Kwak Yeon-soo is a digital editor at The Korea Times creating, editing and curating digital content for the newspaper’s website, mobile app and social media. She previously covered a diverse array of cultural, political and business topics.
IKEA to open two new stores, cater to urban residents
IKEA Korea's country retail manager Fredrik Johansson speaks during a press conference at IKEA's pop-up store in Seoul, Wednesday. / Courtesy of IKEA Korea
By Kwak Yeon-soo
By Kwak Yeon-soo
IKEA Korea will open two more stores and test-run a city center outlet to give urban residents greater access to its products, the company said Wednesday.
With IKEA Gwangmyeong and Goyang in operation, the Korean unit of the Swedish home furnishing firm will open a third store in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Dec. 12 and a fourth in Busan sometime in the first quarter of 2020.
IKEA Dongbusan will be the first store outside Seoul and the Gyeonggi metropolitan area, according to the company.
“As we put great emphasis on conventional stores, we are happy to announce the expansion of outlets in Korea,” IKEA Korea's country retail manager Fredrik Johansson told reporters at an IKEA pop-up store in Seoul. “We plan to hire 500 workers at each site.”
According to IKEA Korea, it will also focus on becoming more accessible, convenient and sustainable by expanding customer “touchpoints.”
Johansson said the company wants to open its first city center touchpoint in Korea next year to become even more accessible to urban residents.
“IKEA in city centers can fulfill customers' needs in today's urbanized world,” Johansson said, citing that the company has already tested city center touchpoint formats in IKEA France La Madeleine, IKEA London Planning Studio and IKEA Moscow Khodynskoye Polye.
At the same time, IKEA Korea will continue to improve shopping convenience by investing in services and digital capabilities, while strengthening its reputation as a company that strives to make a positive impact on people and the planet.
With the new campaign “The Great Wake-up!” the company will offer home furnishing ideas for people to create a bedroom that reflects their personal need for better sleep and a better life.
“We will put our best efforts forward to offer greater accessibility and convenience by improving all of our customer touchpoints, and to lead a more sustainable future, creating a better everyday life for many people by enabling easier and more convenient ways to experience IKEA,” Johansson said.
As a part of the new campaign, IKEA Korea will open “The Great Wake-up!” pop-up exhibition at 420 Gangnamdaero, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, from Aug. 22 to Sept. 8 and present ways to get a good night's sleep with IKEA's home furnishing ideas.
IKEA Korea posted 503.2 billion won ($419 million) in sales between September 2018 and August 2019, up 5 percent year-on-year.
During the period, 8.5 million people visited IKEA's stores while 38.5 million visited its e-commerce channel within the first year of its launch, the company said.