Ikea expands on its smart-home offering by launching a partnership with audio brand Sonos.
The collaboration, which launches in Ikea stores in 2019, will see the two brands aim to make it easier for customers to play any song anywhere in the home.
Research from Sonos’s Music Makes It Home Study 2015, showed that people who listened to music together in the home spend more time together – up to three hours more per week than those that don’t listen to music together.
The study also found that a quarter of people felt more inspired when listening to music together and 14 per cent felt more loved.
Data from Ikea’s Life at Home Report 2016 also showed that 65 per cent of millennials said music to make a place feel like home.
“When we asked people what sound they associate with their homes and many people mentioned that it is music that makes a home,” said Björn Block, business leader of Ikea Home Smart in Sweden.
“Together with Sonos, we want to democratise music and sound in the home, and we want to create products designed for how people listen together at home. By teaming up with Sonos, we want to combine Ikea home furnishing knowledge with Sonos’s expertise within great home sound.”
The collaboration between Ikea and Sonos is a part of Ikea Home Smart, which was first launched in 2015 with the introduction of its wireless charging products for mobile phones, followed by smart lighting in 2016.
“At Ikea, we strive to make solutions for life at home by integrating technology into our home-furnishing offer that is easy to use and affordable, thereby making smart-home technology accessible to the many,” added Mr Block.
Patrick Spence, chief executive at Sonos, commented: “At Sonos, we understand the transformational power of music in the home. We believe that sound should be a considered element of home design, and together we will work with Ikea to create products and experiences that make people’s homes look and sound more amazing.”
