According to Jesper Brodin, CEO of Ingka Centers, the owner of the IKEA retail chain, closing stores around the world led to a 60 percent drop in sales. Despite the retail crisis with the coronavirus, IKEA hopes to start opening stores in May. Currently, most stores in Europe and North America are closed, but many IKEA Asian stores are still open.
At the same time, IKEA’s online sales have doubled and now account for almost half of total IKEA sales. In some countries, online sales have increased tenfold, while in Denmark, for example, online sales are comparable to the company’s pre-closure sales.
IKEA has now started preparations for the upcoming baby boom, which predicts 7-8 months after quarantine in many countries around the world. In the past, crises have always led to increased demand for baby products, Jesper told Reuters.
Considering the development of online business, Brodin also plans to accelerate the expansion of IKEA in metropolitan areas with showrooms and urban formats of stores.
In China, where Ingka reopened almost all its stores in March, sales have already returned to last year’s level. A store in Wuhan, where the first manifestation of the new coronavirus was recorded, will reopen in a couple of weeks.
