[Business] When will IKEA open stores in South Africa???
In case you haven't heard the name IKEA (which is possible if you live in South Africa) let me give you a brief background. IKEA is a retailer with Swedish roots, which pioneered flat-pack design furniture at affordable prices, and is now the world's largest furniture retailer. Now, you may ask what the big deal is about a furniture store, after all we have our fair share of those but the thing is until you've been to an IKEA store you won't realise how innovative, competitive and just how much better they are than any old South African furniture store.
How are they different? To start off... they've got variety (to give you an indication the average IKEA store size is over 25000m sq), their products are designed to be practical solutions for everyday usage, and they are "flat packaged" in ingenious ways to make transporting easier, all this while maintaining competitive pricing made possible by large scale production.
Now isn't it a pity that there are no IKEA stores in South Africa, they've got stores in just about every other country that's worth having a presence in. There is a huge potential for a opening a few IKEA stores in South Afica particularly in the booming Gauteng metropolis where a the majority of the country's working class flock to for well paid employment. The densely populated locale with numerous first time home owners presents a massive opportunity for a successful store offering. The cities of Cape Town and Durban would also be prime locations for stores (not to mention that the stores imported products would have to enter the country somewhere along the coast so having a store nearby would be convenient).
Its a pity that someone who has the ability to make the above a reality may never get to read this post, the result being a lose-lose situation for both the South African public and IKEA.
