IKEA Place and AR: How Smart UX Design Reduced Returns and Boosted Sales
Imagine you want to buy a sofa. You open the website, look at the photos, read the measurements — 220 cm × 90 cm. But will it fit in your room? Will that color match the wall?
That is the question IKEA solved with the IKEA Place app — and transformed the entire furniture industry in the process.
The Problem: Uncertainty Kills Sales
In the world of eCommerce, the biggest barrier to purchase is uncertainty. Especially with furniture — because:
- Dimensions are hard to visualize from numbers alone
- Colors look different on screen than in reality
- There is no way to know if a piece will match your home's decor
- Furniture is expensive and not easy to return
The result was that many people hesitated, and others bought and returned. And every return costs the company money — shipping, inspection, restocking. In the US alone, furniture returns cost billions annually.
The Solution: IKEA Place
In 2017, IKEA launched IKEA Place — an AR (Augmented Reality) app that lets you see any piece of furniture from IKEA's catalog in your actual home through your phone's camera.
You open the app, point the camera at the spot where you want to place the furniture, select the piece — and it appears in front of you at its true size and with its actual colors. You can rotate it, move it, and view it from every angle.
The Intelligence in the Design
What made IKEA Place successful was not just the technology — it was the UX design:
Ease of use: No complex settings. You open the app, point the camera, and choose. Just three steps. No lengthy calibration or complex setup.
Dimensional accuracy: Pieces appear at their real size with 98% accuracy. So if the sofa is 220 cm, you will see it as 220 cm in your home. This is critical so that the decision is grounded in reality.
Direct link to purchase: If you like the piece, one button takes you to the purchase page. No friction between the experience and the decision.
The Results: Numbers That Speak
After launching the app, IKEA saw tangible results:
Decrease in returns: People who used the app before buying had a significantly lower return rate. Because they had seen the piece in their home before purchasing — there were no surprises.
Increase in average order value: People felt more confident in their decisions, so they bought more pieces. And they also bought more expensive pieces because the fear that they "might not look good" was removed.
Higher engagement: Users spent more time in the app — trying different pieces, changing colors, playing with the design. This turned them from shoppers into designers.
The Lesson: UX Is Not Just About Looks — UX Solves Real Problems
IKEA Place is not just a nice-looking app. It is a solution to a real problem — uncertainty when buying furniture online. And that is the difference between good UX and brilliant UX.
Good UX makes a website easy to use. Brilliant UX removes barriers to purchase and makes the customer confident in their decision.
How to Apply the Same Principle to Your Project
1. Identify the Biggest Source of Uncertainty
In every field, there is something that makes customers hesitate. In clothing — sizing. In software — will it fit my needs? In services — will the result be good?
Identify that source and design a solution for it.
2. Let Customers "Try Before They Buy"
IKEA let customers try furniture in their own home. You can do the same with:
- Free trial for software
- Virtual try-on for clothing and accessories
- ROI calculator for services
- Before and after for creative services
- Preview for digital content
3. Reduce the Steps Between Experience and Purchase
In IKEA Place, from experience to purchase — one button. The more steps you add between "I like this" and "I will buy it," the more customers you lose.
4. Invest in Data
IKEA knows which pieces people try most and which ones convert to purchases. This data helps them improve both the app and the products. For you too — tracking user behavior in any "try before you buy" experience will give you invaluable insights.
The Future of AR in UX
IKEA Place was just the beginning. Now we see AR everywhere — makeup, eyewear, home decor, even food. Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest are opening new doors to ever more immersive experiences.
But the principle will remain constant: the best technology is the one that solves a real problem for the user. AR is not great because it is AR — AR is great when it removes uncertainty and makes decisions easier.
Conclusion
IKEA Place is not just a technology success story — it is a UX success story. They understood the problem (uncertainty), found the solution (see the furniture in your home), and designed it in a simple, seamless way.
If you want to reduce returns and increase sales in your project, you do not need to build an AR app. But you do need to ask yourself: what is making customers hesitate? And design an experience that removes that hesitation.