DLF is discussing with Ikea, world’s largest home furnishings retailer, for a bid to bring the Swedish brand into India. The developer is looking into the prospects of a joint venture with Ikea on a sharing ratio that was yet to be decided by the time this information had been published. The purpose of this joint venture is to bring in foreign retail brands such as Armani, D&G, Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo, Versace and so on into IndiaVerifying the development, a DLF official reportedly said that discussions were underway with the home furnishings retailer and a tie-up is expected to be finalized soon. “It will be in the form of a joint venture and not a franchisee model. This means that Ikea stores will be set up in any space across India and not just in the DLF’s malls,” he said.
Once confirmed, Ikea is expected to give tough competition to Hometown, home improvement stores launched by the Future Group last year. UK-based Roseby’s is also planning a foray into India soon. Home furnishings stores in India are typically spread over an area of about 80,000 to 2, 00,000 square feet. Whereas Ikea, whose stores are normally spread over 3, 00,000 to 5, 00,000 sq/ft. Ikea has more than 235 stores in more than 30 countries across the world. The company clocked in a turnover of Euro 20,685 million in 2007. Business strategy of Ikea is based on offering a wide range of well designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible are able to afford them. Rather than selling costly home furnishings that only a few can buy, the IKEA Concept makes it possible to provide low-priced products that contribute to helping more people live a better life at home. In fact, the Ikea Concept relies on customers to choose, collect, transport and assemble the products themselves. IKEA gives a slogan “You do your part. We do our part. Together we save money” to its customers.
