Home furnishings retailer IKEA India recently opened its store in Navi Mumbai on the Thane-Belapur Road. Two smaller format stores will follow in Mumbai's city centre during 2021. Following Mumbai, IKEA plans to focus on Delhi, NCR and Bangalore for expansion.
"For us in India, Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi are our priority markets, which we call as megacities, and are focus areas for us," says Kavitha Rao, Country Commercial Manager, IKEA India.
IKEA already has purchased the 14-acre land parcel in Bangalore and is constructing its third store. In Delhi too, IKEA has a land parcel in Gurgaon where work has started.
"Now that we have opened our store in Navi Mumbai, the next step is actually to focus on Bangalore and Delhi. There are discussions underway for the second land parcel in the National Capital Region. Similarly, there are discussions in looking at other possible opportunities in Bangalore too," says Rao.
E-commerce too is becoming an integral strategy for IKEA as more consumers move online. "We also see that in the post-pandemic world e-commerce and digital adoption amongst consumers in India is one of the highest and we can see that very much in the home furnishing space as well," says Rao.
New plans for online will be announced soon. "We already have a strong foundation in our online approach, which also will have further developments in terms of the customer interface, our planning tools, and the services, which we offer when you shop online... it is our own mission and approach that you could meet IKEA wherever, whenever, however you want," said Per Hornell Country Market & Expansion Manager at IKEA India.
IKEA India first opened its online channel in Mumbai before opening its store in the country's financial capital. Rao said they are evaluating this strategy in other cities as well.
"Launching IKEA first online in Mumbai followed by the store was done for the first time ever in the IKEA world and it has really been a good experience for us. So we continue to evaluate if that would be a good option for us both in Bangalore as well as Delhi," says Rao.
Since the home furnishings retailer entered India, it has brought in investment close to Rs 10,500 crores. The home furnishings retailer plans to invest close to about Rs 6,000 crore in the next ten years in Maharashtra.
IKEA India, part of Ingka Group opened its first retail store in Hyderabad in August 2018, followed by online stores in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Pune.
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