Swedish firm IKEA expects five million people to visit the Hyderabad store, which opened in August 2018, in the first year as against its earlier expectation of seven million footfall.
The home-furnishings major, however, is not disappointed as those visiting are buying more. “Our ambition was to have higher footfall… what we have seen is people [to the store] are buying more items and spending more money,” said John Achillea, Hyderabad Store Manager of IKEA India.
Responding to media queries, at the launch of a Made in India and inspired by India textile collection named Anglatarar, he said, that the store was selling more products than expected. It is something “good for IKEA because we are a volume-driven company and [the customer] spending and buying [is] more than we anticipated. The original number we were looking at was seven million [footfall] and we are [now] five million for a year,” he said.
“People in India are price-sensitive, love value for money,” he said. Be it accessories or furniture, fast-moving products and low priced items were selling more.
The Kalas spoons, made from virgin plastics and priced at ₹15 for a set of four, have been a big hit with the store selling over half a million of packets in the six months. The store is also witness to more expensive purchases done by B2B customers, he said, adding how a ₹11 lakh kitchen was sold recently.
The Hyderabad store, a 400,000 sq ft facility, is IKEA’s first in India and developed on 13 acres near the Mindspace junction. For the first few weeks, the store was witness to a steady stream of customers. The company is giving shape to its next store in the country int Mumbai and expects to have one in Bengaluru in 24 months.
Back on menu
Mr. Achillea said the store had resumed sale of Veg Biryani. The dish was being prepared in-house. IKEA, which used to serve the dish made by a third party, found itself in soup after a customer complained of a worm in the veg biryani he bought.
The Anglatarar textile collection is designed by two designers from India and Sweden and is developed in Panipat, Haryana.
Mia Olsson, Country Communication and Interior Manager of IKEA India, said the new range was a celebration of synergies between two seemingly different cultures.