(image: KobizMedia/ Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Korea Bizwire) – Global furniture giant Ikea’s Korean unit said Wednesday it will launch an e-commerce channel this week, more than three and a half years after it entered Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
The company said it has established a distribution center for the online mall set to open on Saturday that can offer better accessibility to customers nationwide. The service has been undergoing test operations since last month.
“We are eager to expand our customer touch points and reach more of the many people in Korea through the launch of e-commerce and Ikea Giheung, which is set to complete its construction at the end of next year,” Andre Schmidtgall, Country Retail Manager of Ikea Korea, said during a press conference in Seoul.
The company held a groundbreaking ceremony for its third store in Giheung, just south of Seoul, last month.
Ikea tapped Korea with its first store in Gwangmyeong, just southwest of Seoul, in 2014, followed by the launch of its second store in Goyang, northwest of the capital, in October last year.
The furniture giant said its sales from September 2017 to August 2018 in South Korea came to 471.6 billion won (US$425 million), up 29 percent on-year.
(Yonhap)
