Ikea boss hints at new store openings
Since opening its first Canadian store almost 40 years ago in Richmond, B. C., Ikea has grown to 12 Canadian locations. The Swedish retailer opened its Calgary store in 1979, This is an edited version of Ikea president Stefan Sjostrand’s conversation with
Q Are there plans for expansion in Canada? In Calgary?
A We wan t to become more accessible for the many Canadians. We are looking to open more stores.
Q Do you see any changes in how the stores look and what they offer?
A We are working on our customer meeting and right now we have a very hard focus on that. That can mean we are training our coworkers more and we are really trying to have a stronger meeting. But what we also do is we are increasing our offers especially in the service part because what we have noticed is that Canadians are very open for services.
Q How is the online business doing and do you plan expansion in that area?
A Today 94, 95 per cent of our sales is the stores and five to six per cent comes from the Web. We have a 40 per cent increase on the website. We see a dramatic increase in that, but we don’t believe it will go over 10 per cent. We still see that the store is our base. But the web is a fantastic opportunity, especially in a country like Canada where the population is spread out.”
Q How is the Calgary store doing in terms of sales compared to other Canadian stores?
A It’s actually doing very well. We have two stores in Alberta ( Calgary and Edmonton). They have an increase of around seven per cent, which I think is very good sales. They are above the country average. Calgary is $ 30 million bigger in turnover ( than the Edmonton store) so it’s quite significant. The turnover in this store is around $ 140 million ( annual sales).
Q Are you worried about sales in Alberta this year in light of the collapse in oil prices and the downturn in the economy?
A What we have learned in Ikea is that when tough times come, and when the customers get smaller wallets, more and more customers come to Ikea because we are siding with many in our business idea to create better every day life for many people. That’s our mission and we are saying in our business that we will offer a wide range of home furnishing articles with a low price for many.
I think if the tough time comes more customers will come to Ikea, but of course I am worried about the situation in the retail landscape. That it is a tough situation for many.
Q Is your home completely decked out with Ikea products?
A No, to be completely honest I would say it is 65, 70 per cent ... It depends on where. I think all the children’s rooms are 100 per cent Ikea. I am a true fan of our range. I think I know quite a lot about the products because I have passion for it and I love to assemble them.
Q How good are you at assembling the products and following those instructions?
A As a person, I’m not a handyman at all. I’m really an unhandy person, but when you follow our instructions it is very easy to assemble because if you just follow the instructions you cannot go wrong.
Q It’s recently been reported that customers have been holding
hide- and- seek events in stores. What does the company think about this?
A ( Madeleine Lowenborg- Frick, corporate public relations): At the end of the day we’re super happy that our customers want to come to Ikea stores, but we have to secure everybody’s safety when they’re in the building and we have to secure that our business operations aren’t interrupted.
There’s just no way that these events can happen to the scale of what’s happening in other countries in a good way. We have to take consideration for everyone’s safety. The potential for harm is enormous and we take very seriously our responsibility to make sure that everyone who is in our building is having a fun day out with the family and is safe while they’re in our care. We simply can’t allow this to happen.