(LEAD) Ikea to improve accessibility through e-commerce, city stores: CEO

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By Choi Soo-hyang

GOYANG, South Korea, April 19 (Yonhap) -- Ikea Group's CEO Jesper Brodin said Thursday the global furniture giant will improve accessibility to its services through the expansion of its online business and opening of stores in city centers.

The company -- the largest among 11 retailers that own and operate Ikea sales channels under franchise agreements with Inter Ikea Systems B.V. -- said it plans to launch an e-commerce channel in South Korea by August, nearly four years after it entered the country with its first store in Gwangmyeong, southwest of Seoul.

"Online Ikea is something we will realize in all markets within the coming years," Brodin said during a meeting with reporters at its second local store in Goyang, north of the capital. The latest visit marked the chief's first trip to South Korea since his inauguration in September last year.

Brodin also said the company is reviewing various ways to expand its presence in urban areas, adding Ikea has been conducting tests in some markets.

The remarks were made as Ikea moves to better cope with the needs of its customers amid increasing urbanization and advance of new technologies.

The chief executive said their goal is to provide a better life at home to people living in the urbanized world with "less space, money and time."

"We will investigate a little bit more what is important, what are the possibilities to come closer to mega cities, not knowing how they will exactly look like (at the moment)," added Andre Schmidtgall, the chief retail manager of Ikea's Korean unit.

During the 2017 fiscal year, Ikea's Gwangmyeong store, which opened in 2014, recorded 365 billion won (US$343 million) in sales.

The furniture giant opened its second store, in Goyang, in October last year, with a plan to run six stores and e-commerce operations in South Korea by 2020.

scaaet@yna.co.kr
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