Ikea to expand retail operations

New Delhi: Swedish furniture maker Ikea is looking for omnichannel expansion with diverse retail formats besides kicking off online operations in Delhi-NCR by the end of 2024 as it enters the second phase of growth in the Indian market.

According to company India CEO Susanne Pulverer, Ikea is now planning to expand its operations by adding more stores to its network and considering new locations such as Pune and Chennai and increasing local sourcing making products more affordable here. Ikea, which has completed five years of retail operations after opening its first store in Hyderabad on August 9, 2018, plans to increase its employee count to 10,000 from 3,000 in the coming years. Besides, the company which sources from India for its global retail operation, is expanding its scope and looking into a big category with wood-based products here. “Our next growth phase in India looks very promising and full of opportunities.

IKEA is committed to India and here for the long term. We are looking at an omnichannel expansion in India with diverse retail formats to come closer to the many people in India,” Pulverer told PTI. She further said:” We have already booked an investment of Rs 10,500 crores in building five stores in India, apart from announcing investments in two large shopping centres in Gurugram and Noida with integrated IKEA stores.” In the second phase, Ikea is “looking at a faster expansion than the first five years”. It expects an “accelerated expansion” based on the learnings from the first phase. Ikea has opened stores in cities such as Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Bengaluru cities and has an online presence in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, and Pune under the first phase. “Delhi NCR is our next big market. We are planning to start online operations in Delhi by the end of 2024 followed by the Ingka Centres Gurugram project opening in 2025,” she added. After Delhi, Ikea is “looking at what are the next markets as well.