Ahead of the opening of its first Philippine store this quarter, Swedish furniture and homewares chain IKEA started operating an e-commerce platform which has already recorded a million visits.
For the e-commerce platform, Ikano Retail said it registered 113 million visits to IKEA websites in its different markets. Ikano Retail is one of 12 IKEA franchisees around the world. It operates in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Mexico, and soon, in the Philippines.
Of the total, one million were recorded in the Philippines, roughly a month after the Swedish furniture and homewares chain started to test-run its e-commerce website in the country.
IKEA family
The IKEA Family loyalty club members reached 2.9 million in Ikano’s four active markets, including 206,000 in the Philippines as of end-August.
In all, Ikano Retail posted P42 billion in turnover in four markets during its last financial year – up 3.3 percent in a year marred by COVID closures and turbulent times for the company’s shopping centre business.
“We lost 17 percent of our trading days, faced the worst supply challenges in our history and contended with limits on food operations and further restrictions,” Ikano Retail CEO Christian Rojkjaer said.
“But, even amid COVID-19, we executed expansion plans, grew our e-commerce sales by 57 percent and safeguarded jobs. Most importantly, we continued to help our customers make life at home better,” he said.
Ikano Retail has hired 4,321 co-workers so far, with 311 in the Philippines and counting. It also created its first IKEA pop-up at SM Mall of Asia and designed a reality TV set for a gaming program through Ikano Retail.
Largest IKEA store
IKEA Pasay City is set to be the world’s largest IKEA store once it opens its doors this quarter.
It will have five floors–two floors will be for retail, while the rest will be for a call center for the online operations, warehouse, and a market hall.
In the region, Ikano also relaunched IKEA for Business in Southeast Asia to better serve small enterprises in setting up Swedish-inspired office solutions, shops and more.
During a second pandemic year, many people turned to IKEA to set up workspaces, playrooms and kitchens, Ikano said.
