IKEA Billie: an AI service bot and 8,500 agents retrained as designers

Ingka Group, which runs most IKEA stores, let its AI customer service bot Billie handle close to half of all call center queries, and since 2021 has retrained 8,500 call center workers as remote interior design advisers, moving that labor into paid design services.

At a glance

Item	Detail
Company	Ingka Group (IKEA store operator)
Industry	Retail and home furnishings
Use cases	Customer service automation, job redesign
Reported results	About 47% of call center queries handled by Billie over two years; 8,500 staff retrained; remote design channel sales of EUR 1.3 billion in FY2022. No cost savings disclosed

Case details

Background

Ingka Group operates IKEA stores and runs the company’s call centers and interior design services. In 2021 it launched Billie, an AI customer service bot named after IKEA’s Billy bookcase range.

What they did

• Let the bot take routine queries. Billie handles the everyday customer questions that reach the call centers.
• Moved agents into design work. Since 2021, Ingka has trained call center employees as interior design advisers who give remote design advice by phone or video.
• Charged for the service. In the UK, a 45–60 minute video design consultation with a suggested shopping list costs £25; three workspace design consultations with floor plans and 3D renderings cost £125. In April 2023 the service was extended in the UK and the US.

Results and data

Metric	As reported
Share of call center queries handled by Billie	About 47% (the two years to June 2023)
Agents retrained as interior design advisers	8,500 (since 2021)
Remote interior design channel sales	EUR 1.3 billion in FY2022, 3.3% of total sales
Channel target	10% of sales by 2028

Asked whether AI would reduce headcount, Ulrika Biesert, Ingka’s global people and culture manager, said the company was “not seeing that right now”.

What to take from it

• The real story is job redesign. Once the bot absorbed routine queries, people were moved into consultations that earn revenue directly, rather than the change being used only to cut service costs.
• New roles need a priced product. Design consultations have a list price, so the output of retrained staff can be measured through channel sales.

Limits

• The 47% and 8,500 figures are disclosed by Ingka and have not been independently verified.
• Only total remote design channel sales are public. There is no split showing the increment from retrained agents, and no figure for what Billie saves.
• The shift relies on a large store network and an existing high-value service. Companies without roles like these to absorb staff are more likely to end up cutting jobs than transforming them.

Sources

Original source: RTÉ (via Reuters) · Ikea to hand more customers’ queries to AI bot Billie Additional source: Retail Gazette · Ikea embraces remote interior design as AI transforms sales tactics

This is an industry research entry: a publicly documented third-party AI case, not a Moments client case. For projects Moments delivered itself, see client cases.