Ikea assembling a strategy for the future

Ikea's second store in Beijing opens on Thursday to lure customers from the southern part of the city.[Photo/China Daily]

Peter Agnefjall

Slowly, surely, sustainably but also with ambition: That is Ikea's model for China

Peter Agnefjall said he never makes blind forecasts. "In Ikea, we think about and look to the long term."

However, the new president and chief executive officer of the Swedish furnishing giant launched a new long-term strategy alongside his predecessor Mikael Ohlsson with the target of doubling the group's annual sales to 500 billion euros by 2020. They did this just before his new title took effect on September 1.

"That means we need to grow by 10 percent a year during the period between 2013 and 2020," said Agnefjall. "From my perspective, we are still just at the beginning of our journey."

Accepting the exciting job, the 42-year-old young Swede said he will continue to keep Ikea on a stable development track. He has been affiliated with the the company since 1995, starting as a trainee on a one-year program.

"I was deeply influenced and had a really good insight into the company, from an important element in experience working as the assistant to three former group CEOs," saidAgnefjall. "I am a typical Ikea worker and will always be."

Wearing a simple white shirt with sleeves rolled up and ordinary blue jeans, Agnefjall does not look like a traditional CEO but does resemble his colleagues, who were influenced by the company founder Ingvar Kamprad, a man famed for being thrifty and hard working.

"Setting a target of doubling revenue is quite ambitious," he admitted. "But I think China will play an important contribution in that, within both supply and retail sides, because we are still facing challenges in European markets following the slowdown of the economies there."

Because China has maintained the fastest growing speed for Ikea worldwide, "the revenue in this country market will grow more than double by 2020".

Agnefjall's confidence in the China market is not without good reason.

It was a latecomer to the world's fastest growing economy in 1998. Its second store in Beijing opens on Thursday in Daxing district.

Fredrik Johansson, manager of Ikea's new store in Beijing, said to be more locally relevant to people living in south Beijing, they prepared a different layout in the store to present its 9,000 articles for sale.

Ikea now has just 14 stores in 11 cities in China, a small number for a group that operates about 350 stores in 44 countries.

However, in its 2013 fiscal year that ended on August 31, Ikea's revenue in China surged 17 percent to 6.3 billion yuan from a year earlier. The Swedish company also saw year-on-year growth of 12 percent in store visitor numbers to more than 45 million during the past fiscal year and a 33 percent rise in website visits to more than 30 million.

"I expect our business in China to maintain double-digit growth and sustainable development in the near future," said Agnefjall.

"And I am sure China will be one of the major destinations for our investments in new stores, existing stores, factories, product development and in lowering prices for us to commit to the Ikea vision of 'creating a better everyday life for the majority of people'."