Despite the difficult economic circumstances, Ikea Belgium keeps on growing. In its financial year that ended on 31 August, the Belgian branch had its turnover grow 3.2% to 647 million euro; the Swedes never announce any data regarding their profits.

Huge investments despite "difficult circumstances"  

As the furniture market grew 1.3% (according to Ikea's own data), the 3.1% rise is a decent achievement. Still, Ikea Belgium's CEO Olivier Baraille warns that consumer confidence is still historically low – a difficult situation for a company that has planned (and finished) a number of substantial investments.

After the completion of the Zaventem store renovation (re-opened on 25 August of this year), Ikea is working on its Wilrijk (Antwerp) and Anderlecht (Brussels) stores as well. Wilrijk has seen its store completely demolished and rebuilt as a, larger, “concept store” that will hold 34,000 m² and reopen in the spring of 2012. The Brussels store at Anderlecht is also being significantly renovated and will grow from 30,000 m² to 38,000 m – just six years after its opening.

Apart from that, Ikea is also looking to open a first store in Mons (Hainaut) and a second one in Antwerp. “The location for the Mons store is certain”, says CEO Baraille, “while the second Antwerp store will be built somewhere in the north of the city – near a major intersection. Opening new stores is the only way to gain new customers.” 

Ikea Family to become real platform

Of course, Ikea puts efforts into keeping its current customers, too. “Everybody knows Ikea, so we do not need to invest in brand awareness. Instead, we have to make our customers leave their homes and make them come to us to find the solutions to their problems”, says Baraille.

The chain does that by offering more tips and ideas, adding extra information concerning style, materials, fitting colour combinations etc. Moreover, Ikea will offer four different collections per year, effectively changing 20% of its assortment every year.

Ikea also found the way to “conversation management” and created an online forum to offer designers' explanations and concrete design help from specialists. The plan is that Ikea Family becomes a “real community” where customers and employees exchange tips and ideas.

The CEO also addressed two recent topics, acknowledging that the triple bomb attack on Ikea stores on 30 May was indeed an extortion case “that we are dealing with in a number of ways”. Baraille also said that the Swedish chain will stop its stunt campaign with extra-cheap steaks after angry reactions from farmers - “but we will continue actions with meatballs and mussels.”

Tony Mertens is een decoratiespecialist met een passie voor verf. De Tony Mertens winkels bieden alle klassieke verfmerken, een eigen verfmerk en ecologische natuurverven aan. Het assortiment wordt bovendien aangevuld met een aanbod in behang, gordijnen en vloerbekleding. Hij kan als geen ander trends, uitdagingen en tips duiden, zowel in zijn sector als voor de retailer in het algemeen.