IKEA Canada has had a rather conservative approach to expansion since setting up shop here 40 years ago: it has just 12 stores. But, with a new(ish) CEO at the helm, the retailer is planning on doubling up by 2025.
“In the next 10 years, we will build 12 more stores,” said Stefan Sjöstrand, who took the helm as president of IKEA Canada in September 2014. “We’re going to expand from coast to coast, we’re going to expand in new cities, and we’re going to expand in existing cities.”
Asked why the time is right now, Sjöstrand said, “One of my assignments was to make IKEA more accessible for Canadians, so we started to deeply analyze the market. When we really dug into it… we could see that the potential is here for us.”
The new stores are in addition to IKEA’s new “pick-up and order points,” which allow customers who have shopped online to pick up their products at smaller, closer-to-home locations.
The pick-up and order points are around one-tenth the size of a regular IKEA store, which is roughly 400,000 sq. ft. They feature home-furnishing displays, as well as stations where IKEA employees can help customers with their planning process. Customers can also sit at computer stations to browse items and buy online.
Earlier this month, new pick-up and order points opened in London, Ont. and Quebec City. Four other Ontario locations—Windsor, St. Catharines, Whitby and Kitchener—are opening in spring 2016.
On the marketing front, IKEA Canada just launched a new platform called “It Starts With the Food,” which will be ongoing throughout 2016. The idea is to show how food connects people, and what makes life in and around the kitchen work in harmony.
A television spot, “Nonna Part II,” promotes the IKEA Kitchen Event, which is on until Jan. 11. It features IKEA’s much-liked “Nonna” character, who first appeared in an IKEA ad earlier this year. In the new spot, Nonna disapprovingly oversees family members making dinner in the kitchen. The spot ends with the tagline, “Kitchens that can handle everything. And everyone.”
“We want to deliver a strong message around quality and function when it comes to life around the kitchen,” said Sjöstrand.
The spot, created by Leo Burnett Toronto, will be followed by a 360-degree campaign around the “It Starts With the Food” theme, added Sjöstrand. “You will see a lot of activities around this theme in the coming year.”
