Ikea, the Swedish furniture chain, is to begin internal trials of its online shopping service this week, as it prepares for a pilot launch in the Nottingham area in January.

The retailer is intending to charge shoppers £7.50 for delivery of parcel-sized goods and £35 for larger goods, such as sofas or kitchens.

That compares with free delivery on sofas from its rival Argos, a £4.85 charge from Tesco Direct and between £5 and £30, depending on the value of the order, for the delivery of a kitchen from MFI.

Adri Kraa, store manager of Ikea Shop Online!, as the new service will be called, said: “There is no such thing as free delivery. It is important to us to stick to our transparent pricing policy.”

He said that Ikea’s strategy of “you do half, we do half” meant that shoppers could save money.

He added: “If we do more than half, we have to ask for a contribution so that our prices in store still remain the lowest. We don’t want to subsidise the internet by charging more in store.”

Ikea’s website will begin to be updated from tomorrow with more information on the coming delivery service and tips on home improvement.

The site will be trialled with Ikea’s staff. When it begins to deliver to customers in the new year, it will offer 50 per cent of the Ikea range online.

About 70 per cent of the furniture range will be on offer online, as well as some accessories such as lighting, curtains and rugs. Mr Kraa said that Ikea aimed to improve on that range in the future.

If trials go to plan, the online service will be widened to the rest of the Midlands and could be across the UK by the end of the year.

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