Nielsen CMI and Ad Intel data reveals who’s visiting IKEA, where else they shop, and how the launch has reshaped New Zealand’s retail ad space
Auckland, New Zealand, August 4, 2026 – New Nielsen data shows IKEA’s first New Zealand store has quickly become a major retail destination, with 243,400 Kiwis visiting IKEA in the last month, according to Nielsen Consumer & Media Insights (CMI).
The findings, drawn from Nielsen CMI’s Q4 2025 to Q1 2026 half-year database, provide an early view of the consumer profile behind one of New Zealand’s most significant recent retail launches. The timing of IKEA’s December 2025 opening provides a valuable opportunity to understand who’s visiting the store, where they are coming from, where else they’re shopping, and how the launch is sitting within the wider retail and advertising market.
Nielsen’s CMI data shows IKEA is already reaching a broad shopper base, with 12% of Aucklanders visiting the store in the last month. While most IKEA shoppers live in Auckland, 28% live outside the city, highlighting the store’s ability to attract visitors beyond its immediate metro catchment.
The data also shows IKEA is attracting a young, family-focused audience. Nearly half of IKEA shoppers, (46%) are aged between 20 and 39, while 58% have children living at home. IKEA shoppers are also more likely to live in larger households, with 35% living in households of more than five people. The audience has a slight female skew, with women making up 55% of IKEA shoppers and men 45%.
The findings also show IKEA shoppers are active across a wide range of other retail brands and store formats. Among IKEA shoppers, 82% also visited Chemist Warehouse in the last month, 75% visited The Warehouse, 66% visited Asian grocery stores and 65% visited Kmart. One in five IKEA shoppers also purchased furniture, homeware or soft furnishings online in the past 12 months, showing the connection between physical store visitation and broader category engagement.
Shopping centre visitation data points to IKEA’s wider influence across the Auckland retail network. Sylvia Park was the most visited shopping centre by IKEA shoppers in the last month, likely reflecting its proximity to IKEA. However, IKEA shoppers also showed strong visitation to Newmarket and Glenfield Mall, indicating that the audience is active across multiple retail destinations.
Nielsen’s media consumption data shows IKEA shoppers are highly reachable across multiple channels. More than a third are heavy TV viewers, watching more than 23 hours a week, while 28% watch between 14 and 23 hours a week. They’re more likely to be moderate radio listeners, tuning in for seven to 20 hours a week, while 52% are heavy internet users.
Glenn Channell, Pacific Head of Advanced Analytics at Nielsen, said: “Major retail launches like IKEA give us a valuable window into how New Zealanders shop, travel, spend time and engage with different retail environments. What makes Nielsen CMI so powerful is that it goes well beyond a single store visit. It helps us understand the people behind the behaviour, including their age, household structure, location, media habits, category engagement and where else they shop.”
“For retailers and shopping centres, that level of understanding is critical. It can show whether a store is drawing from a local catchment or a wider region, which other retailers share the same audience, how shoppers move across retail destinations, and which consumer segments are most engaged.”
Additionally, Nielsen Ad Intel data shows IKEA’s launch activity was heavily concentrated around its New Zealand opening, with almost half of its advertising spend over the past six months occurring in December. The front-loaded investment reflects a strong launch campaign designed to build awareness and drive early store visitation.
In the six months since it launched, IKEA’s advertising investment was spread across major media channels, with the largest share going towards out-of-home, followed by TV and radio.
The data also provides a competitive view of the home, furniture and retail advertising landscape, looking at a select few of IKEA’s direct competitors. Over the same six-month period, Freedom Furniture allocated the majority of its advertising spend to TV, followed by radio. Briscoes showed a different channel mix, with radio accounting for the largest share of its advertising activity, followed by general display and TV.
Rose Lopreiato, Pacific Commercial Lead, Nielsen Ad Intel, added: “In a competitive retail environment, advertisers need a clear view of which brands are active, where investment is moving, and how competitors are using different media channels to build presence and drive demand. Nielsen Ad Intel gives marketers that competitive lens, showing how retailers and category competitors are investing across channels such as TV, radio, digital, general display and out-of-home.”
“When Ad Intel is paired with Nielsen CMI, it becomes even more powerful. It connects advertising activity with consumer behaviour, showing not only where brands are investing, but who they’re reaching, where those consumers shop, and how different audiences engage across media and retail environments. That combination helps marketers plan smarter, more relevant campaigns.”
The findings highlight how audience, retail visitation and advertising intelligence can be used together to understand the impact of major store openings. For retailers and shopping centres, the data provides a clearer view of shopper demographics, catchment patterns, cross-shopping behaviour, media habits and competitive advertising activity.
About Nielsen Consumer & Media Insights (CMI)
Nielsen Consumer & Media Insights, with its extensive breadth and depth of data, lets you access consumer research that is vital to achieving strong business and marketing goals.
It is an essential tool for understanding the constantly evolving consumer landscape. With rich demographic and lifestyle data, and information on purchasing behaviours and intentions alongside extensive media habit reporting, CMI helps you shape successful brand, advertising and marketing strategies.
CMI provides an invaluable resource for identifying priority audiences to inform the planning, buying, or selling of advertising media, to inform business and consumer strategies, and to build a comprehensive market/category landscape view.
About Nielsen Ad Intel
Ad Intel provides the most complete source of cross-platform advertising intelligence available today. With intuitive software, review-and-compare ad activity across media, company, category or brand, plus historical data.
Note: Nielsen monitors gross advertising expenditure in major media at published rate card values. While discounts are made available from some media owners, rates are not openly available. Please also note that the category and brand/product groupings figures are grouped at Nielsen’s discretion.
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