Ikea is battling inflation by reducing prices of hundreds of items worldwide

Ikea has announced it will be slashing prices on hundreds of its products across its stores.

If you're in the market for some flatpack furniture, tasteful but affordable home decor, and some meatballs then this might be your lucky day.

The Swedish homeware giant is marking down products across its many stores globally, and is even saying that this just the beginning.

Ikea has become known for its well-designed but still affordable furniture.

The brand is iconic worldwide, with its designs being among the most widely-known internationally.

You could probably always recognise one of the armchairs, or at least one that has been inspired by it.

But the other big part of Ikea's appeal is its affordability, and inflation running away internationally presents some challenges.

So why exactly is Ikea announcing such a counter-intuitive move as a price cut?

Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Well, it's to do with inflation and the homeware giant's reputation for affordability.

The company has to find a balance between being cheap enough to not drive customers away but obviously still make enough money.

Hitha Herzog is chief research officer at H Squared Research, and told ABC: "They're realizing that their customer is price sensitive.

"Having less expensive furniture will keep them coming back over and over again."

Ikea has also clarified that the reduction in prices is also a way to roll back on previous price hikes which had been introduced.

The company explained it had raised its prices after the Covid-19 pandemic due to a low inventory and increased raw material costs.

However, shelves have once again been stocked so the company is in a position to be able to lower its prices.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Customer Taylor Byrne was documenting some of the big price reductions which were now available at the store.

Byrne told ABC: "They've already had low prices for as long as I can remember.

"I have went in recently and noticed even lower prices was just shocking."

A statement on Ikea's website says: "We've reduced the prices of some of our favourite products making them even more affordable.

"Take advantage of these lowered prices and discover a wide range of options. This is not a sale. This is the new normal."

The price cuts started in Europe in September, and have already led to an increase in customers according to the retailer.