IKEA struggling to meet high demand for products due to home makeover boom

The furniture giant, which has a store in Birstall, 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, 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.