The 82-year-old Swedish multinational furniture company and home furnishings retailer, IKEA, in New Delhi now

The 82-year-old Swedish multinational furniture company and home furnishings retailer, IKEA, had studied Delhi’s diversity and consumer behaviour for the past four years before stepping in with e-commerce from March 1.

North India is the country’s largest home furnishing market. “The e-commerce approach first helps us to reach more customers faster and also understand their specific needs and preferences while readying our physical stores to make them more locally relevant and efficient,” says IKEA India CEO and the Chief Sustainability Officer, Susanne Pulverer.

IKEA strengthened its supply chain in the North with its first Customer Distribution Centre opened in Farrukh Nagar, south of Gurugram, last month. The 1.5 lakh sq.ft warehouse is designed to store 7,000-plus products, and gives customers the option to shop on the IKEA mobile app, website and over a phone call with an assured 24-hour order fulfillment.

More than 100,000 customers have signed up for IKEA’s loyalty programmes even before its formal entry into the market. The company expects the numbers to grow exponentially even though it reported widening losses of ₹1299.4 crore in FY-24. Pulverer is quick to clarify that IKEA in India has been building up over the last few years and moving as per plan. “We enter markets with significant long-term investments that entail some fixed costs as affordability and high efficiency remain our core,” she says.

Life At Home Research by IKEA in Delhi gave an insight into the multi-generational families living together in their city homes with a strong focus on the living room.

Jasmeet Sood, Country Home Furnishing & Retail Design Manager, IKEA India.
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“Delhi-ites also love their outdoors, festivities, celebrations, food and hosting people,” says Jasmeet Sood, Country Home Furnishing and Retail Design Manager, IKEA India. “Every corner has a purpose; the furniture people use here isn’t just functional but is the main character carrying the entire household’s energy,” says Sood.

The 2024 Life At Home report suggests 56% of Indians are likely to shift homes and another 10% will renovate in the next two years. “We met families living in different types and sizes of homes in various parts of Delhi. People’s challenges and ambitions motivate us to bring them meaningful solutions,” says Adosh Sharma, Country Commercial Manager, IKEA India. “While everything needs to co-exist, we are not expecting people to change their homes immediately with IKEA,” he adds.

Sood says the traditional and antique items individuals inherit can always blend in with the modern and functional. “That is how we design our products. For instance, many Delhi homes invest in heavy wooden furniture and decorative items. We will show how to integrate, balance and make a cohesive functional home with more flexible furniture. People understand and see the logic in the evolution of furniture from simply style to multi-functional,” she adds.

North India’s preference for brighter colours, bolder patterns in textiles, integrated lighting and false ceilings with a bit of bling is also something IKEA, which has more whites in its collection, is looking into. “We are open to experimentation and amalgamation with peoples’ tastes,” says Sood.

IKEA in Delhi could end furniture disappointment among locals who find their options limited by extremely ornate and heavy wood furniture in the country’s biggest furniture market at Kirti Nagar in West Delhi or some basic and vintage items on Panchkuian Road near Connaught Place or the high-end furniture shops on M.G. Road. With its products targeting the key demographics, IKEA is more about minimalism and believes in creating an organised productive space with ease. Its smartly designed DIY affordable furniture for the first home or for single women, students and bachelors co-sharing spaces are popular.

For the North market, the company is helping with remote planning, interior design services, seamless assembly and installation support with a 25-year guarantee on kitchen installations and 10-year guarantee on wardrobes and cushions.