IKEA India today (Aug. 19) launched its first online store in the country, catering to the Mumbai market.
The move comes a year after the world’s largest furniture retailer opened its first India store in Hyderabad, and before a brick and mortar facility is to be opened in the financial hub of Mumbai.
The Swedish firm has marked its entry into the Indian e-commerce space with several first-of-its-kind “opening offers” listed on its portal.
The Mumbai online store will deliver goods within four days of placing of an order, says its website. IKEA India will charge between Rs199 ($2.79) and Rs1,999 as the delivery cost. For assembly and installation, it continues to partner with the home services startup UrbanClap.
The other furniture specialists in Indian e-commerce space are Pepperfry, UrbanLadder, and Chumbak, besides Amazon and Flipkart.
IKEA India opened its first store in Hyderabad on Aug. 09, 2018. At the time of opening of the store, IKEA India had expected six million visitors to come to the store in its first year. However, last week it said that it saw four million visitors at the store during the last 12 months.
Next, IKEA is planning a store in the Navi Mumbai region, catering to Thane and Raigadh districts, apart from Mumbai. Given its location, the facility is also expected to service customers from the city of Pune.
The company’s move to go online is part of its strategy for the Mumbai market, which also includes opening smaller stores in the future that fit in with the city’s expensive real estate market. This approach is likely to be replicated in other cities as well.