projectors and half a week from the IT team. If we seek a specific solution, we first ask Ikeas in other countries if they might already have found a solution for a similar issue. This is how we try to innovate together.’

How do you handle innovation? Is Ikea an organization that implements high-frequency iterations, or does all attention go to the most important priorities?
‘The way we innovate remains a subject of discussion. All companies seek breakthroughs, but the question is how quickly you can realize them. Do you want to wait years until you have developed the Lamborghini, or do you choose to, in a month, develop a bike as an intermediate step? The Lamborghini is top-notch, but much more expensive than simple solutions that are available faster. A minimum viable product – an MVP – offers more opportunities for adjustment during development. That does require a good explanation to the stakeholder because they do not always know what an MVP is. In my team, we prefer a proof of concept which we can quickly test in practice. If it does not work, we move on. However, I notice that people who do not work in digitization prefer an adjustment which is directly solid.’

Suppose you were to rebuild Ikea from scratch, where would you start?
‘With logistics because a reliable partner for the last mile is crucial for success. We cannot push our cabinets through a mailbox. That is where the conversation about trucks, routes, and the last mile begins. Ten years ago, we did not have to worry about this because people still collected what they bought themselves.’

As PostNL, we know better than anyone how important the last mile is. How easy was it to make that mind shift to logistics?
‘Logistics never was part of my thinking; I simply did not think about it. But at Ikea, logistics became an eye-opener. Colleagues talked about terms I had never heard of, like last mile delivery. It was not a mind shift, but an entry into a whole new world. Logistics is the heart of the organization these days.’

What would you like to focus on more?
‘On what we achieve in terms of sustainability, we do not communicate that enough. We have forests and wind farms, our trucks already are zero-emission, our stores have solar panels, and by 2030 we aim to be fully zero-emission. We are so close. Especially in the Netherlands, which has been fighting the sea for 200 years, we should be shouting our sustainability achievements from the rooftops.’

What is your most important lesson learned?
‘That I want to always stay here because I feel at home, where it is not only the paycheck I work for. That everything we express about our values is genuine. That is what I want to commit to. When someone at a later stage takes over my position, it must be someone who does it better than what I do. That should be the goal, to find someone who is smarter, who makes the team better, and who fits the team. With an interview, this becomes obvious within a few minutes. I learnt from my previous manager that the rest of the conversation becomes unnecessary. It is either hell yes or no. Nothing in between.’

This article was published in Management Scope 07 2024.