XXXLutz furniture store attacks IKEA

“We want to become number one”

Furniture dealer XXXLutz from Austria has big plans in Germany. The furniture chain has set itself the ambitious goal of overtaking market leader IKEA.

In an interview with the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, co-owner and managing director Andreas Seifert said: “We want to become number one in the German furniture industry”.

IKEA is market leader

Poco, the furniture discounter already known here in Germany was taken over completely by the Austrians in 2018. Since 2008, the furniture retailer has held a half share in Poco. Thus the number two and number six of the German furniture market have merged and are catching up with the big leader IKEA. For the Swedish furniture giant, Germany is the world’s most important market – with success, as it is the undisputed No. 1 far ahead of the competition.

Now XXXLutz is trying to counteract this and, according to Seifert, is planning new furniture stores in Bayreuth, Gera, Hagen and Heidelberg. The furniture store is also thinking about opening new stores near city centers. XXXLutz currently operates 48 stores and a further 41 Mömax take-away stores in Germany. In addition there are the stores of the acquired discounter Poco.

Furniture industry with problems

For some time now, the German furniture industry has been struggling with considerable problems, above all due to declining visitor numbers and thus declining sales. The increasing establishment of online mail order companies such as Home24 is also making business more difficult for stationary furniture retailers. In 2018, this segment had around 1.16 million customers.

According to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, XXXLutz generated a slight increase in turnover to 4.2 billion euros. In total, the company from Wels/Germany is represented in eleven countries and employs around 21,500 people. The group also includes the companies Möbelix, Lesina and Mömax.