By Kirby Chien
BEIJING (Reuters) - Sweden's IKEA said on Friday the contribution from Asia-Pacific to the group's total sales could triple to 10 percent within six years, creating a huge challenge for the world's largest furniture retailer.
"It's possible," Ian Duffy, IKEA president for Asia Pacific, told Reuters in an interview.
"That is very significant, and the group is growing as well."
Privately owned IKEA plans to add six new stores in the Asia-Pacific region next year -- three in China and three in Japan -- on top of the nine stores IKEA now manages in the region.
The IKEA group also has eight stores operated as franchises in Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
But that pace of growth is new to IKEA and posing challenges. "We face the increasing challenge of growing rapidly and at the same time having to keep our existing business in the best possible shape," the 20-year IKEA veteran said ahead of Reuters' China Summit next week.
The effort and expense needed to train an expanding staff to maintain a high standard of service is one reason IKEA looks primarily at organic growth rather than acquisitions for expansion.
"It would be difficult to integrate," he said. Continued...
© Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.
| Paper | Aug 20 - 21, 2008 | Manufacturing |
| Japan Investment | Jul 01 - 2, 2008 | Country Summits |
| Global Real Estate | Jun 23 - 25, 2008 | Real Estate |
| Consumer and Retail | Jun 16 - 18, 2008 | Consumer Retail |
| Investment Outlook | Jun 09 - 12, 2008 | Financial Services / Exchanges |
