[GTO]

Have seen similar madness when the Bandra-Worli sealink opened. Solution = Go there after two weeks and enjoy the show (after the initial hype dies down).

Originally Posted by rav11stars

Guys, Relax. It's a general human tendency to flock together to observe something new. We're the second populous country and so the huge crowds are pretty obvious.

Originally Posted by volkman10

IKEA is aware of this and has tied up for after sales with URBAN CLAP and others, will be in the process educating Indians on DIY concept.

IKEA needs some educating IMHO. Indians aren't a DIY folk. Labour is super cheap in this country. The opposite of that is true in the USA and that's why DIY is a big deal. The first & last time I ever tried to assemble any furniture was a TV cabinet during my Boston days.

[snipejus]

Planning on visiting the store next weekend hoping the hype will die down by then and it wont be so crowded ��

[vinodvayyat]

Originally Posted by GTO

IKEA needs some educating IMHO. Indians aren't a DIY folk. Labour is super cheap in this country. The opposite of that is true in the USA and that's why DIY is a big deal. The first & last time I ever tried to assemble any furniture was a TV cabinet during my Boston days.

True that. But it has to start this way in India though it will be tough for IKEA to do it. I'm a person who did lot of DIY for my duplex home's interiors. It was extremely difficult to source some elegant looking materials from the hardware shops. For eg:- I had to go through numerous shops to get a simple looking curtain bracket. Every other one available in the market will be with all weird gaudy designs. With IKEA, I guess that problem will be solved - there shouldn't be difficulty in sourcing minimalist, yet elegant accessories available without difficulty. Wishing them all the very best.

[vb-saan]

This indeed a common phenomenon globally; either could be because of the hype the brand had, or because of the clever marketing before the launch (in IKEA’s case it could be both). I remember a few years back when the apparel store H&M opened here in Singapore, people were queuing up overnight to get into the store – pretty much a mid-table brand like IKEA.

Originally Posted by GTO

IKEA needs some educating IMHO. Indians aren't a DIY folk. Labour is super cheap in this country. The opposite of that is true in the USA and that's why DIY is a big deal. The first & last time I ever tried to assemble any furniture was a TV cabinet during my Boston days.

True, and they can really catch-up if they throw in some kind of free assembly as a part of the deal. Their products are pretty good and the quality control is solid.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by GTO

IKEA needs some educating IMHO. Indians aren't a DIY folk. Labour is super cheap in this country. The opposite of that is true in the USA and that's why DIY is a big deal. The first & last time I ever tried to assemble any furniture was a TV cabinet during my Boston days.

If IKEA forces their DIY here, they will fail big time. The solution is simple - send an assembler with delivery . All other vendors do it, like Evok, Damro.

[asingh1977]

Assemble yourself culture is hardly rampant here in India. Even if people try it, they may damage the goods and then go back to IKEA for warranty. I love DIY and have been doing basic household stuff on my own.

Though I love the minimalist designs. I remember in the States, their stores were located out in the country side. Not within the city. Being so large. Same with Walmart. Wonder why they did not do this in India.

[dheepak10]

Originally Posted by msdivy

If IKEA forces their DIY here, they will fail big time. The solution is simple - send an assembler with delivery . All other vendors do it, like Evok, Damro.

They offer delivery and assembling service for an additional cost, each. At present, it is limited to select pincodes

Originally Posted by AdityaDeane

If these are electric rickshaws, why is the driver (in the video) pulling up on the lever to start it like in a Petrol/CNG/LPG powered Bajaj RE rickshaw?

Old habits die hard!

Originally Posted by Fillmore

2 pages and no post on the actual selection of furniture they have on display ?

On par with other countries / not as per the international IKEA standard ??

Comments from anyone who actually visited it ?

I visited on 10th, the day after the mad rush; crowd was decent during my stay there between 10.30 am and 3.30 PM.

The selection of furniture offered is the same as what I saw at Ikea Dubai, but the options are limited, not as extensive as the options in Dubai. Lighting section is currently not available (bulbs).

Pricing is great for most products, except sofas, beds and cupboards, which is same as current market rates. Maybe, once they start manufacturing in India, prices should come down. Soft toys are reasonably priced, but costlier than Ikea Dubai due to import duties (almost 1.5 to 2 times).

Food court seating is good, but options are very limited (desserts spread is good).

PS: My phone says that I walked a total 5.3 km within IKEA.

[Jeroen]

A little bit of a Western reflection on Ikea from someone who had to visit Ikea stores in the UK and the Netherlands. Thank God, when we lived in Kansas City, USA, there were no Ikea stores nearby.

My wife absolutely loves Ikea and I loathe it. Previously we used to live very near to Delft, which also happens to have the largest Ikea store in Europe outside Sweden. This is a massive store. They have an Ikea Hotel next door. Only for Ikea staff who come here to be trained on how to run their stores, make displays, learn customer service.logistics etc.

My wife would pop round the Ikea store much as I would pop round the Apple store. With two noticeable differences. I might spend 10 minutes in the Apple store and rarely buy anything. My wife could not do Ikea under two hours and has never, and I mean NEVER, gone into an Ikea without buying something.

The stores are like a maze. You are essentially “guided” through the various display areas. All very nicely done of course, very attractive. It shows you bedrooms, offices, sitting rooms, bed rooms etc There are short cuts, but if you try them you will get lost, or worse find yourself at the beginning of the store and you have to start all over again.

I refused to come with my wife to Ikea to just look. I will only go with her, when she had written proof, i.e. a list, of the stuff she wants. That means she had a list which also details the locations in the warehouse where you pickup your stuff. It is not only DIY assembly, but also DIY getting your stuff out of their warehouse.

Truth be told, we actually have quite a bit of Ikea stuff, furniture and all sorts of odds and ends, From kitchen utensils to picture hooks, to light bulbs

I will say this: The quality of their stuff is very good. It is all very good value for money. All furniture is very solid, which means it is very, very heavy. It might be a flat pack, but it weighs a tonnes! Be careful with those flat packs. They don’t look it, but most will take at least two persons to carry!

As mentioned by various members, It is also DIY. In Europe, any man worth his salt will be able and will actually have put together many, many Ikea pieces of furniture over the years. From CEO to road sweeper, from brain surgeon to shop clerk everybody here puts their own furniture together.

I will say this; it fits extremely well and all you need to do is follow the detailled instructions to the letter. Don’t think you can bypass, make a short cut. You will run into problems later, just follow the instructions. It is a bit furniture building for Dummies but it works very well once you get you mind into dummy mode and just follow the instruction to the last letter! Don’t think, just look at the pictures in the assembly manual. one by one.

Over the years I have put together so much Ikea furniture for our various own homes, our kids homes, our family, friends etc.

They do offer installation services, but on regular furniture I have never heard of anybody using that. Our current house has two kitchens. A main kitchen and then a small additional sort of stand by kitchen. For the latter we got an Ikea kitchen and we also got them to install it. Twice I have done a complete kitchen installation myself, but we just did not have the time or the patience this time. So we paid them. They offer a very good kitchen design service, free of charge. You will sit down with one of their advisors, bring your kitchen measurements. They will make a 3D CAD drawing of you kitchen to be, while you watch and discuss various alternative cupboards, what kind of hob, microwave. When you are done, they press a button and you can pick up everything downstairs at the warehouse or get it delivered to your home.

If you are short anything, or anything is broken or missing, Ikea will typically replace free of charge, no hassle. In fact here in Europe their service centres have rows full of boxes with installation material. You just take what you need/feel is missing. Also, don’t know about India, but you can exchange anything up to a year after the date of purchase. They require the original receipt, but I can vouch for the fact that if you don’t have a receipt they will still happily exchange or refund. Never a problem.

The restaurants are very good value for money. Here in Delft you can do a breakfast for one Euro, about 220INR. You will get a croissant, some spreads, han/cheese, piece of free and all the tea or coffee you can drink. To put one Euro in some perspective. If you would go to a simple cafe and order just regular coffee that would be Euro 2,50. So one Euro for breakfast is really, really cheap and it draws big crowds.

We typically shop after work, so very often we combine Ikeas shopping with a dinner. Nothing special, but just good simple food, for a very good price. Of course, here the serve the real original Swedish meat balls. Love them!

The above is all based on our experience with Ikea in the Netherlands. We have a bit of experience with them in the UK and it was very different. Even my wife hated going to Ikea there. Although in essence they offered similar stuff, the shops did not look as nice, bit run down, bit grubby. The service was absolutely appalling. They never knew what they had in stock, endless waiting etc. etc.

I made several trips for our home in Suffolk down to their store north east of London. Very frustrating trips, they had confirmed they had certain items in stock but then could not find them.

So the executive summary: Their furniture is very good value for money. Whether you like it as a shopping experience is in the eye of the beholder. Without being to predictable and cliche type: It is absolutely true, I have yet to meet any guy that enjoys going to Ikea and every woman I know loves going to Ikea.

Well India, enjoy your Ikea, live will never be the same! I you don’t believe me, take your spouse and see what happens.

Actually, Ikea has been present in India for a very long time. The lady who lived in our apartment in Delhi was purchaser officer for Ikea and she had been based in India for almost twelve years when she finally returned back to Sweden! So there you are, a lot of Swedish stuff gets manufacturers in India!!

Jeroen

[sachinayak]

Am a big fan of Ikea, and since I happened to be in Hyderabad on Friday (Day 2 of Ikea launch) with the evening free, my friend and I decided to visit the place. We landed there around 4:30pm on Friday, with a bit of anxiety on what happened the previous day, but to our surprise it was all fine.

The crowd was well managed and not out-of-control. No scenes either at the entry points or the billing counters as we saw in the earlier video. We spent a good 3+ hours there and the stuff Ikea has to offer is simply outstanding (and incredibly VFM). Unfortunately, most of the stuff I would have wanted to get was either too large or fragile to carry over to Bangalore.

Food court was a bit crowded, but only in pockets. If you are okay to walk a little (only just) bit then we had multiple empty seats. Getting back was a little crazy, having to wait 30 mins for an Uber. But give the evening rain, was not totally unexpected. Overall loved the concept (have been to multiple Ikea stores before) and am waiting for this to open in Bangalore.

Honestly, the situation was very settled on Day 2 and we were left wondering what was all the hoopla on (social) media all about?

[srishiva]

They have already tied up with UrbanClap for assembling furniture. Having used quite some Ikea stuff, looking forward to it opening in Bengaluru. Most other stores also have DIY furniture here in US so hopefully others in India will follow this too. Small shops that sell computer tables etc in India do stock this kind of DIY kits but they assemble it for you already.

[am1m]

Will be very interesting to see who changes their traditional pattern. Will IKEA start offering assembly as standard or will India start DIY on a larger scale?

Sales and marketing case study unfolding!

Originally Posted by Jeroen

The stores are like a maze. You are essentially “guided” through the various display areas. All very nicely done of course, very attractive. It shows you bedrooms, offices, sitting rooms, bed rooms etc There are short cuts, but if you try them you will get lost, or worse find yourself at the beginning of the store and you have to start all over again.

Yep, typical superstore design, to keep the customer inside the store for as long as possible so the chances of them buying something will be higher. Some stores like Big Bazaar already have this here, but on a much smaller scale.

[low_rider]

If we didn't have the crowds, IKEA wouldn't be here.

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by am1m

Will be very interesting to see who changes their traditional pattern. Will IKEA start offering assembly as standard or will India start DIY on a larger scale?

Ikea already provides the assembly of its products utilizing its partners.

DIY is an added opportunity for lowering cost for its customers. IKEA has nothing to lose if not done so as the cost of assembling the part is passed on the customer.

[Spinnerr]

IKEA offers all kind of fitting and installation service for a price. They cater to different markets aligning their service to local sentiments.

A screen grab from IKEA Qatar.


So I am sure, IKEA India too will roll out all these services. UrbanClap could be the only partner now, but going forward they could have localized 3rd party teams to pick up items off the shelf, deliver and assemble.

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

The restaurants are very good value for money. Here in Delft you can do a breakfast for one Euro, about 220INR. You will get a croissant, some spreads, han/cheese, piece of free and all the tea or coffee you can drink. To put one Euro in some perspective. If you would go to a simple cafe and order just regular coffee that would be Euro 2,50. So one Euro for breakfast is really, really cheap and it draws big crowds.
Jeroen

Really? Breakfast for 1€? 1€ is at present around 79 INR, so 220 INR will be approx 2.78€. Need to check out in a local IKEA store in Stuttgart, what they have on offer.

Spike