Swedish retailer IKEA is going to open several thousand pickup points in Russia in the midterm, the head of the company’s customer order support Norbert Stepnowski told TASS on Wednesday.
“We intend to develop a network of pickup points and we want to go in to thousands in medium term. We have a stable growth of online sales, within the two years their share has grown by more than 11% in total turnover,” Stepnowski said.
New pickup points will be opened by phases, with the exact timeframe and the geography of future points still being under development, he noted. The company is currently working with 70 pickup points in Russia, owned by transport companies – partners of IKEA, the senior manager added.
Earlier on Wednesday, IKEA opened a distribution center for direct deliveries near St. Petersburg. It will service about 150,000 orders per year.
At the company’s two St. Petersburg locations, IKEA Dybenko and IKEA Parnas, stores this month began accepting old wooden furniture by any manufacturer for the purpose of further processing.
According to the company, Russia is the first country in the world where this idea has become a reality. Upon delivery of old furniture, the participants of the action will receive discounts on the purchase of new furniture in any IKEA store.
Furniture which is in good condition will be transferred to the Perspective Fund to help those in need, while the rest will be used as fuel or raw material for particle boards, IKEA Russia said.
