IKEA reaches EUR 105 mln sales with just one store in Romania

Swedish furniture retailer IKEA’s only store in Romania had total sales of EUR 105 million (VAT included) in the catalogue year ended August 31, 2014, 6.5% bigger compared to the previous catalogue year, the company has announced. Some 3.23 million shoppers visited IKEA in the same period and they have bought 13.26 million IKEA products. About 60% of the products sold were furniture items and the remaining 40% were home decorations, according to IKEA’s data. The IKEA Food department, which includes the IKEA restaurant, the Swedish gourmet shop and the bistro, increased its sales by 3%, to EUR 7.65 million (VAT included). IKEA sold some 4.27 million Swedish meatballs and 3.43 million hot dogs. The IKEA restaurant is one of the largest in Bucharest in terms of sales. IKEA also launched an online shop, on July 15 this year, which had registered 3,500 orders from clients by the end of August. The IKEA store is located in the Baneasa Shopping Area, in the Northern part of Bucharest, which is one of the busiest shopping areas in Romania. The store was opened in March 2007 and currently has about 500 employees. IKEA had a total of 355 stores in 47 countries, at the end of August 2014. Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com