A new industry report has revealed a major shake-up in the UK bedroom furniture market, with IKEA overtaking Dreams as the most-cited bed brand in AI-generated answers.
The Bedroom Trends Report 2025/26 – published last week by PR agency Holy Wow! – suggests that generative search tools such as ChatGPT are now exerting more influence over brand visibility than traditional retail leadership or design trend forecasting.
The analysis tracked brand mentions across 1.42 million AI answers over six months and combined the findings with UK search data, backlink profiles and traffic visibility for 25 national bed and bedroom retailers. The conclusion is clear, says the PR agency – AI is rewriting category authority at an unprecedented speed.
"Despite being a generalist retailer, IKEA now ranks as the number-one bed brand in AI responses by a significant margin," says Holy Wow!. "The Swedish giant recorded an estimated 978,972 mentions in bed – and bedroom-related content – more than 3.5 times the volume earned by Dreams.
"This gives IKEA an estimated 4.7% AI share of voice across the category, compared with Dreams’ 1.4%. Silentnight, Argos and Dunelm also feature within the top-performing brands."
According to the report, IKEA appears in AI recommendations for nearly every bedroom query – from mattresses and wardrobes to small-space solutions and children’s rooms – cementing its position as "the default furniture brand in generative search".
“IKEA’s dominance in AI visibility is the strongest signal yet that AI has become the new front door to the furniture market,” says Delilah Pollard, MD at Holy Wow!. “If you’re not appearing in AI outputs, you’re not appearing at all. Traditional power dynamics in the sector simply don’t apply anymore.”
The report also highlights a growing challenge for retailers – AI platforms overwhelmingly cite high-authority media and community domains ahead of brand websites.
Reddit leads the field with 1.94 million citations – 26 times more than IKEA – followed by specialist health sources such as SleepFoundation.org and Healthline. Media outlets including Ideal Home, Good Housekeeping and The Sun also rank among the top 25 most-cited domains.
Delilah warns that retailers risk becoming invisible unless they build citation authority through PR: “Editorial and community sites are shaping AI outputs far more than retailers realise. Without strategic PR and content investment, furniture brands could disappear from generative search within 12 months.”
While IKEA tops AI visibility, specialists continue to dominate traditional search. The report shows that Dreams and Bensons for Beds outperform generalist retailers across high-intent bedroom and mattress keywords. Smaller players like Happy Beds also 'over-index' in first-position rankings relative to their Domain Authority.
Holy Wow! identifies several well-known retailers as 'sleeping giants' – brands with strong domain strength but low bedroom-category visibility due to thin content, technical issues or a lack of integrated PR and search strategy.
"A significant gap is emerging between the trends promoted within the industry and what UK consumers are actually searching for," says Holy Wow!. "While retailers and designers continue to champion biophilic design, natural palettes and earthy tones, high-volume search behaviour remains anchored in classic colourways."
Monthly UK searches for 'white bedroom' (221,100), 'grey bedroom' (213,520) and 'blue bedroom' (146,090) vastly outstrip interest in specialist trends such as biophilic design (2,900).
The report argues that while the design conversation continues to evolve, consumer aesthetics remain more traditional – highlighting a need for retailers to align creative direction with real-world demand.
The top performers in high-value bedroom keywords vary widely: 'King size bed' (74,000 monthly searches), led by Dreams, Bensons for Beds and Habitat; 'Bedroom furniture' (44,500 searches), dominated by The Range, Feather & Black, IKEA and Big Furniture Warehouse; and bedroom-inspiration searches are led by Pinterest, House Beautiful, IKEA and Farrow & Ball.
IKEA’s strong presence in both commercial and inspiration-led queries reflects its strength in content-led commerce, further solidifying its role at every stage of furniture discovery, says Delilah, who argues that the industry is entering a 'post-keyword era' in which Generative Search and Brand Citation Authority will shape the next generation of winners and losers.
“The brands AI trusts are the brands consumers will see, and that makes citation authority the new battleground,” she explains. “Right now, IKEA is setting the pace. Retailers that don’t adapt risk becoming invisible to the next wave of shoppers.”
