Flea Market Online

Recently, IKEA ran a campaign that allowed customers to sell their used furniture via an online flea market through IKEA’s Facebook page.  The used furniture was also marketed by IKEA’s ad agency, SMFB, via broadcast, print and outdoor billboards.  The aim of the campaign was to encourage customers to sell their old furniture to be more sustainable rather than simply discarding them. 

The campaign was a great example of how organizations can use social media to achieve multiple goals simultaneously.  By launching a campaign aimed at sustainability, they improved their reputation in the community.  They built trust with their customers by involving and engaging with them, and helping them sell their items while taking no fee for themselves.  Finally, the reputation and trust they built might have resulted in additional sales for those who sold their furniture and might be in the market for new items.

Any organization can learn from this example and it’s employment of the triple bottom line: people, planet, profit.