IKEA, the Swedish home furnishing retailer, launched its e-commerce services and mobile app in the city on Wednesday. This marked IKEA’s entry into Karnataka and customers in Bengaluru will now be able to choose from over 8,000 home furnishing products and solutions.
Peter Betzel, CEO & Chief Sustainability Officer, IKEA India said, “Karnataka is a very important market for IKEA and Bengaluru is one of the largest home furnishing markets in India. We will bring a complete omnichannel offer to the market and we are taking the first step now with the launch of our ecommerce operations. We are looking at a long-term investment of ₹3,000 crore.”
IKEA’s close to 400,000 sq.ft. store would come up at Nagasandra within a year and the store would be connected to the Nagasandra metro station, to facilitate a faster and greener commute for visitors to the store, he said. “Over time, we will also open a city center store within Bengaluru to be even more accessible and connect with a large number of people,” Betzel added.
He said IKEA’s mandate was to meet over 100 million customers over the next few years, including 10 million from Karnataka.
Over the next five years, across different IKEA businesses in the city, the company plans to engage around 2,500 co-workers directly with 50% diversity across all levels. IKEA works with nine home furnishing suppliers in Karnataka including a social entrepreneur engaging 1,200 local artisans, as per the company.
The furnishing firm already has online presence in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Surat, and Vadodara.
