Ikea revealed that outdoor furniture has been its star category this year, as the retailer released its UK results for the year to August 31 2013.
Sales of outdoor furniture soared by 58% as the company moved away from selling the products only during spring and summer and instead offered them all year round. It also launched its first integrated marketing campaign dedicated to the category.

Ikea achieved total sales of £1.268bn during the year, up 3.1% like-for-like, and grew its market share by 0.2%.

The company invested £4m in rebuilding all of its living room and children's departments, which resulted in an immediate 6% lift in sales in both areas. As part of the rebuild process, over 500 visits were made to customers' homes to understand the challenges of people living close to Ikea stores. The knowledge gained in these home visits was then used to redesign the room sets in the two departments.

The company also put a major focus on light bulbs, announcing last October that from 2016 all of its bulbs would be LED. It also invested £1.1m in reducing the price of LED bulbs, which it says are now the lowest priced in the UK, starting from only £4.

Online sales grew 29% over 2012, with the number of products on the website increased to 7,500, 80% of the total range. The facility to buy through the mobile Ikea website was also offered towards the end of the year. And with the launch of free wi-fi in all stores, a purchase can now be made direct from a mobile device while browsing in-store.

Ikea says that the coming year will see a renewed focus on its kitchens business, with £8m spent on rebuilding all showrooms, staff training, improving the delivery and installation services and a completely redesigned kitchen system.