IKEA, the Swedish home furnishing brand, will open its largest store in India at Nagasandra, next to the metro station, on June 22, said the company on Tuesday.
The store that would display over 7,500 items would employ over 1,000 people to start with and is expected to attract close to 5 million visitors this year.
The company also said it would invest ₹3,000 crore in Karnataka and a part of it has already been deployed in setting up a 4,60,000 sqft store, it said.
Speaking at a media conference, former IKEA India CEO Peter Betzel said that at the time of the groundbreaking ceremony four years ago, the then Chief Minister himself was keen to see the store up and running at the earliest if possible in a few months. Although the pandemic had delayed it a bit, the outlet was worth the wait as it was IKEA’s flagship store in the country, he added.
Addressing the media, current CEO Susanne Pulverer said India was an omni-channel country for Ikea like no other.
“Over 8 lakh customers are visiting our site every month in Bengaluru alone. This has already given us a good foundation before we started our offline presence in the city,” she said.
“We want to keep a good mix of 30:70 between online and offline sales. We are also seeing a desire among people to come back to the real world,” she added.
Parineeta Cecil Lakra, Country People & Culture Manager at IKEA India, said that by 2030, IKEA would have an employee base of 10,000 in the country.
She said the company hired people based on values and culture and diversity was a key focus. Some 57% of IKEA managers in India were women.
Vinaya Rai, People & Culture Manager at IKEA Nagasandra, said the store was also hiring students and women after sabbatical on part-time and full-time engagements.
“Some 70% of the workforce in the store are local and we aim to recruit more. Also, 60% of employees and full-time and the rest are part-timers,” she said.
IKEA Nagasandra, set up on a patch of 12.2 acres of land, is the brand’s third large store in the country after Hyderabad and Mumbai. The fourth store, in Delhi-NCR, is currently under construction. The store also features a 1,000-seater restaurant that serves both Indian and Swedish cuisines.
