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IKEA brings a new shopping experience to Jakartans
For the young ones: Kidâs bedroom mocks up aim to inspire visitors in an IKEA store in Almhult, Sweden
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For the young ones: Kid's bedroom mocks up aim to inspire visitors in an IKEA store in Almhult, Sweden.
Soon, residents of Greater Jakarta will be able to experience the first IKEA store in Indonesia, which will open on Jl. Jalur Sutera Boulevard in Alam Sutera, Tangerang.
Indonesian retail giant PT Hero Supermarket secured the franchise license of Ikea in March 2012, and
is currently waiting for final approval from IKEA to set an opening date.
A media preview is expected to take place on Monday, so until then, we will have to wait to see what theme the new store will take. Last month, the new IKEA store in Almhult, Sweden, greeted customers by welcoming them with bedroom interior inspirations in the main lobby. There were many gorgeous mock ups of bedrooms along with some mock ups of small apartments, which differentiate the store from other retailer stores offering home products.
One of the challenges that may give a new experience to Jakartans are the flat-packed products, which require customers to take a note or snap picture of a price tag and code to locate the items in the huge warehouse. Assembling the products may also be a novelty for some, as many Jakartans are accustomed to having everything assembled by store staff in their houses.
IKEA Indonesia marketing director Benedicte Hansen said the management had anticipated people's response to the new way of shopping.
'We will surely place a bigger number of coworkers to help customers. We will also provide an option of having the products assembled at the customers' houses, but if they want to save money, they can assemble the products by themselves,' she said.
Hansen said the size of the first store in Indonesia would be the same as the 34,000-square-meter IKEA store in Almhult. She said the product range in Indonesia may be smaller than in Almhult, which is said to have the largest product range among hundreds of other stores in the world.
'The collection of the outdoor plants, for example, will not be as vast as the one in Almhult. The same thing also applies for textiles as we have limitations in the import regulation,' she said.
The self-checkout, which allows customers to process their own purchases, will not be available in Indonesia either.
Some of the most-awaited products may be the children's section, especially soft toys, which are safe for children in terms of material. Most of the soft toys will come from Indonesian suppliers. The delicious meatballs dish in the café is another thing that people may wait for. Although unlike the café in Almhult, the dish in Indonesia will be halal.
' JP/Indah Setiawati
