Ikea Asia banks on China and India

Ikea Asia is banking on a rapid store rollout in India and ongoing China expansion to sustain its global growth.

The Swedish homewares and furniture specialist will open its first store in India next year and plans to have 25 stores trading there by 2025.

And in China, where it has 21 stores currently, it will speed up its rollout from the current three to four or five every year.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Ikea CEO Peter Agnefjaell, the two markets are core pillars of  a plan to boost total group sales by up to 50 per cent by 2020, to 50 billion euros (US$56 billion). In the year to August the company’s sales were 34.2 billion euros.

“India is one of the biggest growth markets we see going forward,” Agnefjaell told Bloomberg. “But it of course hinges on a continued good economic development.”

The first Ikea India store is under construction in Hyderabad. The company has already invested in a site in Mumbai and plans stores for Bangalore and Delhi.

Ikea’s global same-store sales rose 4.8 per cent in the last financial year. Total sales rose 7.9 per cent, excluding exchange rate impact.