IKEA is Taking Online Route in India Through Mumbai and Pune

FDT Bureau

IKEA, the Swedish furniture giant is going big on online route in India. Last year in August, it launched its first online store in Mumbai, offering more than 7,500 products.

While launching the Mumbai store, Peter Betzel, CEO, IKEA India said, “Today marks an important occasion in our history as we roll out our multi-channel, digital-first approach with Mumbai being among the first few markets worldwide, where we are bringing alive this transformation.” According to IKEA, Mumbai e-commerce store has witnessed close to 4 million visits since its inception in August 2019. After getting such good response, now Pune is the second target market in just less than 6 months of Mumbai’s online store. Customers in Pune will be able to choose from over 7,000 products online. It appears that the rapid change in the purchasing trend and nature of Indian consumers is being recognized by IKEA ahead of time. Peter Betzel also indicated the same during a business event held in December 2019 in Delhi saying, “The world is changing fast due to digitization. The company has decided to transform its business model. We need to be much more accessible to many people that mean adopting a true omni-channel approach. I have learnt that if you are a foreign brand in India, people think you are expensive. We would like to turn it around. We would like to really tell people that our ranges are affordable, functional and sustainable.”

"If you are a foreign brand in India, people think you are expensive. We would like to turn it around. We would like to tell people that our ranges are affordable, functional & sustainable"

At the time of launching of online store in Pune, Mr. Per Hornell, market and expansion manager, IKEA India, said that Maharashtra is a very important market for IKEA and they see a lot of potential in Pune. The company is planning to open two more such distribution centres in Delhi and Bangalore in the next few years.