On our way to IKEA’s ongoing Saket pop-up, the city’s obsession with the 82-year-old Swedish home furnishing company is quite palpable. The towering billboards, massive posters on the Delhi metro and meandering queues of buyers at the pop-up show the city’s interest in the brand. It has indeed been a long wait since IKEA marked its debut in India with the Hyderabad store in 2018.
Starting this month, the much-loved brand has launched its online delivery in Delhi-NCR and nine other cities of north India, including Agra, Prayagraj, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Varanasi, through its e-commerce website. It provides insights into the city-specific needs and preferences ahead of its upcoming stores in Gurugram and Noida.
“Delhi is the number one home furnishing market in India. It’s important that we create efficient infrastructure to cater to its people. With the website, users have 7,000 articles at their fingertips. Once people are used to the products, we will start our physical centres,” says Adosh Sharma, country commercial manager of IKEA India.
The Saket pop-up at Nexus Select Citywalk is almost like a refresher course to familiarise visitors with functional, chic, affordable and sustainable products. Sleek and stylish lighting such as pendant lamps, plush foldable sofa sets, delicate tableware, beddings, linens, furniture and kitchen set-ups optimised for big as well as compact spaces are on display. “With our deep understanding of the unique life-at-home needs of India — whether it’s multi-generational living, low-cost living, raising children, or optimising small spaces — we aim to bring meaningful solutions to the north,” says Susanne Pulverer, CEO & chief sustainability officer of the brand.
Eye on the city
The brand conducted extensive research to understand how the city interacts with its physical space, and what space-saving solutions its people seek. “We realised that people in Delhi are very experimentative — they like colour and value newness in designs. They like mixing and matching different styles for home looks. They have bigger balconies and garden spaces than any other city in India. So we started to look into innovative outdoor living set-ups too. The city has many multi-generational families with people needing products suited to their specific needs. All such findings were kept in mind before launching the e-commerce website,” says Sharma.
This understanding of local preferences shaped not just the online offerings but also the ones at the pop-up as we spotted products for diverse age groups. The Blavingad octopus — a cuddly toy, crafted from soft fabric is a playful addition to any child’s room. For those who love a touch of history, the Poang chair inspired by an iconic U-shaped cantilever design crafted by Japanese product designer Noboru Nakamura in 1976 is a timeless masterpiece.
Space-savers
Since many homes in Delhi have smaller spaces, several pieces were designed suited to that category. The Jattebo sofa, upholstered in bold green, features a clean and minimalist aesthetic ideal for long movie nights and comfortable socializing; it can be adapted to different room layouts as well. The Metod Kitchen set-up has a wide range of cabinets, doors and storage solutions making it suitable for maximising space in smaller areas at home.
“We also have tables which can be folded and played for study or dining when needed. There are four-seater sofas that can extend to six-seaters when guests arrive,” says Jasmeet Sood, the brand’s country home furnishing and retail design manager, adding the website has also introduced a new feature ‘Kreativ’ that helps to visualise how items will look at home to help in buying decisions.
On till March 9 at Select Citywalk, Saket. On at DLF Mall, Noida, till March 16 and from March 24-April 5 at DLF CyberHub, 11am to 9pm