Ikea hit by shortages across 1,000 product lines

Retail giant Ikea says at least 1,000 of its product lines have been disrupted by the shortage of lorry drivers.

It is the latest company to be caught up in the supply chain chaos currently affecting the UK.

The firm said in a statement that a “perfect storm of issues, including the disruption of global trade flows and a shortage of drivers” have been made worse by the pandemic and Brexit, and was impacting around 10% of Ikea’s entire range.

A spokesperson said that transport, raw materials and sourcing at all of its 22 stores around the UK and Ireland had been affected by labour shortages and COVID-19.

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

As a result, Ikea said it was currently experiencing “low availability in some of our ranges, including mattresses”, adding: “We hope this will reduce as the situation improves in the coming weeks and months.”

Yesterday, JD Wetherspoon became the latest company to be affected by shortages across the economy – following the likes of Nando’s, McDonald’s and Greggs – with some of its beers not available.

A spokesman said the pub chain’s supply problems with Carling and Coors were the knock-on effect from industrial action by delivery drivers working for another brewer, and apologised to customers.