Swedish furniture giant IKEA is set to launch its first small-format city store at Worli, Mumbai, on Thursday. IKEA, which is part of the Ingka Group, had set up its first store in the country in Hyderabad in August 2018, which was followed by a store in Navi Mumbai in December last year. The company has an online presence across Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Surat, Ahmedabad and Vadodara.
Next in line will be mega stores in cities such as Gurgaon and Bengaluru, though timelines for launch have not been specified yet. The company will also launch two more city-centre or smaller stores in 2021 in Mumbai to reach a wider audience.
Ikea not ready to open first India store yet, postpones launch to August 9. Around 45,000 visitors are expected at the store on the earlier launch day.
Two months after the launch of its first store in the country, Swedish furniture retail giant IKEA says it has seen some surprising behaviour from shoppers and is tweaking its business model. Peter Betzel, chief executive of IKEA India, speaks to Bibhu Ranjan Mishra & Alnoor Peermohamed.
The company, which has employed 950 people directly and another 1,500 indirectly at its store in Hyderabad, plans to hire 15,000 in the coming years as it expands operations in India.