IKEA products are synonymous with affordability and style.
They made it easier than ever to assemble furniture without needing to hire an expert.
They also know how to keep their prices low while still delivering on style and comfort.
Because of these great accomplishments, many customers want to buy from IKEA.
With an increased demand for their products, it’s harder to find certain items in stock.
Knowing when IKEA stores restock their stores can help you make the purchase before anyone else does.
Here’s what you need to know about when IKEA restocks its stores.
When Does IKEA Restock?
IKEA restocks every one to two days for smaller furniture pieces.
This includes items like tables, chairs, dressers, and other similar types of furniture.
Larger pieces of furniture like beds, wardrobes, outdoor furniture, and similar types of furniture take anywhere from three to five days.
Several factors can influence how long it takes for the items to come back into stock.
When Does IKEA Restock Its Small Furniture?
IKEA refers to its small furniture as pieces like:
- Lighting
- Small tables
- Single chairs
- Bed frames
- Dressers
- Bedding
- Stools
- Cupboards
These items are smaller in size and easier to stock.
Because of that, they often have them coming in and have a large number of them in their warehouse.
These items are also cheaper than larger furniture pieces.
That means a larger number of people with a specific budget can buy them.
To keep them in stock, IKEA orders new items and has them delivered every day or every other day.
Items that are selling in high quantities tend to make IKEA order more of them to keep up with demand.
Like many other stores, IKEA employees restock while the store isn’t open.
They use this opportunity to use equipment to move the heavier pieces around safely.
In some cases, if the store isn’t too busy, then the employees will also restock shelves while customers are there.
If you want to ensure you can buy an in-stock small furniture piece, then it’s a good idea to show up at the store when it first opens.
The store will have new stock available thanks to the hard work of the employees who work the graveyard shift.
Otherwise, you may be able to find the item you want in stock when visiting the store when it isn’t busy.
When Does IKEA Restock Large Furniture Pieces?
If you’re shopping for a bed, wardrobe, or some other large piece of furniture, then you may need to wait a bit longer before IKEA restocks it.
IKEA usually receives shipments from their suppliers three or four times a week.
On certain orders, it can even take as long as five days to restock.
That’s because larger furniture is more expensive to ship.
A carrier may need to delay a shipment because of a high-priority order that comes in.
Since they’re unable to fit the large piece of furniture on the truck, it will have to wait until another truck becomes available.
Large furniture pieces also take up more inventory space in their warehouse.
As a result, they can only ever fit a few items before running out of room.
Since there’s a small and finite number of units available, it runs out of stock more frequently and takes longer to ship in.
When large furniture pieces do arrive, however, the employees do their best to make them available as soon as possible.
You can usually expect large furniture pieces to be back in stock the day after a truck arrives.
IKEA workers will unload the truck, sort the furniture, and then put them in their proper places for people to buy the next morning.
If you want to buy a large furniture piece from IKEA, then you should arrive at the store early in the morning.
In most cases, you can expect them to have a full stock of items on Saturday morning.
That’s because IKEA knows that most people do their shopping on Saturday and Sunday.
To ensure their customers can buy what they need, they have everything in stock for Saturday morning shopping.
Why Does It Take So Long For IKEA To Restock?
Unlike stores that sell essential items like food and water, IKEA sells furniture.
Those aren’t essential items.
Because of that, there’s less urgency on the store’s part to have specific items in stock every single day.
Shipping furniture and related goods is also expensive.
These items are heavy and large.
They take up a lot of space on a truck.
Because of that, a truck can only carry so many of those items at a time.
It’s less profitable for them which means they charge a higher rate of shipping to make up for it.
Since those items are also heavier, it puts more wear and tear on a truck.
That also is considered when determining shipping costs.
The weight also increases fuel costs since it creates more drag on the truck on the road.
Since it’s more expensive to ship these items, IKEA has to be mindful of its expenses.
They can’t order too much too often or else they wouldn’t be able to sell at affordable prices.
Since their business model focuses on offering affordable furniture pieces, it would alienate their core audience if they were to raise their prices.
Finally, IKEA only has so much room to display their furniture and to hold it in their inventory.
Having a large inventory means they need a larger warehouse.
That also comes with higher rental fees.
The more floor space they need, the higher their costs will be.
That also impacts the price tag on their products.
To keep it affordable, they have to be wary of their warehouse sizes.
That means that they can only hold so many furniture pieces at a time.
They have to stagger how many items they have delivered to ensure there’s always room.
All of these factors can influence how fast or how often IKEA restocks its stores.
When Does IKEA Restock Plants And Flowers?
Besides selling furniture, IKEA also sells plants, flowers, and other types of foliage that bring your home to life.
Unfortunately, because there’s a high demand for many of their plants, they tend to run out of stock fairly quickly.
IKEA doesn’t frequently restock them either.
Instead, they typically restock their plants once a week.
New plants come on the truck that arrives on Sunday.
Employees take those plants and place them in the garden section of the store for Monday morning shopping.
By the time the weekend hits, there are not that many plants available.
A truck might come and deliver more plants on Friday, but that isn’t always the case.
For the most part, IKEA changes out their plants with the season.
When certain plants are in bloom or make sense to plant in your backyard garden, that’s when IKEA imports them.
You won’t find summer flowers during the winter season, for example.
Since they use seasonal plants, not all their suppliers are always ready to provide them.
Plants depend on certain factors in their environment to stay healthy.
If something changes the environment too much, then the plant may die.
If this happens on a larger scale, then the supplier might not have enough plants to supply IKEA.
That means IKEA can only sell a certain number of those plants for that season without finding another supplier.
In that case, those who bought the plants earlier in the season rather than later have more luck finding the plants in stock.
When it comes to buying seasonal plants at IKEA, the sooner you can buy them, the better off you will be.
When Does IKEA Restock Electronics?
Besides bedding and kitchen furniture, IKEA also sells electronics.
Their electronics are geared towards transforming your home into a smart one.
They have smart lights, motorized shades, speakers, and even cable accessories and organization.
Since these don’t fall under the category of furniture, you may wonder how often IKEA restocks them.
Most of IKEA’s electronics are small.
In that case, they’re able to fit with other small products like small furniture.
Since they can fit on the same truck, they often arrive at the store every day or every other day.
Larger electronics like certain appliances may come less frequently.
Since they’re larger and heavier, they likely come on a truck that’s devoted to larger pieces.
In that case, larger electronics only restock at the store once every few days.
You can expect them to arrive on a truck on Friday, at the least.
That ensures that the employees can put the appliances on the floor for Saturday morning shopping.
You might also find them restocked on Wednesday morning if they come on a truck that arrives on either Monday or Tuesday.
As with their furniture, the best time to shop for IKEA’s electronics is Saturday morning shortly after the store opens.
When Does IKEA’s Food Restock?
Besides selling furniture, IKEA also sells a few brands of different food.
They tend to gear their food towards restaurants or for large gatherings, but you can order it for only your family, too.
At their store, you’ll find several frozen food items as well as fresh items.
IKEA tends to carry brands that aren’t as well known in the United States.
Despite that, they’re high-quality and inexpensive.
If you like to shop at IKEA for food, then you may wonder how often they restock their shelves.
During the summer and holidays, especially, is when IKEA tends to run low on food.
That’s because customers like to buy the food they need for parties while shopping for other furniture pieces and tools they need to throw a party.
Since food is perishable, IKEA has a daily supply arrive at their store.
They take out spoiled food and replace it with fresh food.
Since a lot of their products are either frozen or non-perishable, they’re able to keep their food stores stocked well.
They’re also not a grocery store.
Only a small section of each store is for food products.
That helps them stay on top of their shelves and restock them as needed.
If you want to buy food from IKEA, then you can expect a fresh supply of food every day.
When Does IKEA Restock Pet Supplies?
IKEA also sells pet supplies and furniture.
If you’re interested in buying dog beds, cat trees, or other pieces of furniture, then IKEA has you covered.
The problem is that they can sometimes run out of stock.
Pet supplies vary in size.
Small pet supplies arrive every other day at the store.
You can expect the employees to restock the smaller pet items the day after a shipment arrives.
Larger pet supplies, however, take a little longer to restock.
They’ll likely be available for Saturday morning shopping, but you may also find them available on either Tuesday or Wednesday morning.
When Does IKEA Restock Outdoor Furniture?
The times in which IKEA restocks outdoor furniture vary based on location and climate.
IKEA stores located in areas that see snowy winters have fewer restocking opportunities than those who live in dry and hot climates.
That’s because IKEA only sells outdoor furniture when the weather is right.
They know that people aren’t going to be looking for outdoor furniture or other outdoor items when it’s snowing outside.
Because of that, you may have to wait until the weather warms again to buy outdoor furniture.
Regions that have warm weather all year can expect outdoor furniture to restock based on its size.
Outdoor tables and chairs, for example, can restock in a matter of two days.
Larger sofas, flooring materials, grills, and other large outdoor furniture pieces will take longer.
They tend to restock every three or five days.
Like everything else, they’re usually available for Saturday morning shopping.
When Does IKEA’s Online Store Restock?
One of the conveniences of shopping at IKEA is that they also have a great online store.
If you don’t happen to live close enough to an IKEA store, then you can always find their furniture online.
Because many people use their online store, however, it’s common for products to sell out.
The length of time that it takes for IKEA to restock the item depends on the store’s proximity to a warehouse and how popular the item is.
When you first shop at IKEA’s online store, you have to enter your address.
This lets the website locate the closest IKEA store to you.
Once it has that information, it can filter through the stock to find out what’s available and what isn’t available.
It then updates the page that you’re viewing based on the information that it discovers.
If the store you happen to be closest to is far from the warehouse, then it takes longer for those items to come back into stock.
That’s because they have to wait for a truck to arrive at their location.
The further they are, the longer it takes the truck to arrive.
Another important aspect of how long it takes to restock items online is how popular the item is.
If a specific product is selling at an accelerated rate, then IKEA will buy more of that item in higher quantities.
They want to ensure everyone gets a chance to buy it while also taking in a large amount of profit.
Since they order it in bulk to meet demand, it takes less time to restock it.
You can expect a hot-ticket item to restock in only a day or so.
Larger pieces or pieces that aren’t as popular can take several days to come back into stock on their online store.
How To Check If An Item Is In Stock At IKEA
No one wants to waste their time driving to a store to find the item that they want is gone.
Luckily, there’s an easy way to check IKEA’s store before you leave home.
You’ll need to visit the IKEA store website first.
Then look for the product that you want to buy.
Once you’re there, you’ll see an option called “Check In-Store Stock.”
Press this and a list of nearby stores will show up.
You can click on the one that is nearest to you or the one that you prefer.
You can also filter the stores based on their state.
Once you have the store you want to check, the page will update and tell you whether the product is in stock or not.
If it isn’t, then you can check again in 24 hours.
The page updates every 24 hours.
You can also tell IKEA to notify you either through an email or through a text message when the item is back in stock.
Conclusion
IKEA has several departments and many of them include either small or large pieces of furniture.
Smaller pieces of furniture tend to restock faster than larger pieces of furniture.
Hot-ticket items also restock faster both in their physical stores and online.
You can check whether or not something is in stock by visiting their website.
I am losing faith in Ikea – they’ve been sold out of every bed/bed frame for months (August) with no end in sight. I have been waiting patiently for them to restock- but now am considering other options. Was really hoping on furnishing my new home with bedroom suites from IKEA, but sleeping on the floor isn’t cutting any longer.