By Kovuuri G. Reddy
IKEA, the world’s largest furniture retailer, has made an impact among the consumers with its store in Hyderabad the capital city of India’s 29th state called Telangana created in 2014. The store is located in Hyderabad’s Hitec City where large number of multinational companies have their offices and also residential complexes in its vicinities coupled with cosmopolitan culture of the city.
A Hyderabadi globetrotter who has visited IKEA stores in the USA and Germany told www.thetelugus.com that the store is a novelty in the state and a new concept that enables not to rely on carpenters. One with little education can read from the leaflets of a furniture and fix household things they buy in the store and affordable for students to have a lunch in the store and also as a meeting or hanging out point.
According to a report published by BusinessToday.in IKEA crossed Rs 400 crore in total revenue in FY 19. “The company sold goods worth Rs 2 crore every day on an average in its first year of operations in the country. The company opened it maiden store in India in August last year,” the report said. “Ikea’s revenue stands as a record for any brand in the country with just one store, that too in its debut year. The Swedish retailer generated Rs 407 crore in seven months in FY 19, as mentioned in a report in The Economic Times. The report stated that the company faced a loss of Rs 685 crore in FY 19 due to initial investments. The retailer had incurred a net loss of Rs 368 crore in FY 18 over its infrastructure, staff cost and training, distribution centres and corporate expenses.”
Sudheer Solipuram is an American citizen of Indian heritage from Hyderabad. He told www.thetelugus.com that the IKEA store is an indication of the economic progress that Hyderabd in particular and India in general has made in the twenty-first century. He said, India is catching with the times and the rest of the world. Referring to IKEA he said that productivity in India is increasing and everybody is producing more adding to the wealth creation.
“It is not only for cost reasons that we avoid the luxury hotels. We don’t need flashy cars, impressive titles, uniforms or other status symbols. We rely on our strength and our will!” –
Ingvar Kamprad
The nearest and faraway rival companies of IKEA in India are Urban Ladder and PepperFry. Who is going to gain the consumers’ confidence in the coming years is to be seen.
“You can do so much in ten minutes’ time. Ten minutes, once gone, are gone for good. Divide your life into 10-minute units and sacrifice as few of them as possible in meaningless activity.” –
Ingvar Kamprad
Dileep Kilaru, a politician from ruling BJP at the national level and businessman who has lived in the USA but returned to India, said IKEA has succeeded in Hyderabad. “I have taken a stroll. One shop stop. Maybe in Hyderabad it has clicked. It is doing good.”
Business Today reported, “An estimated 40,000 people visited the Ikea’s big box store in Hyderabad’s Hitec City on the opening day. “The company plans to open 25 stores in the country, each large enough to fit four football fields. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has so far cleared the company’s Rs 10,500-crore investment plan. Ikea has received Rs 2,515 crore from its global parent so far.”
“A better everyday life means getting away from status and conventions – being freer and more at ease as human beings.” –
Ingvar Kamprad
IKEA and INDIA:
IKEA has been present in India for 30 years as part of the INGKA Group sourcing different products for IKEA stores around the world. According to IKEA’s website it sources products for approximately € 315 million every year, with the aim of doubling it in the next few years to meet our global and Indian needs. It says, “We work with 48 suppliers in India, engaging 45,000+ direct co-workers and approximately 400,000 coworkers in our extended supply chain. Our suppliers are long term partners who share our vision and values.”
ORIGINS of IKEA:
IKEA’s journey began in 1926 when its founder Ingvar Kamprad was born in
Småland in southern Sweden. He was raised on Elmtaryd which is a farm near the village
named Agunnaryd. At the age of five Ingvar Kamprad, he started selling matches
to his neighbours and by the time he was seven, he starts selling further
afield and riding on his bicycle. He finds that he can buy matches in bulk
cheaply in Stockholm and re-sell them individually at a very low price but
still make a good profit. From matches he expands to selling flower seeds,
greeting cards, Christmas tree decorations, and later pencils and ball-point
pens, and subsequently as a furniture dealer and furniture retailer. Over six
decades, Ingvar Kampard’s IKEA went from the woods of southern Sweden to a
major retail experience in 40 countries/territories around the world.
One of reasons for the popularity of its stores around the world is its focus on home furnishing solutions to meet the needs of families with children. And it operates with a code of conduct including preventing child labour in sourcing its materials for its stores.
WHAT IS IKEA?
IKEA or Ikea is an acronym: a form of abbreviation that is pronounceable as a word. IKEA stands for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd: IK stands for Ingvar Kampard the name of the founder and EA stands for his native place in Swedeen: The “E” in IKEA comes from an older spelling Elmtaryd (whose etymology comes from the ancient Swedish word ælmpt/almpt (swan) in Älmtaryd which is a village and ‘A’ stands for Agunnaryd the parish in Småland where Ingvar Kamprad grew up.
INGVAR KAMPARD:
Feodor Ingvar Kamprad, 30 March 1926 – 27 January 2018, lived in Switzerland from 1976 to 2014. He was born in Pjätteryd (now part of Älmhult municipality), Kronobergs län in Småland. He passed away at the age of 91 in his sleep of at his home in Småland in Sweden.
Kovuuri G. Reddy is a journalist and media & communications consultant. He was the Officer on Special Duty: PR, Communications & Press Officer 2012-2014 in New Delhi for the last Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh which had Hyderabad as its capital. Since 2014, Hyderabad is the capital city of Telangana the youngest state of India.
