Sweden-based home furnishing retail giant IKEA, which launched its first ever store in India this August, expects online retail business in the country to be bigger than any of its e-markets in the world.
Currently, the global e-sales of IKEA account for 10 percent of its annual sales, about US $ 3.8 billion.
The retailer believes that it needs strong supply chain, distribution centres and flawless process to transport products and for replacements.
The company didn’t mention the proportion of its total sales in India as it expects to commence online services in the country by next year and that too initially in Hyderabad and Mumbai, where it plans to open the second store.
“To put things in perspective, Mumbai has about 22 million population and will have a single store as of now where as Sweden, with a population of 10 million has 16 stores. We expect a lot of e-commerce orders in Mumbai,” Patrik Antoni, Deputy Country Manager, IKEA India, informed a leading Indian media house.
Additionally, IKEA will make use of its own online platform and not partner with any other e-commerce company in India.
Online services for Bengaluru will commence when IKEA opens its store here in 2020. The plan is to have presence in 49 Indian cities by 2030 and extend services to 200 million people be it via store or online.