IKEA continues to look for opportunities to add more Mexican suppliers to strengthen the supply chain in the country, meanwhile, with the current local production network, it has managed to improve inventories. However, there are still shortages in some categories.
“We have about 4,800 items in store available for buyers to take away immediately, but the total range of products is 6,580 available in total,” Eidskrem said.
In addition to logistics, the inflation of raw materials has led to the increase in product prices. IKEA announced a 9% price increase in December last year.
“Now that we open the store, the prices are already set. We always seek to put them as low as possible, however, we are part of the financial landscape, and analyzes will be made to raise or lower the prices, depending on the situations,” said the executive.
The new IKEA store in Puebla has an area of 11,000 square meters, distributed in 49 room settings: spaces where the furniture and decoration items of the Swedish company are shown, so that customers can get an idea of how they would look in their homes and apartments. In this second store, IKEA will also have a restaurant to serve 267 guests.
Malcolm Pruys, director of Ikea in Mexico, encouraged last year that the Swedish chain would seek to open new physical establishments in the cities of Guadalajara and Monterrey, in addition to Puebla, although the progress in the plans for the other two cities has not been revealed.
“Like everything retail we are experiencing inflation, and economic challenges around the world. But we will move on,” says Eidskrem.