IKEA, the world’s largest retailer of furniture, said it will open its second store in the country today in Navi Mumbai. The new store is Maharashtra’s first large-format store, spanning over 5.3 lakh sq ft, located near the local railway station in Turbhe and stocks over 7,000 home furnishing items.
Ikea Navi Mumbai has required pre-booked slots to ensure a secure shopping experience for customers. Via prior registration on its website, IKEA has restricted the number of visitors to the store by allocating customers a day and time slot to visit the store. The bad news for customers is that as IKEA’s website reveals, the slot is already filled for the next two weeks.
In August 2018, in Hyderabad, IKEA launched its first retail store in India, followed by online stores in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Pune.
In Mumbai, IKEA also plans to set up two city-centre shops, a company official said. The IKEA city centre stores will be smaller than a large-format outlet, the Navi Mumbai flagship store.
In its first year of operations, the world’s largest furniture retailer Ikea sold products worth around Rs 2 crore every day, hitting Rs 400 crore during total revenue from its maiden store launched in India in last August in FY19. This is a sales record in a market generally considered extremely value-conscious for any brand in the world from just one store-and in its debut year.
The Swedish retailer generated revenue of Rs 407 crore in the seven months of FY19 operations at its first store in India in Hyderabad, while initial investments resulted in a loss of Rs 685 crore in FY19. The retailer, known for its ready-to-assemble products, had incurred a net loss of Rs 368 crore in FY18 on long-term corporate spending, including building infrastructures such as land, distribution centres, personnel costs, and training.
On an opening day at Hyderabad’s Hitec City, a technology hub that houses offices of multinationals like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Deloitte, Accenture, and Dell, an estimated 40,000 people visited Ikea’s big box store.
Upon recognizing India’s hot and tropical environment, the company had handpicked about 7,500 items from its 10,000 catalogue. The restaurant business is also expected to drive higher footfalls in its Indian stores.
It shut down its first and only store in India, in the city of Hyderabad, starting on 20 March amid the country Covid-19 outbreak as it takes precautionary steps to protect employees and customers.
