Ikea eyes bigger city centre stores in business shake-up
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Ikea
Swedish furniture giant Ikea has said it may open large stores in city centres as it tries to adapt to changing shopping habits.
UK boss Javier Quinones said the stores would be “inbetween” the size of its new smaller city format, currently in London, and its big out of town stores.
“There are many formats we can try and will try,” he said.
The firm plans to add 4,000 staff to its global workforce over the next two years as part of a business revamp.
In total the company is creating 11,500 new posts, but eliminating 7,500 other jobs.
As many as 350 jobs are likely to go in the UK, mainly in head-office functions.
The new jobs will be created at smaller stores, called Touchpoints. Around 30 are planned.
The first, described by the company as a planning studio, is already trading on London’s Tottenham Court Road.
Customers can visit these shops for more complicated purchases, such as whole bedrooms and kitchens, and then order them online.
But Mr Quinones said not all city centre stores would be as small as the Tottenham Court Road model.
The firm has been relatively slow to move to online shopping, but he said that the firm had to respond to the fact that fewer people owned cars and also expected shopping to be convenient.
‘Full Ikea experience’
Ikea’s city centre expansion is likely to be welcomed by struggling High Streets amid a tough trading climate.
Around 14 shops closed every day in the first six months of the year, according to the most recent figures available from accountancy firm PwC.
Ikea also plans to open a new big store in London’s Greenwich next year, creating 500 new jobs, but plans for another outlet, at Cuerden, Lancashire, were scrapped in May. Ikea said at the time that the site was “no longer viable”.
Mr Quinones insisted that the firm hadn’t given up on its large store model, saying people still wanted the “full Ikea experience”.
