Swedish consortium IKEA may open its first store in Ukraine as soon as within 1-2 years. Vladislav Lalic, IKEA’s Business Development Manager for South-Eastern Europe, said this during his meeting with Kyiv mayor Vitaliy Klitschko.
Lalic added that the decision regarding further actions will be made based on the results of market research and local consumer preferences. Mayor Klitschko that the city is committed to IKEA’s success, as the company offers Ukrainians affordable goods.
The enterprise has been trying to enter the Ukrainian market for over 10 years, but was always unsuccessful: its efforts to negotiate allocation of land were ineffective. A new wave of rumors of IKEA establishing its presence in Ukraine started to circulate in June.
Company representatives confirmed these rumors later. They admitted that the franchise for Ukraine had been granted, but the accurate timeline of the company entering the market were not specified.
IKEA is a company that specializes in sales of furniture and convenience goods. Its manufactured goods are sold in more than 40 countries worldwide.