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<ul><li>After making its Indian debut in Hyderabad, <keyword id="6371031" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="IKEA">Ikea</keyword> is now set to launch its first <keyword id="35621" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="e-commerce">e-commerce</keyword> store in Mumbai by 2019. </li><li>Ikea will also make an investment of ₹20 billion at it’s newly launched <keyword id="6354321" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bengaluru">Bengaluru</keyword> facility. </li><li>The company aims to open 25 stores in India by 2025. </li></ul>On 11 October, the global <keyword id="6354386" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="furniture">furniture</keyword> retailer Ikea said that it had commenced the construction of its first store in Bengaluru. This will be the company’s second retail store after its Hyderabad location. During the sod-turning ceremony at its Bengaluru facility, the company also shared its plan to open its first online store in Mumbai by 2019. According to media reports, the store will be spread over 14 acres of land and will house 1000 restaurants. Ikea has decided to employ a total of 2,500 people in Bengaluru, engaged in both direct and indirect services. In order to facilitate the construction, the company will infuse around ₹20 billion in two equal installments. The company launched its first store in Hyderabad on 9 August. The Hyderabad-based Ikea store has 7,500 products to offer with prices ranging for ₹15 to ₹36,000. Apart from this, the furniture retailer is mulling a plan to invest ₹30 billion in the construction of warehouses in Mumbai, Gurugram, and Bengaluru. Ikea’s strategy in India pivots on price. It has intentionally kept price of around 1000 products below ₹200. The company reportedly spent 10 years assessing the Indian market before investing ₹800 crores in Hyderabad facility. Last month, the company said it planned to open 25 retail stores across India by 2020. Furthermore, by 2030, it plans to be present in 49 cities in India.

Ikea plans to open an online store in India next year

You read that right. The Swedish home-furnishing giant announced that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/EXCLUSIVE-Ola-share-pass-pre-sells-5-million-share-rides-in-60-days/articleshow/55848574.cms">to say thank you to its employees through Tack! </a>– the <keyword id="897218" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="IKEA-Group">IKEA Group</keyword> loyalty program. IKEA Group will pay its co-workers another €108 million this year into their pension funds, for their loyalty and contribution. 
 “I am happy to announce that this year’s payout will give our co-workers at IKEA Group in India a Rs.1,40,219/- each in their pension fund for this year. In India today we have around 300 co-workers, which will grow to 1500+ co-workers in a year and 14000 by 2025. We value our co-workers who are our most valuable assets.” said <keyword id="3922608" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="anna-carin-mansson">Anna-Carin Mansson</keyword>, Country HR Manager, IKEA India. 
 
IKEA has been sourcing from India for the 30 years for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Shopclues-launches-Reach-to-digitize-offline-merchants-payments/articleshow/55830955.cms">its global stores. In India, it currently has 50 suppliers with 45,000 direct employees and 400,000 people in the extended supply chain. </a>It is is the first major single brand retailer to get <keyword id="44528" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="FDI">FDI</keyword> approval and plans to open several stores in Delhi/NCR, Hyderabad, Karnataka, and <keyword id="13126" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Maharashtra">Maharashtra</keyword>. The first IKEA India store is slated to open in Hyderabad by end December and Mumbai in mid-2018. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/EXCLUSIVE-IKEA-APAC-Head-talks-about-what-to-expect-from-the-upcoming-IKEA-store-in-Hyderabad/articleshow/55812739.cms">ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: IKEA APAC Head talks about what to expect from the upcoming IKEA store in Hyderabad</a> 
 
As part of this unique loyalty program, IKEA Group co-workers annually receive an extra payout in addition to existing pensions, according to the same fair and simple principle. 
 
Every full-time IKEA Group co-worker in India who has worked for IKEA for five years or more receives the same amount regardless of their position or salary level. Part-time co-workers will receive a proportional amount in relation to hours worked. 
 
Since Financial Year 2014, €413 million has been allocated to the TACK! programme. The global funding is divided amongst all IKEA Group countries, based on each country’s proportion of the total salary and wages. A pre-requisite for a funding of the program is that IKEA Group reaches its goal results.

IKEA announced that they will give their Indian employees Rs.
1,40,219 as an extra bonus, this year

New Delhi, Mar 27 () Swedish furniture giant IKEA on Friday announced a grant of 26 million euro to protect the health of communities, its co-workers, suppliers and consumers impacted by the spread of coronavirus. In addition, IKEA Foundation, the firm's philanthropic arm, is announcing a funding commitment to support the emergency response, said a statement. As part of this, IKEA India, which operates a store in Hyderabad, has in coordination with government authorities set up a quarantine centre at a sports hostel at Gachibowli in the city, with 200 beds. "These are extraordinary times and our absolute priority is ensuring the health and safety of co-workers, customers, suppliers and communities. We are still adjusting to this new reality but are doing all we can to ensure business continuity for the future and continue to make people's lives at home better," said IKEA India CEO and Chief Sustainability Officer Peter Betzel. Ingka Group, IKEA's strategic partner, said "We will take an initial step of supporting emergency relief with 26 million euro of in-kind donations, allowing its 30 countries in which it has operations, to take more immediate action in their local communities." This will focus on providing necessities such as beds, food and toys to hospitals, medical centres and shelters, it added. "Our focus is now on accelerating the actions we are taking to help the communities most affected and supporting many people and our partners across the world," said Ingka Group CEO Jesper Brodin. IKEA India, part of Ingka Group, opened its first retail store in Hyderabad in August 2018, followed by online stores in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Pune in 2019 as part of its multi-channel approach. KRH HRS

Coronavirus impact: IKEA grants 26 million euro to protect co-workers, supplier, customers

<ul><li>Swedish furniture retailer Ikea has opened its online for the residents of Mumbai, India's financial capital.</li><li>The company's launch in India's financial capital comes a year after its debut in Hyderabad.</li><li>That would pit the company directly in competition with the likes of Amazon, Flipkart, and Urban Ladder.</li></ul>Swedish furniture retailer Ikea has opened its online for the residents of Mumbai, India's financial capital. The launch in India's financial capital has come a year after the debut in Hyderabad. Mumbai will be the first city in the world where the multinational furniture retailer is going online without a physical store. With the entry of Ikea into one of the country's biggest consumer markets, competition is heating in the furniture space between a host of retailers both online and offline including the likes of Urban Ladder, Pepperfry, Home Town and Home Centre. However, organised retail is only a small portion of the total furniture demand, for which these players will battling each other. Going online first is not the only thing different about Ikea’s entry into Mumbai. Even after its online debut, the iconic stores of gargantuan size, roughly half a million square feet each, will be absent at least to start with. “The smaller stores can be 50,000 sq. ft - 150,000 sq. ft., large depending on what locations we are able to find," India Managing Director <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/ikea-mumbai-store-launch-to-take-on-pepperfry-urban-ladder-and-flipkart/articleshow/70563420.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Peter Betzel told Business Insider</a> in an interview earlier this month. While Betzel didn’t elaborate on the rationale, the smaller stores may make sense in a crowded place like Mumbai where real estate is available at an exorbitant premium and travel can be cumbersome even for interested customers. The New York experience Even in New York, Ikea has a ‘planning studio’ in the upscale Manhattan area and not the standard blue-box store. It seems to have a similar plan for Mumbai too. “In addition to ecommerce and the Navi store, IKEA will also open smaller city center stores. This will make us more accessible and bring us closer to where customers are,” Betzel said. Ikea calls these smaller stores ‘touch points’ for the customer to get an experience before making the purchase. “Currently the decision is to open two city center stores in different parts of Mumbai. There could be more online and offline touchpoints in the future based on the learnings from the market,” Ikea’s top boss in India explained. The race is hotting up While both Pepperfry and Urban Ladder may have a headstart, they are going up against a giant in Ikea. The two startups put together have received investments worth less than $300 million in the last six years. On the other hand, “Ikea has committed to invest 1.5 billion euros ($1.68 billion) so far. Three Indian cities are in the fast speed expansion markets namely Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi/NCR. Our focus on India will only increase in the future,” according to Betzel. Even Flipkart, India’s largest online retailer, now owned by Walmart, is looking to set up experience centres. It unveiled an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/flipkart-offline-furniture-store-puts-its-in-competition-with-pepperfry-ikea-urbanladder/articleshow/70427696.cms">1,800 square feet outlet in Bengaluru</a> on July 29. With the likes of Walmart and Ikea throwing in their hat, running against smaller but more agile and homegrown players like Pepperfry and Urban Ladder, furniture retail in India is certainly set for exciting times. That would pit the company directly in competition with the likes of Amazon, Flipkart, and Urban Ladder, who have spent years and billions in building a customer base in India. But Betzel is more sanguine than many others would be. “With more players, the whole category will grow even more. There is place for everyone,” he said. The furniture market in India is expected to be worth $17 billion in the next three years but the big shops, malls and snazzy online retailers with discounts and offers sell <a href="https://redseer.com/reports/disruption-in-indian-furniture-retailing/">less than two in every ten pieces of furniture</a> bought in India. The trend is changing, especially in urban areas, and there is enough headroom for growth for the organised segment. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/ikea-mumbai-store-launch-to-take-on-pepperfry-urban-ladder-and-flipkart/articleshow/70563420.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Ikea will make its Mumbai debut ‘very shortly’, says India chief as the first store in Hyderabad turns a year old</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/i-visited-ikeas-new-manhattan-location-and-it-was-like-nothing-else-ive-seen-from-the-retailer/articleshow/68821133.cms">I visited Ikea's new Manhattan location - and it was like nothing else I've seen from the retailer</a>

Ikea in Mumbai: The Swedish retailer is wooing online shoppers in India's financial capital

<ul><li><keyword id="6371031" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="IKEA">Ikea</keyword>'s upcoming 400,000 square foot store in Hyderabad will have a 1,000-seater restaurant in the middle.</li><li>The restaurant will serve evergreen vegetarian dishes like <keyword id="75775" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Idli">idli</keyword>, sambar, veg ‘biryani’ as well as socially acceptable tweaks to its trademark beef and pork meatballs. </li><li>Food accounts for 5% to 10% of the furniture giant’s global revenue.</li></ul>Ikea, the world’s largest furniture retailer, is banking heavily on samosas and idlis to lure customers in <keyword id="3658" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>. Though food accounts for 5% to 10% of the furniture giant’s global revenue, the company expects the percentage contributed by the sale of its food items to be larger in India. Patrick Antoni, deputy country manager at Ikea India told the <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/retail/ikea-hopes-stomach-is-the-way-to-indian-buyers-hearts-its-books/articleshow/64581134.cms">Economic Times</a>, “We believe that we might have more customers eating than buying furniture, but the average ticket size of food is very small compared to furniture. So most likely, food will be the first contact point for people coming to the Ikea store.” In fact, its upcoming 400,000 square foot store in Hyderabad in <keyword id="68884" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Telangana">Telangana</keyword>, slated to open in July, will have a 1,000-seater restaurant in the middle. This would be Ikea’s largest restaurant in the world. The restaurant will serve evergreen vegetarian dishes like idli, sambar, veg ‘biryani’ as well as socially acceptable tweaks to its trademark beef and pork meatballs, which will morph into vegetarian and chicken meatballs. This is quite a strategic move on Ikea’s part considering India’s food service market is estimated to be worth over ₹3000 billion. And the model has been known to work, especially in malls. Other than its menu, the Swedish retailer is well aware of the fact that Indian consumers are not so hot on doing things themselves and Ikea furniture traditionally <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/retail/ikea-to-localise-offers-to-ensure-success-in-india/articleshow/64565817.cms">follow</a> the “do-it-yourself ” (DIY) assembly model. In order to keep from losing out, Ikea plans to set up a 150-member team to help assemble furniture. It is also partnering with <keyword id="2811049" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="UrbanClap">UrbanClap</keyword>, a services app that provides carpenters along with a bunch of other services. With plans to open up 25 stores across India by 2025, looks like Ikea is committed to providing its customers what they need rather than sticking to tradition.

Swedish furniture giant Ikea plans to entice Indian customers with food

<keyword id="6371031" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ikea">Ikea</keyword>, the world's largest furniture retailer, is planning to invest Rs 12,500 crore to establish 25 stores in India over the next decade. The new stores will come up in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore. 
 Foreign Investment Promotion Board (<keyword id="6360345" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="FIPB">FIPB</keyword>) has already given Ikea its go-ahead to invest Rs 10,500 crore. 
 
"We are looking at investing around Rs 12,500 crore to set up 25 stores at a cost of Rs 500 crore each. We will be mobilising $500 million from our global partners for this venture," Ikea India chief executive Juvencio Maeztu said. 
 
"It is difficult to specify any time-frame when we will set up the first store, still I can say we are working on it and we are in talks with different states and are looking at all major metros for land as we require a very large area of land that is near a highway," he added. 
 
The company is likely to open its first store in Bangalore or Hyderabad. "For now, the priority is the right location and we are focusing on all major metros, the right location and the good price of land, which is important for us to start right," he said.

Ikea To Invest Rs 12,500 Crore To Establish
25 Stores In India

IKEA is a consumer brand that anyone can relate to; it's homely, practical and futuristic which makes it very exciting for India because these are the values that compel us before purchasing anyway. 
 
So, when we heard that IKEA is opening its first store in the country next year, not only were we excited, but extremely curious as well. <keyword id="824043" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Business-Insider">Business Insider</keyword> met with <keyword id="3922141" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="mikael-palmqvist">Mikael Palmqvist</keyword>, APAC Head, IKEA Retail to discuss what’s in store, (literally) at the upcoming IKEA store in Hyderabad. 
 
This is how he began - “We are very excited to open our maiden store in the country after textile- sourcing for about 30 years from here. The size of the store, the functionality of the products would be same, and around 5% of the products will be Indianized for meeting customer’s needs like the ‘tava’, idli maker and the pressure cooker.” 
 
Regulations 
 <keyword id="3922143" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="palmqvist">Palmqvist</keyword> emphasizes that IKEA is not a retail company, but a life-at-home company that sells solutions. For him, India is a very important market because not only is every home, room, and activity important, but the sheer size and diversity makes India like a continent for the company. 
 
Palmqvist also says that it took them around 4.5 years to get here but that wasn’t because of the regulations. 
 
He says - ‘’Our stakeholders here have always been supportive; in terms of FDI, e-commerce, and sourcing. Ease of doing business has increased dramatically.’’ 
 
‘Start and adapt’ is IKEA’s motto of the company everywhere, and in India as well. 
 
“We want to understand how the customer accepts IKEA and then go from there. If the customer wants to pay digitally or by cash, we will provide them with options’’ he adds on being asked to comment on the recent demonetization move and its impact on businesses. 
 
Diversity 
 The company also believes in emphasizing on diversity when they hire people and globally they ensure that 50% of the workforce is women. Currently, the company has collaboration with <keyword id="3922144" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="national-institution-of-fashion-technology">National Institution of Fashion Technology</keyword> which contributes design aesthetics to their collections. 
 
In terms of future pricing for their products, they claim to be accessible to all, and not just the middle class. They want to be competitive in pricing under ‘’Home furnishing for all’’. 
 
Online store 
 
E-commerce companies like HomeLane, Urbanladder, Pepperfry, Fabfurnish etc. might pose a threat to the Swedish giant, but Palmqvist’response - ‘’We are happy to build up the furnishing market with these players“ – shows the IKEA team is unfazed by the competition. 
 
Their website IKEA.in will be updated with inventory after the store has opened in full swing. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Bollywood-actor-Kunal-Kapoor-talks-about-Ketto-his-crowdfunding-startup-which-has-raised-Rs-40-Cr-for-social-causes/articleshow/55753955.cms">ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE - Bollywood actor Kunal Kapoor talks about Ketto, his crowdfunding startup which has raised Rs 40 Cr for social causes</a> 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/This-LinkedIn-survey-reveals-that-India-has-the-highest-level-of-sales-and-marketing-collaborations/articleshow/55749887.cms">Feeling inspired by the Indian homes</a> that the IKEA team visited, the company plans to make further investments in the country but over a few years, after more stores have opened. After Hyderabad, the company wants to open in <keyword id="57321" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Navi-Mumbai">Navi Mumbai</keyword> and so on. 
 
Biggest cafes 
 When we asked <keyword id="322364" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mikael">Mikael</keyword> to tell us how would an Indian feel after entering the first IKEA store, he said, “WOW! I want them to be surprised by how much we know about what they need. It’s smart and affordable.” The company is also planning to open the biggest restaurants in India with 1000 seats, where customers will get to taste typical Swedish delights. 
 
The company seems to<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/EXCLUSIVE-BigBaskets-co-founder-talks-about-hyperlocal-businesses-and-profitability/articleshow/55752379.cms"> be watching how you live, eat and work to create things</a> that you didn’t even know you needed. We can’t seem to wait to enter the much-hyped store!

EXCLUSIVE: IKEA APAC Head talks about what to expect from the upcoming IKEA store in Hyderabad

<ul><li><keyword id="6371031" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="ikea" source="Orion">IKEA</keyword> entered India in 2018 and since then has opened one store in Hyderabad and two in Mumbai. Its next two stops are Bangalore and Delhi.</li><li>We speak to <keyword id="1259757" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="kavitha-rao" source="Orion">Kavitha Rao</keyword>, Country Commercial Manager, <keyword id="6429663" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ikea-india" source="Orion">IKEA India</keyword> who walks us through the brand's India journey so far and everything that lies ahead.</li></ul>It was back in 2018 that Swedish <keyword id="6354386" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="furniture" source="Orion">furniture</keyword> brand IKEA made its inroads into the Indian market with its first store in Hyderabad. 4 years since, the brand is now on its way to opening a store in Bangalore, after opening one large and one small showroom in Mumbai. While shopping for furniture online or on an app would have been difficult for a lot of people till even a few years back, the lockdown hastened India’s digitization journey, which proved to be a boon for retailers like IKEA. The company launched its app in May last year and has reportedly seen its online sale more than double in the last 2 years, a trend that <keyword id="1453334" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="peter-betzel" source="Orion">Peter Betzel</keyword>, CEO &amp; CSO at IKEA India is confident is here to stay. India still has a huge unorganized furniture segment. For a brand like IKEA, the task has been to present itself as an affordable and sustainable alternative. While the large format showrooms mean that after 4 years, IKEA has only been able to expand, physically, to only 2 cities, its online platform is helping it take its products to more cities. For the next few years too, the focus will be to steadily increase both its offline and online presence. To understand its journey in India so far and what lies ahead, we spoke to Kavitha Rao, Country Commercial Manager, IKEA India. Here’s what she had to say: IKEA’s India Journey So Far While IKEA’s official journey in India started in 2018 with the opening of its store in Hyderabad, it had been present in India since 2014, preparing for its foray into the country. Even before launching, the brand did a lot of research on what products will be relevant for Indian consumers and the team visited close to 2000 homes across different cities to understand their needs and aspirations. “It was about understanding the different activities people did in their homes and how furniture and <keyword id="792357" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="home-furnishing" source="Orion">home furnishing</keyword> accessories supported people in their everyday lives. That was a very important starting point for us. And then, at a later point, we placed IKEA products in customer homes across different cities to really see how they got used, to understand what worked well and what did not. In fact, in a good number of cases, we had actually placed products for anywhere between 12-18 months in customers homes between 2015-16 to really get first-hand feedback in terms of usage. And that was great insight for us because we also understood how our products fared in the Indian environment,” shared Rao. This gave the team an opportunity to work on some product design, improve on products even before they actually started selling in the country. Its research also helped it come up with products that are more locally relevant. For instance, IKEA India has a much larger collection of cooking utensils like pots and pans, considering Indians’ love for cooking, in comparison to a lot of other markets. When the brand launched its first showroom in Hyderabad, the marketing communication was very local, to keep it relevant to the consumers there. And the focus of the brand since has been on understanding the consumer better and presenting them with products that are relevant for them. “The starting point for us has always been the thinking that the product range is really the right entity. The most important thing that we are focused on is to bring well-designed functional home furnishing products that are affordable. We believe doing that consistently will help us build the brand in the long-term. We’re still relatively new here and have a long way to go in terms of establishing IKEA as the top-of-mind brand for the Indian consumer. However, we are not in India just to establishing the IKEA brand, we’re also here to help build the home furnishing category too,” added Rao. Navigating The Pandemic For a brand like IKEA, as for any other retail brand, the physical experience a consumer gets is very important. However, the pandemic restricted store entry. So how did the brand navigate those lockdown months? “It is always good to take a positive spin and be optimistic and that has been our approach since the first wave hit us. The positive out of this entire experience is that since we spent so much time indoors, the home became so much more important. But the challenging elements were that we worked through various lockdowns. There was a period when store visits were restricted but that is also where IKEA, as an <keyword id="2535292" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="omni-channel" source="Orion">omni-channel</keyword> retailer, was able to leverage other customer touchpoints, be it e-commerce or remote-selling. Most of the research reports point to the fact that Indian consumer’s digital adoption was one of the highest across the world. So that is been an interesting journey for us. And that also gave us the opportunity to expand our e-commerce offering in many more cities across India. But we also saw very quickly that not everybody was comfortable buying a category like home furnishing online. And there we really started to look at how to augment the experience itself, with more human interaction through services. During the first wave, we had something called an online personal shopper who could support a customer trying to buy home furnishing online. This was very important in the India context because many weren’t comfortable shopping online and also because there could be customers who did not have the knowledge of home furnishing and the kind of product choices they needed to make to meet their own needs. So it helped on both fronts.” The Roadmap Ahead With 3 physical stores in India currently, IKEA is focusing on its Bangalore store which is expected to open between April and May. “The next step for us is the Bangalore market where we will be opening both a large format store as well as a small format store. After that, the next milestone is Delhi where we have land parcels and work is underway in different stages in both Bangalore and Delhi. Those would be the next big steps for us and then we will start to explore the next set of cities within India,” shared Rao. On what their key focus for the next few years will be, Rao said, “It is about continuing the journey that we have started. We want to figure out how to make home furnishing relevant for consumers in India and how to create even more interest for the home furnishing category as a whole. Within that, in the context of marketing, our focus will be to understand how to make IKEA a relevant go-to brand for consumers in the India market. They see our products as well-designed, functional, affordable and sustainable for themselves. So at a very high level, that is really what we will focus on. And then in the short-term, considering we are in the midst of the third wave, the next couple of months our focus will probably be on staying agile to some of the changes that are happening in the environment and adapt and continue to be resilient to face the challenges of the new wave,” concluded Rao.

We’re not in India just to build brand IKEA but also to build the home furnishing category: Kavitha Rao, IKEA India

<ul><li><keyword id="2644491" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="LivSpace">Livspace</keyword> has raised <keyword id="6357455" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Funding">funding</keyword> from Ingka Group – a franchise partner of <keyword id="6371031" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="IKEA">IKEA</keyword>. </li><li>The Ingka Group owns and operates 367 IKEA stores – including <keyword id="6429663" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="ikea-india">IKEA India</keyword>.</li><li>Livspace had last raised $70 million in a series C round in September 2018.</li></ul>Indian home design and renovation startup Livspace has raised funding from Ingka Group – a key franchise partner of Swedish furniture giant, IKEA. The Ingka Group which owns and operates 367 IKEA stores contributing to 90% of IKEA’s total retail sales --- made a minority investment in Livspace, today. The details of this deal are yet unknown. “This minority investment aligns closely with the digital direction of Ingka Group and our core business, IKEA Retail,” said Krister Mattsson, Head of Ingka Investments, Ingka Group. In September 2018, Livspace raised $70 million in a Series C round funding from TPG Growth and Goldman Sachs, along with its existing investors Jungle Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and Helion Ventures. Livspace, launched in 2015, brings together homeowners and designers and vendors, to ease home design with streamlined communication. “We look forward to the immense collaboration possibilities in areas such as catalogue and marketplace integration, retail technology, and online-to-offline innovations,” said Anuj Srivastava, co-founder and CEO of Livspace. This fresh funding will help the startup develop more products and take them to newer markets. The Ingkar Group also runs the single store in India at Hyderabad – which launched in August 2018 amidst much fanfare. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/pepperfry-partners-with-bankbazaar-to-offer-loans/articleshow/69116169.cms">Pepperfry and Bankbazaar are now offering loans to refurbish homes</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/after-amazon-pepperfry-launches-wedding-gift-registry-on-its-platform/articleshow/68171208.cms">Indian e-tailers want you to choose the presents that your friends will pay for</a>

IKEA's India partner invests in a home design startup that may in turn serve the Swedish retailer

Ikea has spent five years in India, and its flagship store in Hyderabad is turning a year old. Now, it’s time for its debut in the country’s financial capital, Mumbai, according to Peter Betzel, the Swedish furniture retailer’s Managing Director in India. An announcement is expected within the next few days, according to another source. “While the Navi Mumbai store is getting ready, our focus now is to launch e-commerce in Mumbai very shortly, to be able to meet the many Mumbaikars sooner,” Betzel told Business Insider in an exclusive interview. This is the first time the global retailer is entering a market without a physical store. That would pit the company directly in competition with the likes of Amazon, <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>, and <keyword id="6368309" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="urban-ladder">Urban Ladder</keyword>, who have spent years and billions in building a customer base in India. But Betzel is more sanguine than many others would be. “With more players, the whole category will grow even more. There is place for everyone,” he said. The furniture market in India is expected to be worth $17 billion in the next three years but the big shops, malls and snazzy online retailers with discounts and offers sell <a href="https://redseer.com/reports/disruption-in-indian-furniture-retailing/">less than two in every ten pieces of furniture</a> bought in India. The trend is changing, especially in urban areas, and there is enough headroom for growth for the organised segment. 
 
 
 
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 Touch points Going online first is not the only thing different about Ikea’s entry into Mumbai. The iconic stores of gargantuan size, roughly half a million square feet each, will be absent at least to start with. “The smaller stores can be 50,000 sq. ft - 150,000 sq. ft., large depending on what locations we are able to find,” he said. While Betzel didn’t elaborate on the rationale, the smaller stores may make sense in a crowded place like Mumbai where real estate is available at an exorbitant premium and travel can be cumbersome even for interested customers. Even in New York, Ikea has a ‘planning studio’ in the upscale Manhattan area and not the standard blue-box store. It seems to have a similar plan for Mumbai too. “In addition to ecommerce and the Navi store, IKEA will also open smaller city center stores. This will make us more accessible and bring us closer to where customers are,” Betzel said. Ikea calls these smaller stores ‘touch points’ for the customer to get an experience before making the purchase. “Currently the decision is to open two city center stores in different parts of Mumbai. There could be more online and offline touchpoints in the future based on the learnings from the market,” Ikea’s top boss in India explained. Been there, done that Similar formats have been tried by other online furniture retailers in India like Pepperfry and Urban Ladder. Pepperfry had launched its first offline studio in 2014. Since then, they have expanded to 65 studios across 28 cities. In fact, in every city that Pepperfry has launched a studio, the sales had doubled, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/pepperfry-studio-location-to-increase-50-as-sales-double/articleshow/69859900.cms">according to the management</a>. “While we don’t sell directly through our offline studios, they contribute significantly to our sales. Close to 40% of our overall turnover comes from the online bookings made at these studios,” Mihir Kulkarni, Vice President and Head of Omnichannel expansion, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/flipkart-offline-furniture-store-puts-its-in-competition-with-pepperfry-ikea-urbanladder/articleshow/70427696.cms">Pepperfry told Business Insider in an earlier interview</a>. The race is hotting up While both Pepperfry and Urban Ladder may have a headstart, they are going up against a giant in Ikea. The two startups put together have received investments worth less than $300 million in the last six years. On the other hand, “Ikea has committed to invest 1.5 billion euros ($1.68 billion) so far. Three Indian cities are in the fast speed expansion markets namely Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi/NCR. Our focus on India will only increase in the future,” according to Betzel. Even Flipkart, India’s largest online retailer, now owned by Walmart, is looking to set up experience centres. It unveiled an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/flipkart-offline-furniture-store-puts-its-in-competition-with-pepperfry-ikea-urbanladder/articleshow/70427696.cms">1,800 square feet outlet in Bengaluru</a> on July 29. With the likes of Walmart and Ikea throwing in their hat, running against smaller but more agile and homegrown players like Pepperfry and Urban Ladder, furniture retail in India is certainly set for exciting times. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/i-visited-ikeas-new-manhattan-location-and-it-was-like-nothing-else-ive-seen-from-the-retailer/articleshow/68821133.cms">I visited Ikea's new Manhattan location - and it was like nothing else I've seen from the retailer</a>

Ikea will make its Mumbai debut ‘very shortly’, says India chief as the first store in Hyderabad turns a year old

<ul><li><keyword id="6371031" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="IKEA">IKEA</keyword> India’s Mumbai store is all set to create employment opportunities for the localites with over 10,000 jobs in merchandising, store operations, supply chain and allied assembly services. </li><li>The e-commerce retailer plans on having 50% of its workforce to be women as well as recruiting from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities. </li><li>More than just creating employment, the store plans on enforcing better employee policies to provide a conducive work environment.</li></ul>Swedish home furnishing giant <a href="https://nordic.businessinsider.com/category/ikea/">IKEA</a> is ready to expand its operations in India employing <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/business/story/ikea-create-10000-jobs-maharashtra-with-launch-of-second-store-in-mumbai-1381082-2018-11-02">10,000</a> people directly and indirectly with the launch of its second store in India. In order to maintain a gender equal workplace, the company plans on making sure that at least half of its hires are women. The store opening in India’ financial capital, Mumbai, is expected to be operational by 2019 and has opened its doors to hiring from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities as well. The Mumbai store will create 5,000 direct employment opportunities, as well as another 5,000 indirect jobs, in the retail sector. That’s a total of 10,000 people being employed by IKEA that they say will contribute to the growth of the retail sector in the state of <keyword id="13126" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Maharashtra">Maharashtra</keyword>. Their idea of inclusion and equality are very much in line with Maharashtra government’s development initiatives, said Rajesh Kumar, Principal Secretary, Labour Department, Maharashtra government in a conversation with <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/business/story/ikea-create-10000-jobs-maharashtra-with-launch-of-second-store-in-mumbai-1381082-2018-11-02">India Today</a>. Coming to equality Women empowerment in the workplace is currently a hotly debated topic in India with the advent of the<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-the-me-too-status-on-facebook-2017-10?IR=T"> #MeToo movement</a> taking over social platforms. The world’s largest e-commerce retailer has thus decided to enforce an equal ratio of women onboard across levels. And rather on focusing exclusively on the equality of women, the company <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/ikea-to-hire-5-000-workers-for-navi-mumbai-store-create-10-k-jobs-in-3-yrs-118110200380_1.html">reported</a> that they are open to recruiting professionals from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities. IKEA’s strategic planning also includes employing better employee policies in order to have a healthy workforce such as day care facilities, pension plans, and mentoring. Per Hornell, IKEA India’s Market Manager in Maharashtra, commented that the state is an extremely important market and unique in terms of its lively and diverse culture, entrepreneurial spirit and utilization of space. Having invested <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/retail/ikea-to-double-local-sourcing-by-2020open-store-in-navi-mumbai/articleshow/58325847.cms">₹7 billion</a>, the IKEA’s new store in Mumbai sprawls across 23 acres. The company also plans to launch its third store in Bengaluru with an aim of opening 25 new stores in the coming years at a total investment of ₹105 billion in the Indian market. Right now, IKEA only one store in the city of <keyword id="6354552" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="hyderabad">Hyderabad</keyword> with 1,000 employees on board. In fact, IKEA is the first major single brand retailer that caters to individual customers that successfully got Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) approval in India. In order to capitalise on that opportunity, the company plans on opening several stores in major cities across the country over the next 10 years.

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