IKEA IN INDIA – CASE STUDY

It has made its presence in India and has planned growing its root here and opened recently in Navi Mumbai in December 2020.

- RAGINI GUPTA

Ikea is a world renowned company of ready to assemble furniture, kitchen appliances and home textiles. It is based out of Agunnaryd, Sweden. It was initially started by Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA in 1943 which is also the full form of the acronym of IK in IKEA. INGKA Holding B.V. is the company which owns the IKEA Group which handles its retail, centers, customer satisfaction and many other services a MNC needs. IKEA Brand is owned and manages by Inter IKEA Systems B.V. which is owned by Inter IKEA Holding B.V.

The main USP of this multinational conglomerate is that its furniture are DIY - Do It Yourself. Which means that one has to assemble themselves and will not get it ready made. The pros of this is

1. Modern designs which are ecofriendly.

2. Less packaging cost because of less surface area, thus less time in assembling and packaging.

3. Less costly in shipping and keeping.

4. Less land needed for showcasing and storing

5. Less cost in handling and procuring

6. Benefits the buyer to buy and shift.

7. Gives an experience to make something out of unassembled parts

8. Less costly for the buyer as well.

9. Online shopping is possible of the same,

10. And since it is detachable, long term uses of the furniture increases since transporting and customizing gets easy.

IKEA has been sourcing from India for over 35 years with over 50 suppliers, 45,000 direct employees, and 400,000 people in the extended supply chain producing for IKEA stores worldwide. Thus it started its in-house store in Hyderabad and Navi Mumbai, Hyderabad being its first and Navi Mumbai being second. IKEA also plans to open two small stores in Mumbai prior to which it already has online presence in Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Pune.