Fashion
The first Ikea Vietnam store is in planning, with the Swedish furniture and homewares retailer revealing the country as one of its next two Asian markets.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Inter Ikea CEO Torbjorn Loof said expansion in Southeast Asia and South America are priorities for the brand, which already has stores in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand in this part of the world.
Philippines is the other country he named in Asia. Both countries will host Ikea stores within five years.
Ikea is not currently in South America, but the company sees the continent as “an important growth market” in the long term. Bloomberg named Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Chile as the most likely priority countries in South America for Ikea.
“We haven’t zoomed in or decided on any particular markets, but we’ve said that within the next five years we should have opened our first Ikea in South America,” Loof said. “When we open in South America, because it’s a new continent and a new region, we can’t just open one warehouse.”
The expansion plans follow Ikea’s entry into India and Latvia this year as it continues its slow global roll-out. After opening 22 new stores this year – eight more than last year – Loof said it expects to open about 25 a year moving forward.
