The furniture maker Ikea expects India to become a “big retail market” in the next decade.
The company’s chief executive Peter Agnefjaell says Ikea aims to open 25 stores in India by 2025. The company has already bought land in Mumbai and plans to open its first store in Hyderabad late next year. It is also looking at sites in Delhi and Bangalore.
“India is one of the biggest growth markets we see going forward,” Mr Agnefjaell said of the world’s second-largest country by population. “In Sweden, we have 20 stores on 9 million to 10 million people. Then you may fantasise about how big India could be.”
He said the company’s revenue in the past year rose 7.1 per cent, driven by growth in China, where the company plans on accelerating the pace of its expansion.
Ikea expects to reach sales of €50 billion (Dh206.1bn) by 2020, with 10 per cent of that number coming from e-commerce, which the company says it will introduce to every one of its current markets in the time frame.
* with Bloomberg
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