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SINGAPORE – Ikea Singapore will hire 200 people for its new Jurong store in suburban Jem shopping center despite a drop in revenue in its final financial year, the firm announced on Tuesday (October 6).
The store, Ikea’s third store here, is scheduled to open next year and will span around 6,500 square meters over three floors.
Ikea’s operations in Southeast Asia and Mexico retained all of their workers during the closures and will continue to hire despite a 7.4 percent drop in revenue from its nine Southeast Asian stores in the 12 months to March 31. of August.
The stores posted $ 966 million in sales after facing closures of up to two and a half months, supply challenges and limits on build capacity.
When the revenues of its five Ikea-anchored shopping centers that are operated by Ikano Centers are taken into account, the total turnover for the year amounts to $ 1.1 billion, $ 90 million less than the previous year.
Ikea’s turnover in Singapore was 304 million dollars, about 10 percent less than last year.
Jaap Doornbos, their retail director for Singapore and Vietnam, said: “Our Singapore stores suffered the longest closures of all in our region: 73 days, 20 percent of the year. Our Ikea food operations were closed for even longer. and we have reduced operations even after opening.
“Given these challenging circumstances, we are very pleased that sales in the last financial year were down just 10 percent, half of the days stores were closed.
“These results are driven by a very strong e-commerce business, the great inspiration that people are finding in our stores when they reopen and the continued interest in home décor.”
Ikea noted that stores could continue to sell online during extended closings. Workers established large-scale fulfillment operations and additional transportation was hired to open up more delivery spaces.
“By the end of the financial year, customers had placed more than 525.00 online orders and had accumulated $ 135 million in Internet sales, more than double the company’s e-commerce turnover from the prior year,” he said.
Christian Rojkjaer, Ikea Managing Director Southeast Asia and Mexico, added: “The Covid-19 crisis changed the way many of us value life at home. In a time of urgent need, people turned to Ikea for setting up home offices, study nooks, outdoor living areas and functional kitchens.
“Our priority is to do everything we can to keep our co-workers and customers safe and keep moving forward, because our vision of creating a better everyday life for many has never been more relevant.”
Ikea Southeast Asia and Mexico, one of 12 Ikea franchises worldwide, operates stores in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, as well as the Ikano portfolio of centers with some 1,500 tenants and 4 million square feet of leasable space.
It will enter Mexico and the Philippines next year.
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