Ikea is having no difficulty in penetrating new markets and finding people in various parts of the globe keen to buy its furniture.
Profits for the world’s largest furniture company for the year to the end of August hit €28.7 billion, an increase of 6% over 2013.
The increase was driven by people shopping on line as well as the increase in the number of middle-class Chinese consumers.
Ikea’s catalogue remains central to its business, and it has more than 200 million of them in circulation printed in dozens of languages.
Eight of the company’s largest stores are located in China where business is healthy due to the steady influx of residents from the countryside. Its biggest markets, however, remain Germany, the US, and France.
Improvement was also noted in much of Europe, including the south. Europe accounts for 70% of global turnover.
“We continue to see positive signs in consumer spending and it’s a great joy to report growth in almost all our markets, not least in the challenging markets in southern Europe”, said Peter Agnefjäll, Ikea’s CEO.
On a roll, Ikea plans further global expansion, adding to its 315 stores in 27 countries and enhancing its online facilities, in order to reach its goal of €50 billion in sales by 2020.
This year t least 1.5 billion people visited the website while 716 million people shopped in one of its stores.
