India debut: IKEA Opens First Retail Outlet in Hyderabad

IKEA, the Swedish furniture retail company has kicked off its retail journey in India. The home furniture makers have opened its first store in Hyderabad earlier this week. With a direct employment of 950 people and additional 1,500 indirectly, the company plans to employ 15,000 people in the next few years as it has extended its operations in India.

According to IKEA, the debut in India marks a landmark in the company’s retailing journey which started 30 years ago through sourcing of goods. The company plans to open 25 stores across India by 2025 and Hyderabad’s Outlet is the first one. In 2013, the Indian government gave a green signal to IKEA for investing Rs. 10, 500 crores in Single brand retail, out of which, the company utilized Rs. 4,500 crores in its various projects across India till date.

The Outlet in Hyderabad is spread over 13 acres of land with a built area of 4 lakh Sq ft and investment of Rs. 1000 crores. There will be almost 7, 500 different range of products.

For the growth of its brand, IKEA seeks to invest more money in India, faster than it would usually do elsewhere. Because of India’s growing e-commerce market, IKEA sees more of an opportunity in India now. Moreover, even the company is focusing on the brick and mortar business; it wants to sell their products online in the country by 2019.

“In India, we've gone all in as much as we can, and that means out of the 7,500 products that we have here, we've worked very hard, to have 1,000 products with a price of Rs. 200 ($3, £2.30) or less and 500 products for less than Rs. 100,”said Jesper Brodin, Chief Executive, IKEA.