IKEA Tampines, expected to play a key role in the home furnishing retailer's expansion plans, is the retailer's second outlet.
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With well designed, stylish yet affordable home furnishing products, flexible do-it-yourself options and a whopping 4.2 million visitors from September 2005 to August 2006 alone, it goes without saying that IKEA has become a household name in Singapore.
The Swedish home furnishing giant, which comes under Singapore-based franchise holder IKANO Pte Ltd, first arrived on Singapore's shores in 1978 as a modest store - one of the first in Asia - on 6th Avenue. And it has steadily increased its presence since, first by moving to larger premises in Katong before settling on the current sprawling 22,500 sq m outlet on Alexandra Road in 1995. Late last year, in response to increasing demands, the company set up a second IKEA store at Tampines.
"With 28 years in Singapore, the business environment here has been very supportive and instrumental in the growth and success of the IKEA brand," explains Lars Svensson, Country Marketing Manager, IKEA Singapore. Strategic geographic location, solid infrastructure and political stability and support from government organisations are some of the factors that make Singapore an ideal place to do business, he adds.
It is no surprise then that IKEA has also chosen to set up its regional headquarters here, making the Lion City a key player in its expansion strategy. "When we are looking at expanding in the region in the future, the experience and knowledge that sits with IKEA Singapore will be a key ingredient in our growth," says Svensson.
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With well designed, stylish yet affordable home furnishing products, flexible do-it-yourself options and a whopping 4.2 million visitors from September 2005 to August 2006 alone, it goes without saying that IKEA has become a household name in Singapore.
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EXPANSION PLANS
At about one and a half times the size of the Alexandra outlet, the S$125 million (US$81.5 million) IKEA Tampines houses 58 room settings, a playground themed after a Swedish forest, a 550-seat restaurant, and a self-serve warehouse where customers can walk in and pick up large furniture items.
"This new IKEA Tampines flagship store together with our existing Alexandra store will offer an even better shopping experience and much improved access convenience for our customers," says Tom Huzell, Managing Director, IKANO Pte Ltd.
Besides retail, IKEA Tampines plays a strategic role as a regional training campus for employees and IKEA franchises in Asia for their training and concept testing needs. It will also serve as an innovation hub for the development of showcase displays and standards that could be used by IKEA globally.
"Other stores in the region will visit from time to time for different training purposes," explains Svensson. "IKEA Tampines training facilities will also be important when we ready ourselves for regional expansion. We have facilities for doing retail system trials and a retail test lab, where we can develop new retail solutions for research, training and trial purposes."
BLAZING TRAILS
IKEA is one of the three pioneering companies under the Singapore Economic Development Board's (EDB) Warehouse Retail Scheme (WRS) launched in April 2004 to facilitate greater flexibility in industrial land use.
"The WRS projects will put Singapore at the forefront of best warehouse-retail practices and spearhead the rollout of new concepts in the region. For IKEA, it means leveraging Singapore's strengths to reap substantial operational and cost efficiencies," says Mah Bow Tan, Minister for National Development.
Under the scheme, IKEA, together with Courts (Singapore) Limited and Dairy Farm, will house its entire chain of operations - from retail to warehousing and regional activities - at the integrated 93,000 sq m site in Tampines to reap substantial operational and cost efficiencies.
"This is a great opportunity for us, the participating retailers, which at the same time will benefit the Singapore customers," says Svensson. "Overall it has been a great initiative from Singapore authorities that has allowed us a viable platform to lay the foundation for our regional growth and expansion out of Singapore."
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