Two separate events inspired me to think differently this past week, both of which happened within hours of each other early in the morning on Thursday, May 15, 2025.
The first was an article I read while enjoying my morning coffee about how IKEA has reimagined its loyalty program, and the second came from something that was said onstage at the Mirakl Summit in London roughly four hours later.
And as the first four seasons of Glee can attest (because anything after the first four seasons of that show is pure shite), great things happen whenever two disparate ideas get mashed up together.
Let’s start with the Mirakl Summit first.
For background, ever since I was the VPDMM for Home Furnishings on Target.com, I have been fascinated by online marketplaces. I have always been captivated by the revenue growth that can come from them, along with the synergies they bring in securing additional retail media dollars.
However, with all that said, there has always been a rub — how to differentiate one marketplace from another?
For example, the one argument levied against online maketplaces by every stick up his or her butt old line merchant executive has always centered around differentiation because generally every retailer that has a marketplace carries the same items as everyone else with a marketplace, and winning the so called buy comes down to price and search.
It isn’t necessarily an argument against standing up a marketplace, but it does makes the internal politics of starting one much more difficult.
Fortunately, the argument is also just flat out wrong. It is myopic. It is an argument one makes in isolation when he or she does not have the foggiest idea how omnichannel retailing really works.
Because once you add stores and brand loyalty into the mix, the calculus changes.
Now, as much as I would like to take credit for what follows, I cannot. The credit is due to David Gomez, the Director of Marketplaces at Kingfisher. Gomez was asked by Mirakl’s CEO Adrien Nussenbaum how he differentiates his marketplace from other retailers.
Gomez’s answer hit me like a kiss at the end of a wet fist. Gomez said that differentiation comes from the ability to return and pick up marketplace items in a store, both of which the majority of Amazon shoppers do not have the ability to now or likely will ever have in the future (at least at any real scale, barring some acquisition).
But this point of differentiation is just the first chapter of the differentiation story, and also leads us to where this week’s IKEA news comes into play.
Heretofore, brand loyalty has been absent from this differentiation discussion. But it should not be.
Things like return policies, click-and-collect service quality, and even amorphous concepts like “brand love” are all factors we must also consider.
What is unique about what IKEA is doing is that IKEA has adapted its loyalty program to incent behaviors it would like to see from its shoppers. For example, IKEA now offers loyalty points for things like creating an IKEA Family profile, registering for and attending IKEA events, booking and completing planning appointments, or creating gift registries — all things that have nothing to do with actually purchasing IKEA products.
So I ask — why couldn’t retailers adapt their loyalty programs to further differentiate their marketplaces via a similar approach? Why shouldn’t they reward click-and-collect purchases or online returns in-store with loyalty points?
Study after study has shown over the years that the more digitally invested a shopper is with a brand, the more he or she spends with that brand over time.
The idea is a win-win.
It means more loyalty, more product revenue, and more retail media revenue, too. This is the flywheel of 21st century omnichannel retailing.
And smart marketplace investments are the lighter fluid.
About the Author
Chris WaltonChris Walton is the Co-CEO of Omni Talk and the former Vice President of Target’s Store of the Future project. He is recognized as one of the top retail experts globally, with deep insights into innovation, digital transformation, and modern commerce strategies.
Omni Talk® is the retail blog for retailers, written by retailers. Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga founded Omni Talk® in 2017 and have quickly turned it into one of the fastest growing blogs in retail.