For its 2013 catalogue, IKEA Canada today launched a mobile app that allows smartphone and tablet users to get creative with the latest trends and products from the home furnishing retailer.
By using the app to scan the catalogue’s pages, shoppers can change decorative elements, like the pattern on a bedspread, within a picture. The user can also look behind closed cupboard doors for storage ideas and access videos and photo galleries.
“We want our customers to interact with our catalogue and experience our products in a unique and creative way,” Madeleine Löwenborg-Frick, the retailer’s public relations manager said in a release.
“With the 2013 catalogue, we have packed in lots of new interactive features, 300 new products and the latest design trends that truly inspire the imagination,” she said.
In another first for the brand in North America, IKEA is using Pinterest as a channel to promote its catalogue. A selection of pages will be posted on the social media site, allowing users to “pin” their favourite kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms. By doing so, they are entered into a draw for an IKEA gift card.
In recent months, IKEA has been exploring different ways to engage consumers across social media and mobile platforms. In May it launched a mobile app that allows shoppers to obtain product information, view stock availability and  store maps from their smartphone. They can also look through IKEA’s product offerings and compile shopping lists.
IKEA Canada was one of only three pilot countries to offer the app, which was announced in July. It is available on iPhone and Android phones, and in English and French.
