Ikea gears up to launch its first India store on July 19

After six- year long wait, India would have to its first Ikea store when the Swedish furnishing major officially opens it on July 19 in Hyderabad.

The four lakh square feet store would have 7,500 products, which Ikea’s new India CEO Peter Betzel said, were decided after its company executives visited 1,000 Indian homes to understand the preferences of Indian customers.

The company officials said that the store would cater to every segment of customer and cover all price points.

Speaking to a select journalists, Mr Betzel said the company is sourcing 20 per cent of its total product value from India. “It would reach 30 per cent in five years.”

Ikea announced to invest 1.5 billion euros or over ` 10,000 crore in the biggest investment by a singlebrand retailer in India.

In 2012, Ikea had decided to invest in India after the UPA government relaxed the local sourcing requirements for single- brand retailers to reverse poor show by the country.

The Swedish major had invested ` 1,000 crore and hired 1,000 employees for the Hyderabad store.

Apart from setting up 25 stores in India, the company plans to adopt multichannel sales system by launching online sales in Mumbai. The online sales would be expanded to other cities later on.

Though the online portals have a small share of home furnishing sales, Mr Betzel expects that it would grow gradually.