Stefan Sjöstrand is moving on (and up) from his role as president of IKEA Canada.
Sjöstrand is joining the global IKEA Group in Malmo, Sweden as commercial manager, where he’ll be responsible for global sales and business planning. David McCabe, deputy country retail manager, will become acting president of IKEA Canada until Sjöstrand’s successor is announced.
“It’s a huge opportunity for me,” Sjöstrand said in an interview with Marketing. “When I came to Canada with my family two years ago, we fell in love with the country and all the people here, and also I fell completely in love with the organization… But, the opportunity to be part of the group management within IKEA and be part of developing the global agenda was too tempting to say no to.”
Sjöstrand joined IKEA in 2007 as global manager, based in Amsterdam. Two years later, he transitioned to IKEA of Sweden, where he worked in product development. In 2012, he joined IKEA France as senior vice-president, and made the move to Canada in August 2014.
One of his assignments was to make IKEA more accessible for Canadians. During Sjöstrand’s tenure, IKEA Canada launched six “pick-up and order points,” which allow customers to pick up their orders at smaller, closer-to-home locations.
The company is also embarking on a national expansion effort that will double IKEA’s full-size store count from 12 to 24 in the next 10 years. The first new store, in Halifax, will open in late 2017.
“I’m not leaving without having accomplished what I expected when I came, but I must say the company is really on a fantastic journey,” said Sjöstrand. “We are going through a transformation to be the world-leading home furnishings multi-channel retailer… and it’s working.”
