IKEA HEMSÄKER
Designing IKEA’s First Insurance Product
How we built a human, scalable product experience around trust, not terms
Client: Swiss Re iptiQ & Ikano Bank, for IKEA
Agency: C Space London
My Role: CX & UX & Experience Design Director
Scope: Product strategy, CX design, UX prototyping, proposition validation
Engagement Type: Agency-led design sprint and product co-creation
In Brief
- IKEA wanted to offer home insurance without breaking its brand promise.
- People didn’t trust insurance, but they did trust IKEA to keep them safe.
- We designed four product concepts, each shaped around unmet needs.
- Final version HEMSÄKER launched in four markets as a system ready to scale.
- The work reduced risk and showed IKEA could scale into new markets through experience.
1. Challenge
IKEA wanted to offer home insurance without breaking its brand promise.
IKEA wanted to expand into home insurance, but traditional offerings didn’t match their customers’ lifestyles or values.
The challenge was to design a solution that felt genuinely IKEA while reducing the risks of entering an unfamiliar market.
“Insurance is complicated. We just want to feel safe.”
German Customer
2. Insight
People didn’t trust insurance, but they did trust IKEA to keep them safe.
Security was the most important home need, followed by privacy, comfort, a sense of belonging, and ownership. However, existing insurance on the market faced challenges like complex onboarding, a lack of trust, complicated claims, and high costs.
IKEA had already trust and a home-association angle, but needed to show a new, simple, human, and practical insurance experience.
3. Change
We designed four product concepts, each shaped around unmet needs.
As Experience Design Director, I led the design of IKEA's go-to-market offer. After interviewing stakeholders, we conducted a three-day hackathon, which involved in-person co-creation, overnight testing across three countries, and direct feedback from Swiss Re and Ikano Bank teams.
Our focus was on the intersection of home security and insurance pain points. We mapped journeys, defined use cases, and developed four propositions based on unmet needs: safety, sustainability, community, and affordability.
Each concept had comprehensive UX journeys, service logic, marketing mix, and brand language, ready for testing and scaling.
4. Delivery
Final version HEMSÄKER launched in four markets as a system ready to scale.
What began as a tested proposition evolved into IKEA’s first live insurance system: HEMSÄKER. It used clear language and a fully digital experience, making it intuitive, scalable, and easy to use.
HEMSÄKER launched in Switzerland, Malaysia, Singapore, and Mexico. Within a year, it captured 10% of the direct market in Switzerland and ranked among the top five in customer service.
5. Impact
The work reduced risk and showed IKEA could scale into new markets through experience.
This work helped IKEA enter a complex market while maintaining brand trust. By listening to users, collaborating, and conducting early tests, we minimised risk and operated clearly.
We fused customer insight with practical delivery logic, transforming an abstract strategy into a tangible experience system based on real journeys, flows, and service operations. It wasn’t just about selling insurance; it was about designing a system people could use confidently, demonstrating IKEA’s ability to deliver it authentically.
HEMSÄKER is now part of IKEA’s financial services roadmap, with a scalable system.
IKEA CH: HEMSÄKER
Ikano Group: Press page
iptiQ Swiss Re: Press page
10% of Switzerland’s direct home insurance market within one year
CHF 20 IKEA gift card for every claim-free year (driving repeat store visits)
Adopted by Ingka as part of IKEA’s financial services strategy
“We’re really proud of how it reflects the IKEA look and feel. It uses straight-talking language and connects naturally to the brand in a way customers understand and trust.”
Elizabeth Wesson,
Digital Strategy,
Swiss Re
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