The FINANCIAL — IKEA opened its first store in Mexico, in the east part of Mexico City, within the inner ring of the city as part of the Encuentro Oceania shopping center. The store has a surface with a total of 23,000 sqm distributed in 3 levels with 3 integrated shopping centre entrances and plans to receive 5,3 million visitors during the first full year.
The store generates 300 direct jobs and 1000 indirect ones, a percentage of which will be for residents from the Venustiano Carranza neighborhood.
At the IKEA store, all the Mexican visitors will find a diverse offer of home solutions and a total of 5,000 products of which 250 are made in Mexico. This represents 8 to 10% of the planned sales.
The store includes a restaurant with a capacity for 665 people that operates according to the COVID-19 measures, and a marketplace where more than 150 Swedish food products will be for sale, as well as a wide variety of vegetarian and vegan products such as meatballs, hot dogs and ice cream. In addition the food offer includes a stock of products from sustainable agriculture, for example the UTZ-certified coffee, which is produced with care for people and the environment. As part of the opening campaign, IKEA signed up more than 125,000 IKEA FAMILY members and distributed more than 700,000 IKEA Catalogues through different street teams and a Catalogue Drive Thru event, IKEA notes.
“We are very excited to finally open out first store in Mexico. We are proud that even through a pandemic we are able to bring the IKEA brand to the many people in Mexico City. It has been a challenging time, but we hope this opening helps to bring a smile to people’s faces”, commented Malcolm Pruys, Retail Country Manager and Managing Director of IKEA in Mexico.
“This is a day of joy. After many years of preparations, and almost half a year with E-commerce in Mexico City, we are now very excited to present the IKEA concept physically in Mexico. We are determined to make IKEA beloved and meaningful also in Mexico”, says Anna Solodovnikova, Expansion Manager, Inter IKEA Systems B.V., the worldwide IKEA franchisor.
Co-worker and visitor’s health and safety, a priority for IKEA
For IKEA, the co-workers’ and visitors’ health and safety are the top priority, therefore the store will be receiving a limited number of people per day by prior appointment. The store will only be working at 30% of its capacity according to the government of CDMX´s health protocol.
IKEA invites all customers to schedule a 30-minute visit at IKEA.mx, get inspired to create your shopping wish list so the store tour can be more effective. All areas of the store, carts, and FRAKTA bags will constantly being sanitized, according to IKEA.
“We will open in a safe way and I ask that people respect the system we have in place, as Mexico continues to improve the Covid-19 situation we will be able to accept more and more visitors to this incredible development. Our teams are ready to serve you and provide the best possible experience on the day you have you allotted booking” has said Malcom Pruys.
Sustainability, at the core of IKEA
The store includes 570 solar panels and rainwater collection and LED light systems and has obtained the LEED Gold certification.
IKEA e-commerce activity in Mexico since November 2020
Previous to this first physical store opening, IKEA started its commercial activity in Mexico the 12th of October 2020 when its product offer started to be available via e-commerce with home delivery.
IKEA operates in Mexico through IKANO Group, one of the 12 IKEA franchises around the world.
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