Joining the shops reopening their doors to consumers in China comes IKEA, as news breaks that the Swedish retailer has partnered with Tmall to offer online shopping and delivery. IKEA claims the move is “not influenced” by Covid-19.
The Nanjing branch of IKEA at Yuhua Men once again opened to the public on Monday this week, as did eight other stores in China, joining the seven to have opened earlier. First were some stores in Shanghai, as well as those in Hangzhou and Wuxi, that reopened on 1 March. Yesterday, another 12 IKEA outlets elsewhere in China opened up for business.
The shops are open from 10:00-18:00, while the customer restaurant, bistro and Småland remain closed until further notice.
IKEA is 77 years old, and never before has it joined up with a third party to sell its products online.
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The deal with Alibaba is, in fact, a 6-month test. We in Nanjing are among the lucky ones to be able to take advantage of the trial; only shoppers in Shanghai Municipality plus the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui can participate.
While much of the rest of China is likely to follow suit, at least in areas where IKEA has a store to provide the ordered products, there is little chance the initiative be rolled out in other countries.
Incoming CEO at brand owner Inter IKEA, Jon Abrahamsson Ring, said, “In other markets there are other conditions. So we don’t see this as a starting point for a full roll-out, or a full commitment to this type of channel”, reports RTE.
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The deal has apparently been in the works for 2 years, wrote Alan Murray for Fortune this Tuesday. TMall will be stocking approximately 3,800 of IKEA’s going-on 9,500 products.
As to any suggestion that the Coronavirus outbreak was a driver for the Tmall hookup, Head of Retail at Ingka, the owner of most IKEA stores, Tolga Oncu, said the outbreak had not influenced the timing.
The Swedish retailer has to date made donations of over ¥9 million for relief efforts in Hubei Province.
The partnership with Alibaba could not have come at a better time. Not only are people shopping online more than ever before, they are also staying home more. For IKEA, that means more opportunity to sell home beautification products or items for a home office.
