Ikea NZ hints at reveal on opening

Swedish furniture and homeware giant Ikea is poised to reveal more about its New Zealand plans, after announcing two years ago its first store would be in Auckland.

Ikea was yesterday being tipped to open in New Zealand in the next four months but the business has not been specific about an exact opening date or even when it will say more.

“Despite the challenging environment in which we have been operating within the last 18 months, we are not deterred and are still very much working on bringing the Ikea experience to the whole of New Zealand,” the company said last night.

“We’re looking forward to sharing an update in the coming months.”

Last February, Ikea said it would open in this country “with multiple physical and digital customer touchpoints providing access to people across the entire country.”

In 2019, Ingka Group announced that it would open its first store in the Auckland area, after Ikea Systems B.V. granted franchise rights.

“While exact locations are currently not confirmed and timings are being finalised, there are plans to open three customer meeting points during the launch period,” it said.

These include a full-sized Ikea store in the greater Auckland area, a planning studio in Wellington and a second smaller-format store in Christchurch.

Ikea will also launch its full e-commerce offer during this period

Ikea New Zealand retail manager Jan Gardberg said: “We are looking forward to opening Ikea in New Zealand with access for people across the entire nation.”

Planning had been under way, so the business had been getting to know more about Kiwi life at home.

“Each year Ikea conducts life at home research,” she said. “In 2018 Ikea added New Zealand to this study.

“The global research found that privacy is one of the most important needs for creating the feeling of home,” Gardberg said last year.

“It also found that in New Zealand . . . 74 per cent agree that privacy is important to our wellbeing.”.

Last February, Ikea said it would share more about its plans for New Zealand “in the coming months” but the business has said nothing more until now — 16 months later.