Ikea to open 'pickup point concept' store in Phuket

[webfact]

Ikea to open 'pickup point concept' store in Phuket


Lacia Sherlock.

PHUKET: -- Ikea, the giant Swedish furniture and home furnishing company, is to open a showcase store in Phuket as part of plans to will speed up its expansion in Thailand, which will also include online service.

Lacia Sherlock, Ikea Bangna store manager, said the company would open its first Ikea pickup point concept store in Phuket in July next year to cash in on the high purchasing power of customers on the island.

Thailand will be the third country for Ikea to introduce this concept store after its success in Greece and Spain in the past few years.

The Ikea pickup point in Phuket will be slightly different from those in Spain and Greece in terms of store size and products and services.

Customers will be able to view and touch the furniture and place an order if they want to buy anything. The products will be delivered to them within a few days.

Currently Ikea has a full-scale store in only Bangkok's Bang Na area. It is trying to reach a wider customer base by opening Ikea pop-up stores in other locations in the capital. The pop-up store is just a temporary display area and will not accept purchase orders.

"We're looking to open more pop-up stores in Bangkok next year," Ms Sherlock said.

The first Ikea pop-up store was introduced in Siam Square followed by others in Major Ratchayothin and Major Pinklao.

Yesterday, the latest pop-up store at Major Esplanade was opened to showcase Ikea furniture and Swedish decor until Aug 31.

The Ikea pop-up store at Major Esplanade covers 380 square metres.

"Customers will learn about the do-it-yourself furniture concept and understand it at the pop-up store. Once they like Ikea and its concept, we hope they will visit the store in Bang Na and buy furniture in the near future," Ms Sherlock added.

The three pop-up stores could help the brand reach 2.5 million customers and Ikea hopes they will visit Ikea Bangna in the future.

"We are very happy with the results of the pop-up store in Bangkok and now some Ikea networks in South Korea and Hong Kong are interested in applying this strategy," she said.

Ikea has plans to open two new big-scale stores in the West and North of Bangkok over the next 5-6 years. About 7-8 Ikea pickup points will also be opened in the future to satisfy customers in many locations.

The company is also conducting a feasibility study on online services in a bid to provide convenience for customers while its number of stores is limited.

"We had a fantastic first-half performance and unbelievable sales. We faced minimal impact from the political crisis as our store is located outside the city so customers felt it is safe to visit," Ms Sherlock said, adding that the company expects sales this year to grow by 12 per cent.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/ikea-to-open-pickup-point-concept-store-in-phuket-47953.php


-- Phuket News 2014-08-20

[Deli]

Just hope that shop attendants will not took like her, otherwise customers might feel haunted

Edited August 20, 2014 by Deli

[GuyL]

Lacia Sherlock is the Ikea Bangna store manager, where the customers may find everything for their Holmes.

[SeaVisionBurma]

^ groan to the above

Anyone know where this Ikea pop-up store is supposed to open in Phuket? Couldn't see anything in the article, or is it a tad too early yet.

[LivinginKata]

^ groan to the above

Anyone know where this Ikea pop-up store is supposed to open in Phuket? Couldn't see anything in the article, or is it a tad too early yet.

Too early to say - no announcement about location

[jpeg]

The Ikea Store on Singapore had cutouts of rescue dogs needing homes set amongst their furniture displays with the tagline 'What this home really needs is a dog', or words to that effect. I thought that was a very good move to get people to understand that only furnishings does not a home make. (kids and spouse aside).

Soi Dogs Phuket has apparently taken this really rather good 'marketing' idea on board and will be bringing some of their homeless puppies/kittens to Central this Saturday. Let's hope that anyone thinking about giving a home to a dog or cat will attend

[LivinginKata]

Off topic troll posts removed.

[madmitch]

It's July. Anyone know any more about the new Ikea pop-up store in Phuket?

[Snackbar]

Visited there yesterday. Odd entrance/exit arrangement. Odd pronunciation E-KIA apparently. Odd store layout. Odd all round Thai's do Swedish....odd experience.

[bearpolar]

Visited there yesterday. Odd entrance/exit arrangement. Odd pronunciation E-KIA apparently. Odd store layout. Odd all round Thai's do Swedish....odd experience.

In most language including its original, it is pronounced E

Edited December 11, 2015 by bearpolar

[Snackbar]

[quote name="Snackbar" post="10179658" timestamp="

Visited there yesterday. Odd entrance/exit arrangement. Odd pronunciation E-KIA apparently. Odd store layout. Odd all round Thai's do Swedish....odd experience.

In most language including its original, it is pronounced E

[Snackbar]

[quote name="Snackbar" post="10179658" timestamp="

Visited there yesterday. Odd entrance/exit arrangement. Odd pronunciation E-KIA apparently. Odd store layout. Odd all round Thai's do Swedish....odd experience.

In most language including its original, it is pronounced E

What languages would they be?

[Guest]

The only correct pronunciation of the IKEA name is Swedish.

Here we go.

[Snackbar]

Wow. How odd.

[bearpolar]

How is pronouncing a brand's name by its original language odd?

[stevenl]

How is pronouncing a brand's name by its original language odd?

In many other languages it is pronounced the same as in Swedish (well, more or less, without the Swedish accent ).

[Snackbar]

How odd. In mainland Europe it's known as Ikea. Call it Ekeyear. Call Knoor. Kernor if you want. Pronounce knee, kernee. Whatever.

Enjoy your Fryday.

[eisfeld]

How odd. In mainland Europe it's known as Ikea. Call it Ekeyear. Call Knoor. Kernor if you want. Pronounce knee, kernee. Whatever.

Enjoy your Fryday.

I don't know where you got that idea but in my experience most contental europe countries pronounce it more or less like the swedish one.

Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France, Slavic countries....

No idea what you are talking about after your first two sentences.

The reason for the parking lot exit arrangement is that if you put the exit right again on the bypass road, you'd have exit, entrance, exit right next to each other because of that road to "bypass biz town".

It's not too bad the way it is.

The restaurant inside is disappointing if one ever has been to a proper Ikea.

Edited December 11, 2015 by eisfeld

[Somtamnication]

Well, not being pedantic. But iKEa, Ke, Kee, Keee is poopoo in Thai.

[Snackbar]

Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France, Slavic countries

That's an unbelievable travel itinery, puts Mike Spencer Brown to shame.

Njoy yor dae.

[madmitch]

My GPS calls it I-Kee, much to the amusement of my daughter!

[Snackbar]

Kool. Did you buy anything?

[bearpolar]

Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France, Slavic countries

That's an unbelievable travel itinery, puts Mike Spencer Brown to shame.

Njoy yor dae.

If you are not a native english speaker then the world does not make sense anymore.