Ikea facing mattress shortages amid post-lockdown demand spike

Ikea has said it is struggling to meet high demand for some of its products, especially mattresses, as Britons buy new furniture for the homes they spent much more time in during lockdown.

The furniture giant, which has a store next to the M6 in Wednesbury, said it had been hit by issues in its supply chain caused by a series of simultaneous challenges.

“Like many retailers, we are experiencing ongoing challenges with our supply chains due to Covid-19 and labour shortages, with transport, raw materials and sourcing all impacted,” the company said.

“In addition, we are seeing higher customer demand as more people are spending more time at home.”

It added: “As a result, we are experiencing low availability in some of our ranges, including mattresses.

“We hope this will reduce as the situation improves in the coming weeks and months.

“Going forward, we’re constantly looking for more opportunities to secure product availability for our customers and apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.”

Many companies have said in recent weeks that they are struggling to fill shelves and meet demand from customers coming out of lockdown.

A historic shortage of lorry drivers has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. According to one estimate, 30,000 driving licence tests for heavy goods vehicles did not take place last year due to social distancing.

Before the pandemic, the UK already had a shortfall of 60,000 drivers. This has now risen to around 100,000.

A company which bottles Coca-Cola said last week it is facing aluminium can shortages. Pub chain Wetherspoon said it was running short of some beers in some pubs, and Nando’s closed some of its restaurants amid shortages.

Yet according to the closely followed Purchasing Managers’ Index, the UK manufacturing sector beat expectations last month, and is growing strongly.

Last week British Retail Consortium (BRC) director of food and sustainability Andrew Opie said that while Christmas will be challenging this year, it is too early to be predicting food shortages over the period.