BEIJING – Ikea is working to connect better with young consumers in China by becoming nimbler and more digitalized. The Swedish company that sells modern Scandinavian-design ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen appliances and home accessories has thrived for more than two decades in China on its business model that focused on large brick-and-mortar shopping centers.
People pay about 100 million visits per year to Chinese stores. Ikea’s fiscal report of 2018 showed that revenue in China was 14.6 billion yuan ($2.1 billion), a growth of 9.3 percent year-on-year.
However, the growth rate was 4.7 percentage points lower than that in fiscal year 2017 and 10 percentage points less than that in 2016.
Ikea China will make its largest-ever yearly investment – 10 billion yuan – in fiscal year 2020, with more to come in the next two years, aiming to attract younger people in first-tier and smaller cities to its physical stores and digital sites, according to top executives of the company. Ikea China will recruit over 3,000 new employees in the new fiscal year. The company now employs 14,000 people in the country.
Last October, Ikea China launched its website and delivery services and also smaller-sized stores at places where urban dwellers love to meet.
Anna Pawlak-Kuliga, CEO and president of Ikea China, said the plan has been adjusted based on the dynamics in the local market. “The home furnishings market in China is now in a phase of stable growth.
In addition, urbanization, digitalization and people’s increasing disposable income are changing the way people live and consume. “That is why we have full confidence in the market and strongly believe that the new strategy will help us to create a better everyday life for even more of the many people in China.”
Many innovations and initiatives that have been created in China are expected to be expanded to Ikea’s operations globally, she said. To offer easier consuming experience both online and offline, Ikea will upgrade its existing stores, with Ikea Shanghai Xuhui store as the company’s first “store of tomorrow “in the world.
The company is accelerating its expansion in China by opening four new stores in the next four months and expanding the coverage of e-commerce to make Ikea’s products and home furnishing knowledge accessible for more Chinese consumers. Ikea will also create much smaller scale “meeting places” close to consumers, with the first small-size store, at 8,500 square meters, to be opened in Shanghai before Chinese New Year 2020.
IKEA also plans to provide a good shopping experience through the development of digitalization, including providing digital tools offline to simplify Xinhua News Agency 15 shopping and equally inspiring and convenient shopping experience online.
The online and offline coverage is expected to help expand Ikea’s consumer reach to about 1 billion people, said Francois Brenti, director of expansion at Ikea China. Thanks to the digital and physical coverage, he said the company has expanded to 227 cities and regions, from first-tier to third-tier and even lower-tier cities.
To achieve this goal, Ikea Digital Hub China was established in July, as a brand-new business unit with 250 digital experts to enable the digital capabilities across Ikea.
Ikea will also launch full-house design services, starting with bedrooms and kitchens, developing more products with the concept “In China, For China and Co-create with China”. Pawlak-Kuliga said home furnishing is a complete package of products, design and services.
Ikea’s full-house design services can help Chinese consumers to best use their home space, she added. The company will also upgrade its business-to-business service to work with commercial real estate companies to furnish move-in ready apartments, long-term rental apartments and offices. (Source: China Daily) Projects Projects Brief Chinese-built 449-mln-USD water project 55 pct complete in Zambia – The construction of the 449 million U.S. dollars Kafulafuta Water Supply System Project by China National Complete Engineering Corporation is 55 percent complete.
The ministry’s public relations officer Amos Zulu said in a statement that the project is aimed at improving water supply in Ndola, Luanshya, Mpongwe and Masaiti districts, targeting nearly 700,000 beneficiaries, and 160,000 cubic meters of water will be extracted from the 125 million cubic meter dam every day to supply the four towns.
Phase 1 of Namibia’s Chinese-built airport dual carriageway 79 pct complete – The first phase of a dual carriageway project for Namibia’s Windhoek-Hosea Kutako International Airport is now 79 percent complete, an official said on Sept. 10. The road is being built by China Railway Seventh Group Corporation in a joint venture with a local partner, Onamagongwa Trading Enterprises.
Roads Authority Chief Executive Conrad Lutombi said the first phase of the project, which started Jan. 18, 2016, is expected to complete on Nov. 28, 2019. Utility tunnel at Beijing’s new airport passes initial inspection — The utility tunnel project at the new Beijing Daxing International Airport has passed an initial inspection with world-leading culvert jacking technology.
The utility tunnel is a passage built underground to carry utility lines such as electricity, water and sewer pipes, as well as communication utilities like fiber optics and telephone cables, guaranteeing energy supply to the airport.
According to China Railway Xinhua News Agency 16 24th Bureau Group Co., Ltd, the utility tunnel at the new airport goes underneath the Beijing-Kowloon Railway.
Implementation phase of China-funded Egyptian satellite project kicks off — Egyptian and Chinese teams announced on Sept. 8 the start of the implementation phase of the China-funded “MisrSat II” satellite project.
On Sept. 7, a ceremony to launch the satellite project was held during the fourth China-Arab States Expo, being held in Yinchuan, capital of northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
Egypt and China signed in January an agreement on a 72-million-U.S. dollar Chinese grant for Egypt’s MisrSat II satellite, which is a small high-resolution remote sensing satellite. Tanzanian, Ugandan leaders inaugurate Chinese-built building — Tanzanian President John Magufuli and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Sept. 6 inaugurated the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation (MNF) Building built by China Railway Construction Engineering Group (CRCEG). Both presidents commended CRCEG for its “excellent job for putting up such a magnificent structure.”
The 30-story building is a cooperative project of CRCEG, MNF and International Finance Corporation with a total investment of 150 million U.S. dollars. Chinese company begins construction of underground tunnels in Sri Lanka to mitigate flood risks — Chinese company on Sept. 5 began construction of two main underground tunnels in Sri Lanka’s Colombo metro area which will prevent the threat of floods in the future. The two main underground tunnels, named the New Mutwal and Torrington tunnels, are constructed by the China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Co. Limited (CPPE) after an agreement was signed between Sri Lanka’s Megapolis and Western Development Ministry and CPPE.
The 778 meter New Mutwal Tunnel will run through some of the most populated areas in Colombo which are at a heavy risk of floods. China’s bus maker Ankai discusses electric bus production in Egypt — A delegation from China’s giant bus maker Ankai met on with Egypt’s Minister of Military Production Mohamed el-Assar to discuss joint production of electric buses in Egypt.
“The meeting discussed the possibility of joint production of electric tourist buses and electric cross-province passenger buses as well as transferring manufacturing technology to Egypt,” the Egyptian Ministry of Military Production said in a statement.
The Chinese delegation expressed willingness to cooperate with the Egyptian ministry due to its technological and technical capabilities, distinguished infrastructure and trained labors of its factories. 27 new projects under CPEC expected to start by the end of 2019 — A total of 27 new projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are expected to start by the end of the year, according to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) about the development of new phase under CPEC, reported yidaiyilu.com.gv recently.
The projects are involved with areas such as agricultural, industrial and education will be included in the new projects, which is an effort that will further enrich and expand the content and areas of the second-phase development of CPEC.
China-France JV’s second nuclear power unit ready for commercial use – A third-generation nuclear power unit of a China-France joint venture in southern Guangdong Province has completed all the Xinhua News Agency 17 testing operations and is ready for commercial use, said China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) on Sept 7. The No.2 unit at the Taishan nuclear power plant will be the world’s second third-generation European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) nuclear power unit, said CGN, the largest nuclear power operator in China.
The No. 1 unit, which was put into commercial use in December last year, was the first of its kind.
