IKEA enters Bengaluru with e-commerce biz

Swedish home furnishing retailer IKEA announced on Thursday the launch of its eCommerce services and mobile shopping app in Bengaluru. There will be over 8,000 home furnishing products and solutions to choose from, it said in a statement. The company opened its second IKEA India store in Navi Mumbai in December 2020. IKEA already has online presence in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Surat, and Vadodara. The IKEA mobile shopping app features product recommendations, ratings, and reviews, along with "easier" searching and browsing experience, the statement said.

Customers can also find a built-in barcode scanner which will help them learn more details about the products, including materials and dimensions, it was stated. IKEA India CEO and CSO (Chief Sustainability Officer) Peter Betzel said Karnataka is a very important market for IKEA and Bengaluru is one of the largest home furnishing markets in India.

The company will also open a big IKEA store, close to 400,000 sq.ft. at Nagasandra here within a year, and this store will be connected to the Nagasandra metro station. "Over time, we will also open a city centre store within Bengaluru to be even more accessible and connect with many more people," Betzel said.

Over the next five years, across different IKEA businesses in Bengaluru, the company plans to engage around 2500 co-workers directly with 50 per cent diversity across all levels and will generate close to 1200 indirect jobs linked with its business operations, the statement said. IKEA said it works with nine home furnishing suppliers in Karnataka including a social entrepreneur engaging 1200 local artisans, thereby increasing its local sourcing footprint in the state. In the coming year, IKEA is gearing up to open two city centre stores in Mumbai, it was stated.