IKEA new CEO revises expansion plans

IKEA’s new CEO Peter Agnefjäll has told the Financial Times he hopes to increase the number of annual store openings from five this year. He described this number as a “record low”. Agnefjäll stepped up to the role on 1 September after a year shadowing predecessor Mikael Ohlsson. Asked about Ohlsson’s earlier pledge to open 20-25 stores a year, however, Agnefjäll sought to distance himself, saying: “I don’t recognise that, really.”

Agnefjäll who, unlike Ohlsson, is a former assistant to Founder Ingvar Kamprad, said he would place an emphasis on improving the company’s existing stores, adding he hoped to increase sales by 10% per year and thereby double annual revenues to about EUR50 billion (USD65.9 billion) by 2020.

Earlier this year, Kamprad told Swedish newspaper Expressen he was surprised at the company’s intention to ramp up new store growth. The paper quoted him as saying: “We have spoken about building 10-12 stores a year until 2020 and I don’t know who has sent out this information [about 20-25].”

Planet Retail