IKEA France may slow store openings, and focus more on e-commerce

The French wing of Sweden’s furniture retail giant IKEA may look to slow the pace of its planned new store openings as it focuses more on e-commerce to drive forward sales, according to reports. According to a report published by Reuters yesterday (13 October), IKEA’s new Chief Executive for France, Olivier Baraille, told a news conference: “The speed of the expansion plan may not be what was announced… We are reviewing the best solutions so that we can be as near our clients as possible.”

IKEA has 32 stores in France and it has previously indicated that it had plans to expand to 40 stores by 2020.

As reported by Post&Parcel on 22 September, IKEA’s Australian arm recently announced plans to ramp up its online shopping business, offer more home delivery options and launch more small-format pick-up stores.