Ikea: This is how the landing in Chile is prepared inside

It is not that they have to speak Swedish, or know a complete Abba album, but the 60 people who prepare the arrival of Ikea to Chile have been learning for months about the culture of the iconic furniture and decoration store. And from your country of origin.

Nothing random

And the process has been quiet, in part, because many of the decisions have to be made with the permission of Europe. According to those who know the business, the Nordics have an impressive level of detail, especially for the Chilean standard. And is that anyone who has entered an Ikea store in Paris, Madrid or Stockholm perceives the same distribution of the aisles, and even very similar music and aromas. And all that, they want to transfer it to Santiago, Bogotá and Lima. Nothing can be left to chance, they emphasize.

In the case of Chile, the locations should be opening in the first quarter of 2022, for Colombia and Peru there is no date, but yes or yes it will be after Chile. It was first planned to do it in early 2021 in Santiago, but the pandemic delayed everything. Even several months the work stopped completely, although inside the Open Kennedy store, for example, it is still used as a kind of warehouse, to deliver the sales made through the website. The place of delivery to the client is right in the Sodimac of the same shopping center of the Falabella group next to Parque Arauco. But in parallel with the search and commissioning of these locations, they had to put together a team.

Nestor Villanueva, general manager of IKEA Chile, Colombia and Peru.

The Chilean team

The one chosen, almost without surprise in the market, was Néstor Villanueva, appointed in 2018 general manager of IKEA Chile, Colombia and Peru, a position he assumed after successfully leading the Homy format. He was almost like the father of that model, say those who know of the career of the commercial engineer and public accountant of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Argentina, his country of origin, and who has been linked to Sodimac for 18 years, occupying various positions in the commercial area as well Homy’s general management.

Then they had to choose where they would work from. Although at one point being inside the new stores was evaluated, a space was chosen just behind the corporate building of the Home improvement unit (which includes Sodimac Homecenter and Homy) in Renca.

There work – or rather worked until March – about 60 people, who are the ones who are setting up the Ikea operation. Some came to the company in the midst of the health crisis, so they do not know their co-workers or their locations in person. About the offices? Those who have been there explain that the Nordic style sneaks in everywhere. Open spaces, with heavy use of light-colored wood and elegant minimalism is what sets the tone.

The regional front-line managers work alongside Villanueva: Andrés Heusser in finance; María Marante in charge of operations and customer experience; Fernando Guzmán, of people and culture; Carmen Bianco, in marketing; Felipe Ramírez, establishment (projects); Patrick Houle, home furnishing retail design (interior design and communication within stores); Alejandra Ortiz, sales; Alejandro Amado, electronic commerce; Carina Dare, among others.

Key e-commerce

The tasks that occupy their days, now teleworking, are mainly to devise the distribution of the stores, and where each section will go. Another team is focused on choosing with tweezers the products that will go in the stores. Importing them and “loading” them in the store will be in the last section, about three months before opening. Of course, another of the items that we work on is choosing sustainable local and international food, because that is another of the niches that Ikea has in the world, in addition to furniture and decoration.

Also, one of the tasks that has them most concentrated is electronic commerce. Since before the pandemic, it had been defined that e-commerce would be key. One of the strengths of the brand is that people have an experience in the store. “Let him fall in love and use the product as many times as he wants. And later, he decides if he buys it at the shot or if he asks for it from home ”, explains a connoisseur.

“The Ikea concept is based on offering a wide assortment of well-designed and functional household products at prices so low that most people can buy them”, they explain in the company. “The objective in Chile, Peru and Colombia will be to help democratize design”, They add.

The 17 Swedes

And for that, the Ikea headquarters sent 17 people to Chile. It is they who explain the culture of the company. The uniformity of operations at a global level, they reiterate whenever possible, is part of the business and the added value that permeate it in the 443 Ikea stores in Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa and North America, which last year sold more than US $ 40 billion.

All this team was working from Chile and currently some are teleworking from their homes of origin and others, given their functions, remain in our country. All are expected to be back in Chile in January 2021, which of course will depend on the evolution of the pandemic at the local level. This is because next year comes a key part of Ikea’s arrival in Chile: selecting store personnel and training them.

Part of the team working on the regional landing.

Unknown

Another front that Ikea executives in Chile face is that they are not widely known as a brand. And they have to reverse that before opening stores. To do this, experts say, they are working on disruptive marketing campaigns that will include traditional advertising, but especially on social networks, where a large part of the audience targeted by Ikea moves. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even Tik Tok.

Likewise, they would already be probing names of influencers to publicize their products and campaigns to attract partners or loyalty, so that they have space to first know the stores and access discounts in certain categories.

In fact, the Ikea Chile dot ce ele domains as well as the name on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, are already occupied, but without publications. By the middle of next year they should start flooding the market with the brand. The Ikea landing is just around the corner.