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Ikea eyes flat-pack fortunes with first Seoul store in April

Published: 17 Mar. 2025, 16:14 Updated: 17 Mar. 2025, 17:56

KIM JU-YEON
[email protected]

Ikea Korea is set to open its first Seoul branch on April 17 at the Gangdong IPark the River complex in eastern Seoul as shown in this render. [HDC HYUNDAI DEVELOPMENT]

Swedish furniture giant Ikea will open its first outlet in Seoul next month amid efforts to boost its sales in Asia's fourth-largest economy, where it already has four stores.

The new outlet will be located at the Gangdong IPark the River complex cultural facility in eastern Seoul, and is set to open on April 17, the company said in a press release on Monday.

Ikea scraps $38 million Korea logistics hub

The store will be on the first and second floors of the complex, instead of going with its standard blue box warehouse design.

With a floor space of 25,000 square meters (269,100 square feet), the Gwangdong branch will be the smallest Ikea store in Korea.

The store will flexibly manage its portfolio of goods depending on demand and season in consideration of its size, a spokesperson told the Korea JoongAng Daily.

Ikea launched its first outlet in Gwangmyeong, just south of Seoul, in 2014, and currently operates four outlets in the country. The three others are also located outside of Seoul: one in Goyang, just north of Seoul; one in Giheung, 32 kilometers (20 miles) south of Seoul; and one in the southeastern port city of Busan.

Ikea Korea will open its first Seoul branch at the Gangdong IPark the River complex in eastern Seoul on April 17. [IKEA KOREA]

The Gangdong branch is the retailer’s first new offline store in four years. The launch comes after the retailer scrapped an investment that would have opened Ikea’s largest logistics hub in Asia. The company said in December that it sold the planned facility's 102,000-square-meter site in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, due to changes in the retail environment that focused on e-commerce.

Ikea also canceled plans to open branches in Gyeryong, South Chungcheong, and Daegu in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

The company saw improved sales when it invested 10.5 billion won ($7.25 million) to lower the prices of 1,200 items at its Korean outlets in the 2024 fiscal year that ended in August, a spokesperson told Yonhap. Increased e-commerce deals also helped the bottom line, the spokesperson said.

Ikea Korea shifted to a net profit of 5.5 billion won in the September-August period from a net loss of 5.2 billion won a year ago.

Operating profit rose by 18.62 billion won from 2.59 billion won, while sales rose 4.2 percent to 625.8 billion won from 600.66 billion won over the cited period.

This is unlike the Netherlands-based Ingka Group, the biggest Ikea franchisee, whose sales fell 5 percent to 39.6 billion euros ($43 billion) from 41.7 billion euros in the same period.

The Ingka Group has 400 stores in 31 countries. The total number of Ikea stores around the world, including Ingka's, stands at 481 in 63 markets.

"As the first Ikea store in Seoul, in a new format, Ikea Gangdong will be the centerpiece of Ikea Korea's omnichannel strategy, bringing an inspiring Ikea home furnishing experience both online and offline that is close to the city center,” Ikea Korea CEO Isabel Puig said through the press release.

BY KIM JU-YEON, YONHAP [[email protected]]