Imagine that – opening Mexico’s first big blue IKEA box right in the middle of a pandemic.
It has been a year since e-commerce sales kicked off in Mexico, and eight months since IKEA Oceania, the first Ikano Group store in Latin America and Mexico, opened its doors on 8 April 2021. And it has been packed with challenges.
Our store opening was delayed. And we were affected by supply issues. Despite it all, we recruited and onboarded nearly 300 co-workers entirely digitally to ensure safe distancing.
We launched our e-commerce without any announcement, but it unexpectedly became the talk of the town on social media. Purely organically, early orders came in strong as word spread online that IKEA’s Swedish home furnishings were now available in Mexico.
From October 2020 to end of December 2020, 3 million people visited our website as we generated MXN 64 million in sales – more than double the budgeted goal. Solutions and products from Livingroom Storage, Mattresses and Dining were hits in these early stages.
Closing off FY21, IKEA.mx shined with 14.2 million visits achieving more than MXN 290 million pesos in online sales (EUR 11.3 million). IKEA Mexico’s bestsellers included products from our HEMNES range, MEISTERVIK foam mattresses and the MICKE desk, with our bedroom range being the most visited on the site.
It was also a good year for memberships and job creation. We welcomed 189,800 IKEA Family members while creating 452 new jobs.
But it’s not just our home furnishing and storage solutions becoming a favourite among Mexicans. Our Swedish fare is making its way to their plates with 955,000 meat, chicken, vegetable and plant-based meatballs sold.
Beyond whetting the appetite of Mexicans, we’re also winning hearts in Mexico.
On opening day, our store’s own DJUNGELSKOG named Lupe trended on social media and spiced up the party. Lupe, an orangutan, helped create a unique connection with the many Mexicans, selling out quickly after each restock.
IKEA Mexico has also endeared itself to our local communities of journalists and online content developers as we keep building on top-of-mind recall with them.
Since e-commerce went online, news media and influencer conversation increased 60.3% in reach on opening day.
Even without a physical store, pre-opening campaigns like our ESPACIOTERAPIA (space therapy), generated excellent engagement among our influencers. We appeared in 867 publications as it educated Mexicans on IKEA’s storage solutions for their homes. All that media publicity gave us an ad value of more than MXN 14 million along with 245 million impressions.
Building on our media outreach, we closed off FY21 achieving a reach of more than 978 million with an ad value MXN 75 million. A great way to tell Mexico that IKEA is there for the many Mexicans!
We now have ambitions for a second store in the state of Puebla, some 130km away from Mexico City.
Slightly smaller in format to IKEA Oceania, IKEA Puebla will be around 9,900 square metres and located in the Via San Angel shopping centre, a popular meeting spot. The new store will bring our IKEA range of affordable home furnishings closer to the 2.5 million people who live within a 40-minute drive. Our plan calls for some 400 articles of furniture and some 3,000 accessories available for immediate take-away, and we hope to create more than 100 jobs in the community.
Despite a tough year, we are working hard to bring IKEA’s functional and smart home solutions, home accessories, and of course, delicious Swedish meatballs (albóndigas) to more Mexican homes.
IKEA Oceania powers through its first full year in Mexico