Ingka Group, the largest IKEA retailer, will later today open the first IKEA city store in Canada, as part of its omni-channel commitment to get closer to its customers – whenever and wherever they want to meet IKEA.
The new city store marks a milestone for IKEA in Canada and is another step in the retailer’s plans to become even more convenient and accessible to customers. Ingka Group’s ongoing investments in Canada include a new distribution centre in Beauharnois, new planning studios (known as IKEA Plan and order points in Canada) and new pick-up points – as well as the redevelopment of the IKEA Ottawa store to ship customer orders directly from the store.
“Canada is a great example of our transformation as an omni-channel retailer. Our stores in Winnipeg and Halifax already ship online orders within those markets. Our Ottawa store is being rebuilt as we speak and will be testing new fulfillment systems moving forward. In smaller city stores like IKEA Toronto Downtown, customers can instead pick up their online orders and larger items – or choose to order with home delivery or to another pick-up point closer to their home,” says Tolga Öncü, Retail Operations Manager, Ingka Group.
The new IKEA Toronto Downtown store is part of Ingka Group’s recently announced EUR 3bn investment in accelerating its expansion before the end of next calendar year.
“Globally, around a third of our sales are online – and our physical stores play an important role in this omni-channel reality. As customer behaviours evolve, so do we as a retailer. We are redeveloping many of our larger stores to also ship customer orders in a quicker, more affordable and more sustainable way,” says Öncü.
