
Ikea has bought TaskRabbit - ghaff
https://www.recode.net/2017/9/28/16377528/ikea-acquisition-taskrabbit
======
robterrell
This is hilarious/perfect to me personally, because I have only ever used
TaskRabbit to hire someone to build Ikea furniture.

~~~
PakG1
There are people who don't care to build their own Ikea furniture? How
strange! I've always enjoyed building my own Ikea furniture! :)

~~~
scotth
Agreed. I'm not sure where the misconception of their furniture being
difficult to build comes from. In my experience their instructions are
unambiguous and well-designed.

~~~
morgante
It's not particularly difficult but nor is it particularly fun. I certainly
don't plan to assemble the furniture for my next apartment myself.

~~~
stephenr
But is that because you'll pay someone to assemble similar furniture, or
because you'll buy better furniture that isn't just IKEA flat-packs?

~~~
jefozabuss
I came to the same conclusion as morgante, next time I'd rather pay for
assembly instead of doing it for myself for a whole weekend.

------
aoenstkn4nto
I hope this improves IKEA's absolutely awful installation experience. I
recently did some kitchen cabinets, and while the people who did the actual
install were great, everything about the experience was awful. IKEA contracted
it out to Traemand, who sub-contracted it out to a local company. The local
company was really hard to get ahold of and kept losing paperwork and not
scheduling things. Once they did schedule something, they sub-sub-contracted
it out to yet someone else. The workers would arrive and I'd repeat the
instructions I gave to the super contractors, and they'd get this panicked
look and say, "Uh... I gotta call the boss about this. They didn't tell us X,
Y, or Z" despite me repeatedly making sure that they understood X, Y, and Z.
It was a nightmare. Once everything was installed, it was great, but I will
never shop at IKEA again because of this experience.

~~~
adekok
The main issue there is that Ikea isn't owning the installation process. They
should be making sure that they know who's doing the work, when they're
showing up, etc.

And then tracking that, so if one group of contractors has consistent
problems, they can be fired.

~~~
konschubert
That's a problem in the logistics industry as a whole. Nobody owns anything
and everybody has a subcontractor.

~~~
jamaicahest
We have a concept here in Denmark, which directly translated would be "total
contractor", which is a person who manages all the different contractors,
schedules when they show up and do their work, handles any problems that arise
during the project, and all the billing goes through him, so you get a single
invoice at the end. I imagine every country has a similar concept, I'm just
not aware of the name in English.

~~~
theptip
In (US) English it's "general contractor".

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_contractor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_contractor)

------
shimon
This is an interesting move, a design/manufacturing/retail company buying a
labor marketplace company.

Ikea has grown a ton based on having widely appealing products at extremely
low prices. Their growth over the past decade has been driven by expanding
their physical retail presence on the one-giant-store-per-city model. The
store build-out on this model may be done, at least in the US. Still, many
potential buyers aren't willing to make the pilgrimage to Ikea because it's
far, or simply because you can get an OK entertainment center at Target
instead.

Key to Ikea's brand is the memorable in-store experience. If they can match
that in their in-home shopping apps and in delivery/assembly/install services,
they could grow significantly. If they believe this, expect them to leverage
TaskRabbit not just to streamline delivery/install but to offer new Ikea-
branded services. A few ideas:

* New apartment? Use our app to pick and place furniture, our designers to get advice, and our people to deliver and install everything.

* Remodel mockup services. Not sure how your kitchen layout will look? Have us block things out using cardboard boxes to you can walk through and feel it out.

* Organization & storage. Have someone go through your basement and inventory everything. Use our app to route each item to donation, resale, or storage. Once stored, app helps you find an item whether it's in your basement (shelf 3, bay 12) or retrievable by delivery-on-request.

~~~
TylerE
> The store build-out on this model may be done, at least in the US.

It most definitely is NOT. For instance the nearest Ikea to the
Raleigh/Triangle area is over 2 hours away.

There are 24 US states without a single Ikea store.

~~~
niftich
They have recently began a large wave of expansion [1] in the US. Raleigh
(Cary) is getting one soon. So is Norfolk, Nashville, Jacksonville, Columbus
OH, Milwaukee; they're also beginning to build second (or additional)
locations in large metros like Chicago, DFW, Phoenix.

[1]
[http://www.ikea.com/us/en/about_ikea/newsroom/expansion_plan...](http://www.ikea.com/us/en/about_ikea/newsroom/expansion_plans)

~~~
dmix
I hope they try more innovative stuff in their new stores. Such as making
self-checkout the primary means instead of the alternative. The long lines are
often a problem and a single row of the checkout machines has 4-6 machines vs
1 or 2 people run counters. So it would speed things up

They could even extend it to offer more services like ordering delivery and
install services.

It also makes a lot of sense in their current system.

~~~
sethj
Ugh, the new, remodeled, Ikea in Seattle got rid of the self checkouts.
Checking out now takes at least 15 minutes. Sometimes more. It's awful.

~~~
dmix
Any idea why? I've never seen a store add them and then remove them.

~~~
kuschku
Actually, lots of stores are removing self-checkouts nowadays.

They tend to be a lot slower than cashiers, lead to more theft, and few people
like to use them anyway.

~~~
rsynnott
Huh, that's surprising. Two of the three supermarkets near me have phased out
cashiers almost entirely.

~~~
dmix
Same, my local grocery store added more machines after an initial phase and
there are disproportionately bigger lineups to use them than the cashiers.

Not to mentioned Ontario, where I'm from, just passed new minimum wage laws
($15CAD/hr) and a bunch of retailers are responding by investing in self
checkout for the first time.

~~~
kuschku
That was the motivation as well when the 9€ minimum wage was passed here, too,
but they've removed all of them since.

Cashiers are much faster than self checkout, and you still need to employ one
person for every 4 self checkouts to prevent theft.

------
Spooky23
Judging from my Ikea kitchen delivery experience, I fully expect to have some
dude with $20k in cabinets tied to the roof of his Honda shop up at people's
houses.

~~~
Domenic_S
Holy cow, you spent $20k on Ikea kitchen cabinets?

Edit: Wow, you guys are touchy. For $20k you could get fully custom cabinets
from a local shop made with cabinet-grade plywood for a typically-sized
kitchen.

~~~
toomuchtodo
Ikea kitchens are very nice.

~~~
jagger27
They used to be much worse.

------
ghaff
I find it interesting how some types of personal service companies seem to
resonate with people but a lot don't.

I suspect TaskRabbit never really made it big because of some combination of
transaction costs associated with one-off only somewhat standardized tasks and
the fact that, presented with a bill to assemble cheap Ikea furniture or to
pickup their laundry, most people will decide they'd just as soon do it
themselves.

~~~
CobrastanJorji
My personal theory is that TaskRabbit is too general purpose for people to
think to use it. When I am at a bar and want to be at my house, it's really
easy for me to think of an app that will solve my problem.

If I don't have time to assemble the elaborate toy train set I bought for my
kid, it will probably never occur to me that I could pay someone to drop in
and do that task for me, even if I would happily pay someone if they offered.

~~~
jacquesm
> If I don't have time to assemble the elaborate toy train set I bought for my
> kid, it will probably never occur to me that I could pay someone to drop in
> and do that task for me, even if I would happily pay someone if they
> offered.

That's the kind of problem nobody should ever have in the first place. The
whole point is to work together on it, not just to give it. To have some
stranger put it together defeats the purpose.

~~~
rm_-rf_slash
Unless they wanted to dress up in a three piece suit with a top hat and smoke
a cigar while they watch the train set being assembled in order to live out
some kind of bizarre railroad executive fantasy possibly inspired by too many
re-reads of _Atlas Shrugged._

Point is, the purpose of toys is to have fun. I wouldn't regard my example to
be any different than spending one's disposable income on a trip to Vegas or a
VR headset.

~~~
ribosometronome
Who didn't aspire to be the Fat Controller when watching Thomas the Tank
Engine?

------
giarc
IKEA needs to solve the problem with distance to store or shipping. More than
just the "Collection Points" they are building.

They need to partner with a physical brick and mortar store to ship and store
product. Similar to what Amazon is going to do with Whole Foods. IKEA needs a
partner like Whole Foods where users can pick up their product.

Currently buying anything on IKEA and having it shipped is super costly, and
even the collection points don't service small towns/cities.

~~~
LeifCarrotson
> Currently buying anything on IKEA and having it shipped is super costly

It's definitely a problem. I'm about 3-4 hours away from the nearest Ikea. And
it would cost $250 to get any large items:
[http://ikeadirectcatalogorder.com](http://ikeadirectcatalogorder.com) (Yes,
that is the official site).

Now, by day, I'm an engineer who builds large machines. I have a semi truck or
lowboy in my parking lot weekly. I get that freight is expensive - $250 to
have a truck to my door isn't great for one skid, but it's not bad either. But
at home? I'm used to free shipping, and that's jaw-droppingly expensive.

Ikea is a strongly price-competitive seller. They can't afford to bump all
their prices by 20% and offer "free" shipping, because in-store purchasers
would mutiny.

~~~
giarc
I know of groups on Facebook where people bundle their purchases and split the
shipping cost.

My sister lives in Raleigh and the closest IKEA is Charlotte. It's a 3 hour
drive and they are willing to make it once or twice a year when they can. But
if they could buy online and have it appear in their local grocery store I'm
sure their spending would increase dramatically.

It seems like there is an opportunity for IKEA, or someone else to help get
product to these people. And as I showed above, it's not only people in small
towns. Raleigh is a big city and yet people have to drive 3 hours to get to
the nearest IKEA.

Interestingly, while checking to make sure IKEA hadn't launched in Raleigh, I
came across this little biz [http://www.ncmodernfurniture.com/ikea-
delivery/](http://www.ncmodernfurniture.com/ikea-delivery/)

------
marcosscriven
I tried TaskRabbit once in London, and was put off because there was no way to
set a fixed price. It seemed one just had to agree an hourly rate with no
limit, which made it impossible to compare.

------
ryan606
Guesses as to the purchase price? Curious how folks think the founders and VC
will make out.

------
thinbeige
Buy a Billy shelf and get it built by TaskRabbit. Is this the reason they
bought them?

~~~
austenallred
IKEA delivery and assembly has to be a non trivial amount of TaskRabbit
revenue

------
michaelmior
Makes me think of this IKEA job interview comic

[https://jobmob.co.il/blog/funny-ikea-job-interview-
cartoon/](https://jobmob.co.il/blog/funny-ikea-job-interview-cartoon/)

~~~
mxuribe
This is the first time i saw this; hilarious! :-)

------
ilamont
If Google and Yelp were (supposedly) interested in Task Rabbit, does this mean
that they might still be interested in similar companies? The only one I can
think of off the top of my head is Zaarly.

~~~
firebones
What was it that TaskRabbit had that Zaarly didn't? It seems like a pretty
obvious gap for Zaarly to fill to get lined up as bait now that they know that
there's a market for acquisition. Did Zaarly focus too much on the
ServiceMaster space and not enough on the "white glove" some-assembly-required
space that a retailer like Amazon might be interested in?

------
nandorsky
Thought the fact that you needed to build your own furniture was core to
Ikea's business model?

"The IKEA effect is a cognitive bias in which consumers place a
disproportionately high value on products they partially created. The name
derives from the name of Swedish manufacturer and furniture retailer IKEA,
which sells many furniture products that require assembly."

------
BlackjackCF
This is pretty neat. Does this mean IKEA will start giving you TaskRabbit
discounts for buying IKEA furniture? I'd be into that.

------
EternalData
I could see this making sense -- TaskRabbit only makes sense if there's
economies of scale on the demand side -- I imagine that's hard to generate
with the tasks they have on there. I've only ever ordered one TaskRabbit --
and yes, it was to assemble Ikea furniture.

------
baybal2
I don't read instructions when I assemble furniture and I can't think why
somebody needs one.

------
devy
Perfect marriage. Our office furnitures are mostly from IKEA and we hired a
guy from taskrabbit to assemble two dozen desks and cabinets, it literally
took him 3 work days to build them all but the quality was pretty good!

------
skanderbm
"Robots are coming for your job, but only if it is routine/systematic", says
<everyone>.

What is more routine/systematic than assembling IKEA furniture?

~~~
api_or_ipa
Systematic if it's in a controlled and repeatable environment. Not so
systematic if you need a robot to assemble your table in the middle of your
living room. You can't achieve Ikea's scale by completely assembling
everything in a factory because it increases shipping, storage and logistic
costs-- not to mention complicating moving the furniture into your new home.

------
javiramos
I hope they keep the ability to hire tasks other than furniture assembly! I
use Taskrabbit at least every week. They are our operations team!

~~~
mpenn
How do you use them? And what prices do you typically pay for the services you
use?

~~~
javiramos
95% of tasks are courier pickup/dropoff within the metro Boston area.
Traditional couriers require calling, getting quotes etc. Taskrabbit allows me
to quickly find a courier (sometimes even within 60 minutes) that's vetted,
reviewed, and professional. The app allows me to message/call them and has all
my credit card information saved. Everything is done from my phone or browser
(note: no paperwork). The experience is always better and cheaper than a
'professional' courier company.

EDIT: I usually pay $40-$90 for a metro Boston pickup/dropoff (about 1-2 hours
of driving time). The app has an endless stream of sponsored promo codes (e.g.
this week's 'The American Housewife' TV show $50 promo code) that almost
always subsidize the service and ensures that I don't pay full price.

Lately, I've been thinking about the opportunity to create an Uber-like
service that lowers prices by providing in-ride advertisements. Personally, I
wouldn't mind a few ads if it means that I'll pay 50% less for my ride.

------
vadym909
Why couldn't Ikea just use TaskRabbit for business when its customers ordered
service. Why buy TaskRabbit and ruin it?

------
DesiLurker
Don't buy from ikea, infowar says it is funded by divorce lawyers.

------
amelius
In which countries/cities does TaskRabbit operate?

------
justinzollars
Good for TaskRabbit. They've worked hard for years

------
perseusprime11
TaskRabbit is a perfect adjacency for Ikea because it’s not easy to assemble
their furniture without help.

------
SubiculumCode
I don't like how taskrabbit refers to their workers as "rabbits." This is
demeaning.

~~~
bleonard
FWIW, They are actually called "Taskers" [https://www.taskrabbit.com/become-a-
tasker](https://www.taskrabbit.com/become-a-tasker)

~~~
SubiculumCode
They started with rabbits, but changed it to taskers.

------
thespace123
Wow, is this the first React-Native success story? As far as mobile app
startups are concerned?

~~~
iagooar
Sure. React Native made them have a great business model that covers a niche
and solves a real problem. Thanks to React Native they could negotiate a
better deal with Ikea. Sigh.

~~~
thespace123
Obviously I didn't mean THE contributing factor to their success but it sure
as hell saves a lot of money in development costs. ;)

