IKEA's Contact Center Agents Become Interior Design Advisors - CX Today Smarter Conversations. Stronger Relationships​ Newsletter Sign In / Sign Up Sign In / Sign Up Latest News Editorial ▾ + Editorial Type Interviews News Features Roundtable​s Case Studies Explainers Guides Tech ▾ + Tech Categories AI & Automation in CX Contact Center & Omnichannel​ CRM & Customer Data Management Customer Engagement Platforms Customer Analytics & Intelligence Marketing & Sales Technology Workforce Engagement Management Community & Social Engagement Service Management & Connectivity Security, Privacy & Compliance Topics ▾ + Hot Topics Artificial Intelligence AI Agents CX Observability CCaaS CPaaS Help Desk Software CRM Software Customer Engagement Platforms Workforce Optimization Workforce Engagement Management Priorities ▾ + Business Priorities Agent Productivity AI Governance Customer Effort Customer Trust CX ROI Operational Efficiency Predictive Intelligence Regulatory Compliance Service Resilience System Integration Industries ▾ + Industry Verticals Automotive Construction & Engineering Education & Training Energy & Utilities Financial Services & Banking Food & Beverage Government & Public Sector Healthcare & Life Sciences Hospitality & Travel Insurance Manufacturing & Industrial Media & Entertainment Non-Profit Organizations Pharmaceuticals & Biotech Professional Services Real Estate & Property Retail & E-commerce Technology & Software Telecommunications Transportation & Logistics Connect ▾ + Connect Industry Events CX Awards ⭐️ Community - Why Join Community - Join Now LinkedIn Community ⛼ CX Marketplace Directory More ▾ + More from CX Today News Desk Media Kit About Us Contact Us Brand Guidelines Legal Latest Why Claudeforce Indicates CRM Complexity Is Breaking Customer Experience Why AI Is Pushing UK Businesses to Take Back Control of Their Data Optimove AI Is Betting Big on Agentic Marketing. Most CRM Teams Aren’t Ready Dreamforce 2026 Roundup: Salesforce Has an ‘Easy Button’ for AI. But CX Leaders Still Face the Hard Decisions. The Sale Is Not Complete Until the Payment Is Complete: Five Warning Signs the Payment Journey is Losing Customers Why Claudeforce Indicates CRM Complexity Is Breaking Customer Experience Why AI Is Pushing UK Businesses to Take Back Control of Their Data Optimove AI Is Betting Big on Agentic Marketing. Most CRM Teams Aren’t Ready Dreamforce 2026 Roundup: Salesforce Has an ‘Easy Button’ for AI. But CX Leaders Still Face the Hard Decisions. The Sale Is Not Complete Until the Payment Is Complete: Five Warning Signs the Payment Journey is Losing Customers Home → Workforce Engagement Management IKEA’s Contact Center Agents Become Interior Design Advisors Contact center agents are key to company growth, while AI bot Billie takes charge of voice 3 Contact Center & Omnichannel​ Workforce Engagement Management News Published: June 15, 2023 James Stephen IKEA is expanding its services by teaching its contact center agents to act as interior design advisors. It has also introduced an AI bot called ‘Billie’ to help answer everyday customer queries. Reuters revealed the behind-the-scenes goings on at the multinational home furnishing provider, which is looking to bring its home improvement services to the UK and the United States. Starting in 2021, IKEA has now trained 8,500 call center workers as interior design advisors, according to Ingka Group, the largest of 12 IKEA franchises. AI bot Billie, whose name was inspired by IKEA’s ‘Billy’ range of bookcases, was also launched in 2021 and has reportedly answered 47 percent of customer queries since its introduction. Ulrika Biesert, Global People and Culture Manager at Ingka Group (an IKEA franchise) , told Reuters: We’re committed to strengthening co-workers’ employability in Ingka, through lifelong learning and development and reskilling, and to accelerate the creation of new jobs. Biesert was also asked if ‘Billie’ was likely to cause job redundancies at the company, to which she replied: “That’s not what we’re seeing right now.” Moreover, Ingka Group revealed that its sales by phone or video of products and services via Ingka’s remote interior design channel drew 1.3 billion euros of revenue in 2022, which represents 3.3 percent of its total revenue. It is now aiming to increase that share to ten percent by 2028 as part of a drive to grow its Generation Z customer base. Ingka also owns the IKEA website, whose online sales of products totaled roughly 9.9 billion euros, which is 25 percent of Ingka’s total sales for the financial year ending August 31 st , 2022. IKEA has earmarked two billion euros for its expansion within the United States. It has a key rival in the US, Wayfair, which has recently launched its ‘Digital Design Studio’, a kiosk through which shoppers can view different furniture layouts and designs in a digital simulation of a room. IKEA’s large investment into interior design services is not out of step with competitors and is undoubtedly influenced by major competitors like Wayfair. Jocelyn Paulley, Co-Head of the Retail Sector (UK) and Partner at Gowling WLG , commented: It’s not surprising that IKEA is now focusing on virtual sales channels – if anything the surprise is that it’s later than it could have been. Keeping Up with AI The combination of AI bot Billie and reskilling its contact center agents may, therefore, be less of a step ahead of the competition and more of a stride to keep up with the ever-changing technological landscape and increasing customer expectations. AI chatbots are becoming commonplace in the retail industry, with the major advancement of ChatGPT, which arrived earlier in the year. According to Gartner, 45 percent of business execs believe the current ChatGPT hype has been a major influence behind their own enterprise AI adoption. Reskilling its workers at the same time appears to achieve two real positives: The company can compete against rivals offering a similar service and scoop up some of the younger demographic of shoppers in the process. It is providing useful and applicable training for workers whose jobs may not be under threat as of now, but as AI progresses it may ease their workload a little too far. Earlier this month, Anthony Perez, Marketing Manager at MiaRec , spoke about ways in which companies can improve agent retention with AI . Artificial Intelligence Chatbots Workforce Optimization Brands mentioned in this article. --> Featured Workforce Engagement Management Why WFM Leaders Need to Measure AI-Enabled Work Workforce Engagement Management WEM Is Entering the Era of Human-AI Workforce Orchestration Workforce Engagement Management Is Microsoft’s AI Workforce Forecasting Enough for Contact Centers? Workforce Engagement Management Has ServiceNow’s Autonomous Workforce Changed the CX Staffing Equation? Workforce Engagement Management The 98% Visibility Gap Reshaping Workforce Engagement AI & Automation in CX Fin Operator Drives 20,000 AI Support Improvements To Free Employee Capacity Share This Post --> Related Workforce Engagement Management Why WFM Leaders Need to Measure AI-Enabled Work Workforce Engagement Management WEM Is Entering the Era of Human-AI Workforce Orchestration Workforce Engagement Management Is Microsoft’s AI Workforce Forecasting Enough for Contact Centers? Get our Free Weekly Newsletter , straight to your inbox! Handpicked News, Reviews and Insights delivered to you every week. Sign up Tech Contact Center & Omnichannel​ CRM & Customer Data Management Customer Engagement Platforms Customer Analytics & Intelligence Industries Financial Services Travel and Hospitality eCommerce Manufacturing Outsourcing Trending Topics Artificial Intelligence Homeworking Microsoft Teams Automation Digital Transformation Featured Brands Amazon Web Services Five9 Cisco Avaya Enghouse Interactive About About Us Contact Privacy Policy More News Desk Media Kit Brand Legal All content © Today Digital 2026