Ingka Group announces next stage in plans to transform the company

Corporate NewsRetailNovember 22, 2018Last edited: August 25, 2021

To focus on city locations ∙ fulfillment network ∙ digital capabilities in the next 2 years

[Seoul – November 22, 2018] Ingka Group (Ingka Holding B.V and its controlled entities) is accelerating its transformation, stepping up investments in new and existing IKEA stores and fulfilment centres, developing city centre formats and focusing on its e-commerce platform, to better meet the needs of its customers and be more convenient and affordable to many more people.

Building on many years of solid growth and as part of a transformation, Ingka Group is assessing all parts of the organisation and is simplifying to enable a greater focus on adding value to its customers. As a result, in the coming 2 years 11,500 new jobs will be created, through opening around 30 new IKEA touchpoints, investments in its fulfillment network and in digital capabilities. At the same time 7,500 jobs may be redundant, out of its 160,000 co-worker population, mainly focusing on global functions and offices in 30 markets.

Jesper Brodin, Chief Executive Officer, Ingka Group says: “We continue to grow and perform strongly. At the same time, we recognise that the retail landscape and customer behaviours are transforming rapidly. We are investing and developing our business to meet their needs in better and new ways, putting greater emphasis on making our existing stores even better and taking the opportunity to renew and reinvent our business.”

The transformation includes exploring a new city centre approach in 30 megacities to complement the company’s larger stores, and strengthening its digital and fulfilment offering so customers have a wide range of choices that suit their needs and lifestyles.

IKEA Korea, under the Ingka Group, is currently operating two stores and has long-term expansion plans for Korea – one of IKEA’s fastest growing markets – with 1,700 dedicated co-workers who have led great success, and is now ready to create a better future in Korea with more talented co-workers. IKEA Korea will continue to grow and expand customer meeting and touchpoints, reaching more of the many people in the country with outstanding customer experience wherever and whenever they choose.

André Schmidtgall, IKEA Korea Country Retail Manger, said, “With this transformation we look forward to becoming even more accessible and convenient for our customers with new store formats, city locations and a better digital offer. To enable this, we will make changes in how we lead, work and organise ourselves, and the development of new capabilities to support all our co-workers during this period of change.”

Ingka Group, the largest retailer in the IKEA franchise system, owns and operates 367 IKEA stores in 30 countries. During the past year, 160,000 co-workers welcomed 838 million visits to IKEA stores and more than 2.35 billion visits to IKEA.com. In the fiscal year 2018, Ingka Group reported global sales growth of 4.7%. During the same period, IKEA Korea announced KRW 471.6 billion in sales with growth of 29% year on year.