March 12 was no ordinary day for IKEA in India. The buzz of the crowd mingled with the scent of freshly baked cinnamon buns and Swedish meatballs. For many visitors, it was their very first experience of an IKEA store. In the western city of Pune, the BILLY bookcase, the KALLAX shelving unit, and hundreds of other products found their new Indian home – welcoming curious onlookers and future customers alike.
The 3,000 m² store in Pune, which also offers planning services as well as food, is the sixth IKEA store in India. As the latest addition following Hyderabad, Navi Mumbai, Bengaluru, Mumbai, and New Delhi, and backed by more than EUR 900 million invested so far, it marks another step in a journey to bring the Swedish home furnishing retailer closer to many more people in India.
“India is one of our most important markets globally, and we are putting even greater focus on it as a place for growth,” says Javier Quiñones, Global Commercial Manager at Ingka Group (IKEA). “The Indian home furnishing market is expected to grow by 50% in value by 2030. We want to play a role in this, while also learning from India and other Asian markets where retail is developing rapidly and where we are still a young brand.”
Over the next five years, as part of its continued investments in India, Ingka Group plans to open 25 small and medium-sized stores throughout the country, creating hundreds of jobs. At the same time, large-format stores outside of New Delhi are under construction as part of IKEA-owned shopping centres, with Gurugram expected to open first followed by Noida.
Patrik Antoni, CEO of IKEA India
“We feel we have built a solid understanding of our customers across different parts of the country to take a bolder leap in the coming period. We can inspire more people to make the most of their living situations – offering ideas and solutions that may be new to many people in India. Expanding our network and becoming more accessible is key to that.”
Alongside the planned store openings, IKEA is also becoming more accessible digitally in new parts of India – most recently in Tamil Nadu, a major state in the southeast, where online deliveries are now available to 10 million potential customers.
Boosting retail development in India and other global markets is part of Ingka Group’s EUR 5 billion, three-year investment, aimed at opening new locations and improving existing ones across most of its 32 markets.
About Ingka Group
With IKEA retail operations in 32 markets, Ingka Group is the largest IKEA retailer and represents 87% of IKEA retail sales. It is a strategic partner to develop and innovate the IKEA business and help define common IKEA strategies. Ingka Group owns and operates IKEA sales channels under franchise agreements with Inter IKEA Systems B.V. It has three business areas: IKEA Retail, Ingka Investments and Ingka Centres. Read more on Ingka.com.
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