Skip to main content
EN AUEnglish

Double win for IKEA at the 2024 ARA Retail Awards

Corporate news25 September 2024
IKEA Australia recognised with awards for Refugee Workforce Inclusion program and Zero Emissions Delivery project

The 2024 ARA Retail Awards, run by the Australian Retailers Association, were held on Thursday 19 September in Melbourne.  

The inaugural ARA Retail Awards honour the achievements of Australia’s highest performing retailers, celebrating excellence, innovation and leadership in the industry.

IKEA Australia’s Refugee Workforce Inclusion program took out the award for DE&I Excellence, while the retailer’s Zero Emissions Delivery project won in the Sustainability Excellence category.

IKEA was up against Australia’s most prominent retail brands, with some of the fellow competitors in the award categories including Coles, David Jones, Woolworths Group, Australia Post, Red Rooster and 7 Eleven. 

In total, IKEA Australia was nominated for three Excellence Awards:

  • The Refugee Workforce Inclusion program was nominated for the DE&I (Diversity, Equality & Inclusion) Excellence award, recognising the program’s achievements of the program over the past four years, which has seen over 220 people from refugee or asylum seeker backgrounds bring their diverse skills and expertise to IKEA. 
  • The Zero Emissions Delivery project was nominated for the Sustainability Excellence award. In 2018, IKEA globally set an ambitious target of 100% zero emissions home deliveries for customers by 2025. IKEA took a leadership position on this topic, showing transitioning to zero-emission is not only possible but a top priority, even if we don’t yet have all the answers. In 2019, IKEA became the first home furnishing retailer in Australia to use electric vehicles for home deliveries and assembly services and earlier this year reached 40 per cent of truck deliveries to customers now made via a zero emissions vehicle.
  • Digital design tool IKEA Kreativ was nominated for the Innovation Excellence award, recognising it as industry-leading technology that provides a seamless, omni-channel experience for customers.

IKEA Australia CEO & Chief Sustainability Officer Mirja Viinanen accepted the award on stage on behalf of the many teams across the business who bought each high achieving project to life.