IKEA wants to continue growing in Mexico, Guadalajara, and Monterrey on its radar

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In January it announced the construction of its second store in Mexico, located in the state of Puebla.

Ikea Experience Preview
Photo: © Fernando Luna Arce
  • Once the red light passes, Ikea hopes to open its store in Mexico City as soon as possible; however, the next steps in its expansion strategy in the country, where Guadalajara and Monterrey are in the crosshairs, are on its radar.

In an interview with Forbes Mexico, the director of Expansion of the company, Tonje Randen, explained that in the country they have started a new recipe of how to expand a little faster than in other regions, so among their goals for the next 10 years is to have branches in the largest cities and have an online presence throughout the national territory.

“Now we start with the megalopolis (Mexico City and Puebla), which continues as a focus for me and the entire Ikea Mexico team will obviously be Guadalajara and Monterrey, 2 very important markets, 2 very large cities,” he said.

Tonje Randen pointed out that they want to expand as quickly as possible, due to the success they have had, the reactions, and the e-commerce customers, regarding their brand and our products.

The directive stated that retail is changing around the world, for example, Ikea is very large in the United States and Europe, regions where there is a great change between the online and offline part; while in the Mexican Republic that transformation has begun and thanks to the pandemic it progressed faster.

“Taking these two points of virtual stores and physical stores, in Mexico, we have been able to do this by hand, we opened the online before the first physical store, which is something very new in the Ikea world. I think we have a very good opportunity to grow rapidly in the mind of the consumer, in the client in Mexico, how we are entering ”.

However, he considered that among the challenges of its expansion plan is the whole context of the pandemic, guaranteeing the stock of its products and once they open in Mexico City how we are going to ensure the service and customer experience.

In addition to implementing a logistics plan to take their products, where their arrival 5 years ago with a partner gave them the opportunity to investigate how to do it efficiently and at low cost, a fundamental point in their plan.

“We know that there are many opportunities in places like Querétaro, León, etc., cities that are, in comparison in Europe, very large,” said the director of Expansion of the company.

Opening of Oceania, when the red traffic light passes in CDMX

The Swedish-based company had a plan to open its first store in Mexico City in February of this year, however, the application of the red light has delayed the doors of its Oceania unit from opening.

Resultado de imagen de ikea mexico

Tonje Randen commented that since everyone has had some construction delays due to the contingency, in addition to working under restrictions, they take great care of their employees, as well as the contractors.

In addition, they have taken the time to plan what that would be like for the client in their Oceania branch, because, even if the capital comes out of the red light, it is most likely that they will open under some restrictions still from the pandemic, in order to ensure a good experience.

“We want to open as soon as possible, but here we also have a responsibility to follow all the directions given by Mexico City and leaving the red traffic light, as soon as possible we want to open,” he added.

In January, it announced the start-up of the construction of its second store in Mexico, which will open in the second half of 2022 and will be located in the state of Puebla.

Resultado de imagen de ikea puebla

In a statement, the Swedish firm reported that Puebla will be located in the Vía San Ángel shopping center and will have an area of ​​11,500 square meters and a restaurant for 380 people.

Source: forbes.com.mx

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