IKEA sets new milestone with Tmall virtual store

Home furnishing retailer IKEA has opened a virtual store on Tmall, making it the first and only third-party marketplace to offer products and home furnishing solutions outside of IKEA brick-and-mortar stores and digital channels. 

“E-commerce platforms play an important role in the Chinese consumer journey, and Tmall is where we see a great opportunity to reach out to many more people who want to interact with IKEA,” said Anna Pawlak-Kuliga, CEO of IKEA China (Ingka Group). 

"Joining the Tmall platform is a significant milestone for IKEA China's strategy and a breakthrough in our omni-channel offering," she added.

Inter IKEA Systems B.V. (owner of the global franchisor), IKEA Retail China and Tmall signed the partnership deal via an online signing ceremony held concurrently in Shanghai and Hangzhou on Tuesday.

The virtual IKEA store on Tmall will provide about 3,800 IKEA products, as well as services provided by existing sales channels such as home delivery, assembly and product return.

IKEA made its debut in China with the opening of its first Shanghai store in 1998. 

The virtual IKEA store at Tmall will provide about 3,800 IKEA products, compared with 9,000 on IKEA's own smartphone application and website. 

Accessibility and digitalization are two crucial parts for the retailer's China strategy unveiled in August last year.

Delivery service for Tmall store will be handled by third-party companies and it is now ready to serve customers in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui before gradually expanding to other parts of the country.

"We're excited to see Tmall has become increasingly attractive to global brands and to help IKEA explore online channels, enabling more Chinese consumers to purchase IKEA products with greater convenience," said said Jiang Fan, president of Tmall and Taobao at Alibaba Group.

The two parties have spent more than half a year to work on collaboration details and has focused on key issues such as combination of membership benefits from both sides and offering localized logistic service.