Media: Ikea to launch drive-in service in Romania

Swedish furniture and home décor retailer Ikea will launch a drive-in service in Romania in response to the coronavirus crisis, Economica.net reported.

The retailer has already moved its Click & Collect service in the parking lot of its local stores, located in Băneasa and on Theodor Pallady Boulevard. The service allows users to collect the products they ordered and paid for online.

Ikea closed its two local stores because of the Covid-19 pandemic on March 20. It focused on online orders and gave up on its collection centers.

“It is too early to speak about numbers, but we see a lot of interest for e-commerce, now that the stores are closed. Of course, we developed the delivery service to make it completely contactless; as such, we no longer accept cash payments in order to protect the health and safety of our employees and clients. […] On certain markets, for instance, we introduced drive-ins, allowing clients to pick up their orders safely, from their cars. We will explore this format here, in Romania,” Violeta Nenita, marketing manager Ikea Romania, told Economica.net.

The company said it would keep its local stores closed “for as long as it is needed to prevent the spread of the virus.”

While its brick-and-mortar stores are closed, some of the employees were sent into technical unemployment. They receive 90% of their monthly pay as the retailer supplemented the subsidy offered by the Government, Economica.net reported. The employees working for the online store receive their salary in full.

At the same time, 18 employees have been temporarily reassigned to work for pharma producer Zentiva, as part of a partnership that will be implemented in the Czech Republic as well.

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