Illustrating the appeal of the Russian e-commerce market, IKEA Russia has made a substantial part of its assortment available online to the inhabitants of Moscow, Saint Petersburg and their surrounding areas, as well as of several cities of Siberia, the Far East, the Central and Northwestern federal districts.
Launched in late April, online sales will be expanded later this year to cities which host IKEA outlet stores and to areas with high Internet and e-commerce penetration rates.
So far, no less than 4,800 items are listed online. Customers can have their purchases delivered for 349 rubles (a little more than $6 at the current exchange rate) per parcel of up to 30 kg.
IKEA’s online clients may use Visa and MasterCard cards, as well as Russia’s national bank card MIR, which was launched last year, to pay online, IKEA announced.
IKEA’s largest-ever distribution center in the Moscow region
IKEA is investing massively in Russia, which it considers to be “a market of strategic importance.” A $1.6 billion plan to launch new stores over the next five years or so was announced last year.
This past fall, the Swedish company opened a $60 million furniture factory near St. Petersburg and acquired land for a third Mega mall near the city, as reported by Bloomberg.
Last year the company also started the construction of a distribution center in Yesipovo (Moscow region), as reported by Russian e-commerce blog E-Pepper based on exchanges with Milen Gentchev, General Director at IKEA Centres Russia.
With a cost estimated at 6 billion rubles (a little more than $100 million), the center is expected to start operations next year. Once built, the facility is expected to be IKEA’s largest distribution center in the world.
From Auchan, to Leroy Merlin, to Ozon, to Ulmart, several other large international and domestic retailers are also developing big warehousing and distribution facilities across the country, as analyzed in EWDN’s latest industry report.
