From personal experience I can attest that going to IKEA by bus is really no fun here in Europe, because you aren't allowed to bring your flatpacks home on it. So it was a smart move that after a survey found that 20 percent of its customers arrived by bike, the IKEA outside of Copenhagen has hooked up with the Danish Freetrailer service to offer (relatively free) Velorbis bikes with trailers to customers.

Bikes for getting to big box stores is a concept whose time is definitely ripe. Freetrailer started as a service for Danes to loan car trailers for free but has now included bike trailers at...