Furniture and home accessories retail chain IKEA has revised prices of the hundreds of products in its catalogue in Israel by 4%-5% from August. The company said, "Despite the rise in prices in IKEA worldwide at the start of the year, IKEA Israel kept the prices of products unchanged. Now, due to additional price rises around the world, a revision of prices will be made in August averaging about 4%-5%."
IKEA even stresses that the price rises are relatively moderate. "Thanks to a reduction in customs, the reform in imports and absorbing some of the costs, we have succeeded in raising prices minimally in order to continue to provide our customers with the best value prices."
The cut in customs that IKEA refers to should have brought about lower rather than higher prices. According to the Ministry of Finance's most recent announcement, 12% customs on imported furniture was canceled and this included beds, chest of drawers, sofas, cupboards, chairs and the like.
All the products on sale at IKEA stores in Israel are imported so the reform should also have helped ease the bureaucratic burden. The reform should at least increase competition among many of IKEA's smaller rivals.
Before the price hike, IKEA is holding a summer sale starting today until July 26.
IKEA has five stores in Israel in Netanya, Rishon Lezion, Kiryat Ata, Beersheva and Eshtaol (Beit Shemesh) and two kitchen stores in Tel Aviv and Petah Tikva.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 6, 2022.
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