IKEA India Breaks Ground for its 3rd India Store in Bengaluru!
Bengaluru, October 11, 2018: IKEA India, the Swedish home furnishings retailer, today 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 ceremony took place in the presence of the Honorable Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, Dr. G. Parameshwara, Peter Betzel, CEO, IKEA India, IKEA suppliers, coworkers and many other distinguished guests.
Karnataka is a priority market and IKEA India will invest 2000+ crores in long term. Close to Rs. 1000 crores will be invested for its first Bengaluru store. The store will employ 800-1000 direct coworkers and engage another 1500 indirectly in services.
The 500,000 sq. ft. store, planned to open in summer 2020 is connected to the Nagasandra Metro Station. IKEA store is expected to attract more than 7 million visitors per year. The store will offer a wide range of beautiful and affordable home furnishing solutions for the many people in Karnataka. The IKEA store will have around 2000 parking space and a 1000 seater restaurant serving Swedish and Indian delicacies. It will also house a supervised children’s play area called “Småland”. Around 7500 products will be on offer with solution to create a better and brighter everyday life at home.
Talking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Peter Betzel, CEO, IKEA India, 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.”
Honorable 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% 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.”
IKEA has a very strong diversity and inclusivity agenda with a commitment to employ 50% 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 1500 women artisans through two social entrepreneurs, one of who is based in Karnataka.
About IKEA and IKEA India:
The IKEA vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people and we offer well-designed, functional and affordable, high-quality home furnishing, produced with care for people and the environment. There are currently 423 stores in 50 countries with a sales volume of 38.3 billion euros. 936 million customers visited IKEA stores in FY17 and more than 2.3 billion people visited IKEA online. Our 194,000 co-workers from all over the world are the inner strength of IKEA, sharing fundamental humanistic values of togetherness, humbleness, simplicity, cost-consciousness and common sense.
The IKEA Group is the first major single brand retailer to get FDI approval and plans to open several stores and multiple touch points across the main cities in India. The first IKEA India store will open in Hyderabad this year, followed by the Navi Mumbai store in 2019. IKEA has four land sites in the states of Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhi/NCR and continues to look for more in other major cities.
For further information, please contact
Naina Sharma - naina.sharma@ikea.com