IKEA targets 4x revenue growth in India

MUMBAI: Unlike many other markets where women primarily handle home furnishings, in India, men take an active role in selecting everything from bookshelves and crockery to dining tables, said IKEA country chief executive Patrik Antoni, highlighting a key difference that stood out during his time working across different countries.

"In India, the man has an interest," he told ET in an interview, describing how men discuss home furnishings during visits to customers' homes. In some other markets he has worked in, such as Russia and Portugal, he said women usually lead those conversations.

Antoni, who previously worked in India between 2013 and 2018 as deputy CEO of the Sweden-headquartered firm, said Indian families often make home-related purchasing decisions collectively, with spouses, children and grandparents involved. This interest, he said, reflects changing attitudes towards the home, particularly among younger consumers who increasingly see furniture and interiors as an expression of their personal tastes. The furniture retailer sees strong potential among India's younger consumers, who have grown up with greater exposure to international brands and use social media for home furnishing ideas.

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"There are 400 million Gen Zs coming in, and not all of them may have the financial means. But big thing is that they are brought up differently from the generations before them in terms of global exposure, and that is likely to make them shop at IKEA," said Antoni.

Indian households' involvement in furniture decisions, Antoni said, requires IKEA to adapt its products and displays to local living arrangements rather than simply replicate designs from other markets. "We don't want to have a Swedish museum here where you go and look at how Swedish people live," he said.

The observation comes as the retailer plans to quadruple its revenue in India by 2030, expand its store network to 30 from the current eight and double its investments to Rs 21,000 crore. IKEA, which is recording double-digit sales growth in India, expects to become profitable by 2027-28 if global conditions stabilise, Antoni said.

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"If the world is stable by FY28, we believe we can achieve profitability. As of now, it's a bit difficult to know what's happening, but in two-three years, it should be clearly possible because we will have a lot more stores up at that time," he said, adding that scale will help reduce a number of costs. "So, the more (stores) we get, the better."

However, the picture remains hazy as the global scenario continues to be volatile. While Europe saw price cuts, Antoni said he plans to monitor the situation before introducing a price rejig to India as well.

"We expected the volatility to last a month or so, but the bubble has been very long. It's been six months, but we still try to avoid reacting to fluctuations we think are temporary," he said, adding that before the Iran conflict, the picture looked promising with raw material prices dropping.