The Swedish furniture giant, IKEA, finally made an entry into the Indian market after 12 years of thorough research. They set up their new 37,160-square-metre (400,000-square-feet) outlet in Hyderabad in August this year.
As of November 2017, IKEA owns and operates 415 stores in 49 countries with a sales volume of over 38.3 billion EUR. Stepping into the Indian market is going to create a big stir not only for the world’s largest furniture retailer, but also for other furniture outlets in the vicinity.
Recently, Nordic Intent visited the store in Telangana, Hyderabad. They were very impressed to see the entire setup exactly like the one they visited in Sweden and Norway. When asked about how the IKEA market will fit into the pockets of the Indian audience, it was said that some of the products are beautifully customised to cater to the taste of the Indian market. The products are reasonably priced and fits right into the budget of an average Indian. Some of the items are even priced as low as INR 40!
Since Nordic Intent visited the store on a festive day, the place was not very crowded. On normal days, IKEA has a waiting period of 2-3 hours just to enter the store. To curb this rush and to better manage the customer flow, IKEA has developed a system on their website that gives you an approximate wait-time so that you can plan your visit accordingly, instead of going there and finding yourself stuck in the queue for hours.
Guess this move was prompted after IKEA’s first day scene.
The opening day of the IKEA store drew a shocking response – 40,000 people pushing their way through to get to the store.
It’s not just the number of people visiting the store that was shocking, but the sales figures on the first day were also very impressive. Goods worth INR 1 crore were sold and an interesting fact related to these sales is that INR 30 lakh business came through the sale of mattresses.
Obviously, this was no overnight achievement. Their research coupled with vigorous marketing campaigns were on-point. Out of their many campaigns, our favourite campaign is the one mentioned in the picture below.
Creative is the word.
Nordic Intent purchased a lot of stuff for the existing office as well as for the new office. They also noticed that people purchased goods in bulk rather than small quantities. These are mostly the retailers who then sell these products through their stores.
IKEA is now looking to spread over Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi in the next two years. By 2025, the company hopes to have 25 stores in India, which includes small format stores.
Nordic Intent is of the opinion that the 12 years of market research has definitely played a crucial role in IKEA’s grand entry into the Indian market. Visiting the store was a great experience for them and they are eagerly looking forward to the next visit.