IKEA Retail sets up global operations centre in India

Strengthening its presence in the Indian market, Ingka Group, which handles retail operations of Swedish furniture giant IKEA, on Thursday announced to open a global office at Bengaluru.

It will operate within the areas of Global Business Operations (GBO), Digital, and Centres of Expertise (CoE), said Ingka in a statement.

The move will help to streamline, simplify, and standardise ways of working and operations, while diversifying the overall digital footprint, it added.

Besides Bengaluru, IKEA Retail has GBOs in Poznan (Poland), Shanghai (China) and Baltimore (the US).

"The availability of a large talent pool in India is one of the key reasons behind selecting the global office. The office will operate from the Karle Special Economic Zone, in Bengaluru," it said.

GBO is a capability and service organisation, responsible for implementing modern tools to meet growing business demands as well as to increase employee satisfaction.

"The GBO is a key partner for group functions such as Finance, Digital, Procurement and People & Culture to transform, operate and continuously improve ways of working," it said.

In addition, the Centres of Expertise (CoE) will provide leadership, best practices, research, support and training, it added.

Commenting on the development Head of Global Business Operations for Ingka Group Lalitha Indrakanti said: "India now joins our network of strong locations situated at strategic parts of the world with the establishment of GBO. India is not only a growing retail destination for us but also one of the strongest markets when it comes to global business operations capabilities.

"India is central to our growth plans and the GBO will help simplify, standardise and modernise customer and business transactions, procurement operations, financial reporting and people operations. We have long-term growth plans and plan to expand over time,” she added.

Besides, it has placed a large focus on building digital competencies required to fulfil growing e-commerce demands.

"With a move towards a new digital IKEA, the organisation is excited to explore and connect with the excellent digital competence in India. This will provide the knowledge, the capacity, and the stimulus to drive continuous improvement and innovation to the business and the transformation," said Ingka Group Chief Financial Officer and Chief Data & Analytics Officer Divya Kumar.

IKEA India, part of Ingka Group opened its first India store in Hyderabad in 2018. Besides, it has an online presence in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune. Its second store in Mumbai is under construction.

"The company will also open smaller format city centre stores and expand its online presence in other Indian cities in the future," it said.

Recently, IKEA launched Click & Collect Services in Hyderabad.

"The aim is to reach approximately 100 million consumers in India over the next few years through a multichannel approach," it said.

Ingka Group is a strategic partner in the IKEA franchise system, operating 380 IKEA stores in 31 countries. Ingka Group has three business areas: IKEA Retail, Ingka Investments and Ingka Centres.