IKEA India, the Swedish home furnishings retailer, on Thursday celebrated the ground-breaking ceremony of its third India store in Nagasandra, Bengaluru.
Following the grand opening of its first IKEA India store in Hyderabad two months ago, this is yet another step to its long term commitment to India.
The 500,000 sq. ft. store, planned to open in summer 2020 is connected to the Nagasandra Metro Station. IKEA store, which is expected to attract more than 7 million visitors per year, will be built by spending Rs 2,000 crore. The store will offer a wide range of beautiful and affordable home furnishing solutions for the many people in Karnataka.
“As Karnataka is a priority for us, we are investing Rs 1,000 crore in setting up our popular store and another Rs 1,000 crore in expanding it later,” IKEA India Chief Executive Peter Betzel told reporters at its ground-laying ceremony in the city’s northwest suburb.
The IKEA store will have around 2,000 parking space and a 1,000 seater restaurant serving Swedish and Indian delicacies. It will also house a supervised children’s play area called ‘Småland’. Around 7,500 products will be on offer with solution to create a better and brighter everyday life at home.
Talking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Betzel said, “Bengaluru is a very special city for us as we have active participation from our total value chain – IKEA Foundation, IKEA suppliers, IKEA social entrepreneurs and now IKEA retail. This city is truly cosmopolitan with many people moving in to find new opportunities. With the IKEA store, we will contribute to a better everyday life for all Bengalureans with well designed, functional home-furnishing solution. We will contribute positively to the state’s development by creating employment opportunities, investing in skill/competence development, growing local sourcing to meet India and global demands and bringing IKEA’s global best practices to grow India’s retail and manufacturing sector.”
Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, Dr. G. Parameshwara said, “I welcome IKEA to our state. IKEA’s entry reflects Karnataka’s progressive policies for ease of doing businesses. Bangalore’s mega city with improving infrastructure continues to attract investments. We see IKEA as a strong partner in increasing local manufacturing in the state and bring best practices in retail and supply chain. We also see IKEA as a great contributor in the state’s sustainability efforts. IKEA will create many jobs and its commitment to employ 50 percent women will enable many more women in the state to join the workforce. We will extend full support to facilitate ease of doing business here and to be able to open the store very quickly to IKEA.”
“We expect 7 million (70 lakh) people to visit the store in a year as a range of affordable and elegant home furnishings and other items will be on display for sale,” asserted Betzel on the occasion.
IKEA has a very strong diversity and inclusivity agenda with a commitment to employ 50 percent women co-workers at all levels. The Bengaluru store will employ 800-1000 direct co-workers and another 1500 indirectly providing services such as assembly, delivery etc. IKEA is committed to being people and planet positive and is integrated into our business. IKEA stores will have solar panels, LED lights, rain water harvesting, water treatment plants and modern waste management systems. IKEA will use EV for deliveries and even co-worker transportation in the future.
IKEA aims is to reach out to the many people with thin wallets by offering products with everyday low prices. In the Hyderabad store, there are 1000 products priced below Rs 200. Besides its big format stores, IKEA will create a multichannel experience for its customers in India. It will launch e commerce in Mumbai next year and introduce other touch points that will bring the brand closer to customers. IKEA aims to be present in 49 cities by 2030.
IKEA has been sourcing from India for close to 35 years for its global stores. In India, IKEA currently has more than 55+ suppliers with 45,000 direct employees and 400,000 people in the extended supply chain. IKEA Purchasing organisation works with 7 suppliers and are looking to sign up many more suppliers with a strategic and value fit. In India, IKEA aims to maximize local sourcing in the long term to make the products more affordable
IKEA Foundation, its philanthropic arm has been working with the community for 18 years and currently has 7 running projects centered around livelihood and resources. IKEA Foundation is also working on DISHA, a skill development program to train 1 million women to join the workforce. The Hyderabad store has employed around 100 women from this program so far. IKEA also works with 1,500 women artisans through two social entrepreneurs, one of who is based in Karnataka.
