Swedish furniture giant Ikea has debuted its e-commerce platform in Thailand, offering an online site dedicated to selling homewares, décor and furniture to the Thai consumer.
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The new online shopping platform, which is already available in Malaysia and Singapore, now covers the whole of Thailand.
It offers the same service and products as Ikea Thailand’s physical store, according the company, as reported by local Thai media.
“We see the potential – it is a potential in Thailand for Ikea. We have only been accessible within Bangkok so far, and now we will be accessible for people from across the country,” Lacia Sherlock, the deputy retail manager for Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines, told The Nation.
“So we think it has potential. The delivery prices need to be affordable and all the services need to be accessible for consumers living outside of Bangkok, so that they are able to get the assembly or whatever they need,” she continued.
After two year’s planning, Ikea made a soft launch in Thailand, which saw it test the waters before taking the online plunge. According to management, some 1,344,700 visits and 4,900 orders were made at Ikea.co.th during the two-month test.
Looking ahead, Ikea Thailand hopes to more than triple that number in the first twelve months, according to Tom Suter, the store manager for Ikea Bang Yai.
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“We are looking at achieving 17,000 online orders this year. We believe that the Ikea Online Store will help strengthen IKEA Thailand and drive sustainable growth, as our popular in-store shopping experience is complemented by our new online offering.”