In a strategic move, Swedish home furnishing retailer IKEA has decided to adopt the e-commerce-first strategy to foray in the northern region of the country. Beginning March, the retail giant will launch e-commerce operations in ten cities with a focus on next day deliveries in Delhi-NCR region. The northern region expansion will be a critical piece for accelerating the growth of the retailer in the country that it entered seven years ago. Ikea, which earmarked investments of ₹10,500 crore over ten years in India, is also in the process of finalising plans for further investments, its top executive said. The retailer is also exploring options to bring its small store format to Delhi-NCR later this year ahead of the first IKEA-anchored Ingka Centre launch in Gurgaon in 2026.
From March 1, the furnishings retail giant will begin online deliveries across Delhi-NCR and nine satellite cities of Agra, Prayagraj (Allahabad), Amritsar, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Ludhiana, and Varanasi.
“Delhi-NCR and the northern region is the biggest market for home furnishings in the country. It is our priority to continue to build the omnichannel ecosystem of IKEA in India. While an online piece is important but it needs to be complemented with physical presence. Our ambition is to open IKEA-anchored meeting place in Gurugram in 2026 but we will also look at other formats and more touch points for the customers in Delhi-NCR region,” Susanne Pulverer, CEO & Chief Sustainability Officer, IKEA India told businessline.
The company is looking at formats such as city stores and design studios for future physical expansion in the country. “We are optimistic about launching more city store formats. We are also looking at other smaller formats such as design studios. So it will be a mix of formats. The key priority for physical expansion include Delhi, Pune and Chennai,” she added.
IKEA is currently present across five markets in India with three large-format stores in Hyderabad, Navi Mumbai, and Bengaluru; one city store in Worli; and doorstep deliveries being done across various pin codes in Maharashtra (including Pune), Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, and Karnataka.
Currently over 30 per cent of IKEA India’s sales comes from the online channel making it an important and fast-growing channel, she noted. The company also opened its central distribution centre in Gurgaon earlier this week to accommodate both the e-commerce expansion and the upcoming large-format stores in the IKEA-anchored Ingka Centres projects in Gurgaon and Noida.
The omni-channel expansion of IKEA also comes at a time when consumers are increasingly favouring speed with quick commerce emerging as fast-growing channel in the country. “ We are trying to understand the quick commerce channel and exploring our options with an open mind and what it means for the home furnishings industry. In Delhi-NCR, for instance, we will fulfill doorstep deliveries the next day. In other cities it will take longer as we need to get the volumes and optimise the logistics to make it viable,” Pulverer said.
Asked about future investment plans, she said, “ India is a priority market for IKEA and we are focused on strengthening our presence in India. We are working on finalising plans for further investments.”
Responding to a query on future growth projections, she said,“ Our expansion in the northern region is an important piece in building the growth journey of IKEA in India. Online channel is a good start but it also depends will also depends on how fast we can establish our physical presence in the region.”