IKEA: Paying with Time

Ikea was the first retailer to let customers pay with time.

And the campaign garnished more than $14,000,000 in earned media.

Here’s the campaign: pic.twitter.com/HQ2RpnIXwO

— Alex Garcia 🔍 (@alexgarcia_atx) June 9, 2023

Most Ikea stores are out of the way. Not in the heart of the city. And usually, a good drive from a customer's home.

And we all know the more friction to do something, the higher the chance we won’t do it.

But what if that friction was converted into a currency? pic.twitter.com/oBZvUMXDPJ

— Alex Garcia 🔍 (@alexgarcia_atx) June 9, 2023

Because IKEA stores are far away, IKEA created the “Buy With Your Time” campaign to let customers pay with their time based on how far they traveled to the store.

The more you traveled, the more you earned.

For example:
• Drive an hour to Ikea
• That hour is converted into $ pic.twitter.com/fQm70t1UQl

— Alex Garcia 🔍 (@alexgarcia_atx) June 9, 2023

So, Ikea took all their products and added the price in time.

And customers could purchase these products with time, money, or both.

So, when you went to checkout, the amount of “time currency” you accumulated was calculated by your Google Maps history. pic.twitter.com/Q6oGG26PqU

— Alex Garcia 🔍 (@alexgarcia_atx) June 9, 2023

Pretty wild, but one hour of travel was enough for a Lack Coffee Table, and a two-hour drive was enough for a Billy bookshelf.

One Ikea spokesman said, "We think it’s only right to reward our customers’ efforts by repaying them for the time spent reaching us.” pic.twitter.com/WboDOQ2Y8q

— Alex Garcia 🔍 (@alexgarcia_atx) June 9, 2023

Few reasons why I love it:

It took a pain point and rewarded it
It encouraged you to spend more time at the store
It converted friction into satisfaction

And it crushed.

The campaign increased foot traffic by 32%, earning over $14 million worth of free media.

— Alex Garcia 🔍 (@alexgarcia_atx) June 9, 2023

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— Alex Garcia 🔍 (@alexgarcia_atx) June 9, 2023