Comments
Swedish multi-channel home furnishings major IKEA has completed one year of operations at its Hyderabad store.
The IKEA management is looking at opening smaller format stores in big cities and One Market approach through e-commerce to reach out to more customers.
Peter Betzel, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IKEA, said, “India is a long term commitment for IKEA and we will focus on fast expansion with a multi-channel approach. We aim to reach 100 million Indian customers in the coming 3 years with a multichannel approach with a combination of big Ikea stores, smaller city-center stores, pick-up points, digital touchpoints like the shop-able app and the e-commerce platform as a selling channel.”
“Our next destination is Mumbai where we will soon start our e-commerce journey enabling us to meet more customers, followed by Hyderabad and Pune going online,’ he said.
Aurelie Raimon, Store Manager, Ikea Hyderabad, said, “Indian customers have humbled us with their love. We have welcomed more than 4 million visitors so far and still counting. We are coming closer to understanding what out customers like, their preferences, challenges and frustrations for everyday life at home.”
It has had more than 10 million visitors on the website and more than 3,50,000 people have signed up for IKEA family programme.
According to IKEA, “The world’s retail landscape is changing at a scale and pace not seen before, driven by increasing urbanisation, changing customer behaviours and digitalisation. Ikea is transforming globally to become more accessible, affordable and sustainable. The digitally enabled IKEA will be able to reach the many customers where they are and when they want to shop.”
IKEA is looking at integrating the online and offline platforms to offer an omni-channel presence for our customers. The big Ikea store size will range from 400,000 sqft to 500,000 sq ft. The smaller formats will range from 50,000 sq ft - 150,000 sq ft, depending on locations.
IKEA plans to open in Mumbai with a One Market approach with the Navi Mumbai store, three small stores and e-commerce. Customers will be soon be able to shop online in Mumbai, followed by Hyderabad and Pune and then by other cities.
Land sites have been acquired in Bengaluru and Gurugram and IKEA continues to look for suitable sites in other cities. The ambition is to be present in as many Indian cities as possible through different channels.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.