Ikea believes that it has a lot more room for expansion in Thailand as it could open three large-format stores in Bangkok and five to six pick-up and ordering point (PUP) stores during the next five years. The revelation comes after the Swedish home furnishing company opened its first PUP in Asia at the end of last month in Phuket.
Ikea’s Thailand expansion plans are being given consideration due to higher incomes in the county as well as the rise of middle-class consumers which looks set to grow, said Patrice Dreano, store manager of Ikano (Thailand), a franchisee of Inter Ikea Systems.
At the moment, Ikea Bangna at the Mega Bangna is the company’s only full retail store in Thailand with the recently opened PUP in Phuket being Ikea’s second foray into the country. The company has plans for a second Greater Bangkok store at the recently opened Central WestGate shopping complex in Nonthaburi. Ikea has also started searching for a third location likely to be somewhere in northern Bangkok to meet the increasing demand from both of those areas by 2020.
The reception of the PUP store in Phuket has been strong and IKEA could expand further in the southern provinces, particularly in Phuket. The entire area is recording tremendous growth in the real-estate and tourism sectors at the moment and the retailer could use this to its advantage.
The possibility of setting up new PUP stores in other provinces is already being studied by Ikea’s franchisee and Delano said he believes up to four or five new PUP stores could be opened upcountry.
The results of an internal survey showed that a large number of customers from Phuket and other southern provinces have shopped at the Bang Na branch in Bangkok, PUP store manager Takurng Banjonruk noted. He added that 40 percent of the total customer traffic from the Northern, Northeastern and Southern regions came from the South.
