With Diwali around the corner, Indians have begun to spruce up and upgrade their homes. Home furnishings solutions major IKEA India recently launched their new film, ‘Make Room for All Things Festive’ to capture the wallet's share during this period.
Tapping into the insight that despite the best-laid plans, at times something unexpected does happen. The film highlights how IKEA provides a solution, using the product in multiple settings. Anna Ohlin, Country Marketing Manager, IKEA India says, “People make grand plans for the festive season but sometimes it does not turn out as planned. However, that is perfectly fine because with IKEA you are ready for any eventuality.” Complementing the main film, the campaign includes a series of 10-seconders highlighting how IKEA products transform to get the home festive-ready. To amplify the communication, IKEA has rolled out a 360-degree campaign that includes Television, Digital, OTT and Out-of-home.
Currently, IKEA operates three big-format IKEA stores in Hyderabad, Navi Mumbai, and Bengaluru, and one city store in Mumbai. To target this geographic area, IKEA advertises on regional Television. Commenting on the campaign expectations, Jayendra Gupta, Country Integrated Media Manager, IKEA India says, “We want to establish IKEA as the one-stop-destination for all things festive. That is our call-to-action in terms of the business KPIs. We want people to come and visit us for their festive shopping because there is abundance of choices for decorating their festive festivities.” He continues, “We map the consumer journey and go out with the relevant communication to reach to them at the right point of time. That's our overall strategy.”
Catering to three different States and capturing the flavour and nuances of each city/State has been key for the company. For example, when IKEA entered Bengaluru in 2022, the ‘Nagasandra Bartira? IKEA in Bengaluru’ campaign was launched, with comedian Dhanish Sait, not just to introduce the brand to Bengalureans but also to focus on the message that the store was located at Nagasandra, on the outskirts of the city. Gupta says, “ We do go out with the language adapts wherever it is necessary. We also look at the media landscape of the market as well. For example. Hyderabad is a media isolatable market, where Television works its charm. So, we rely a lot on Television to give us mass reach and frequency and then we add the other elements of media to reach out to relevant consumers. Mumbai is much more cosmopolitan and though Television has its limitation, we do go out on Television. However, we amplify much more on digital to reach out to relevant target audience and also on Out-of-Home, which is language agnostic. We adapt as we go as per the market maturity and landscape.
Building Brand IKEA
Looking back to 2018, when IKEA opened its first store in India, in Hyderabad, a big challenge was that the brand awareness was low. Asked about the brand awareness in the Indian markets that the home furnishings company, Gupta says, “If we go beyond the numbers, within the home furnishing category, we are at the top of the bracket when it comes to brand recall. Whether it is top-of-mind recall, spontaneous awareness, or even consideration, IKEA enjoys the category leading numbers in all these brand parameters.” The other challenge for the category as a whole is the immense fragmentation. In addition to the multiple niche player coming up in the category, catering to either one specific need or one set of target consumer, there are also very strong players and even the marketplaces. Being largely unorganized, it is estimated that on an average, roughly 65% to 75% of home furnishing market in India is informal or unorganized. However, the organized part is growing. Ohlin says, “To build the category that we are in everybody has a role to play. We welcome the competition and we feel that we can build this category in India together. India is an online first market but we think that in the category where we operate, touch and feel is quite important.”
The IKEA Experience For The Indian Consumer
Globally, visiting an IKEA store is a jaw-dropping experience and anyone visiting the store for the first time is usually awestruck by the size of the store and the range of products. At the moment in India, IKEA has a mix of big-format store and one city store and this mix will continue as the brand looks to expand to new cities across the country. Ohlin says, “The mix of the big experience store, together with the city store, is what we would like to achieve. To have that ‘this fits me right now option’ for consumers and to convey that we are here for you when you need us. That is why the mix of formats is so important. Looking ahead, you will see all the different formats in India.”
Another IKEA USP when it comes to its’ product quality and elevated customer experience is the ‘365 days to Change your Mind’ policy for its customers. A first in India’s home furnishings industry, the policy allows to exchange and return of IKEA products for up to one year after purchase. IKEA’s online sales – through the app and website – has also shown significant growth even though the company is currently delivering only to specific geographical areas. Gupta says, “Currently, we not only service the cities that we are present but also the entire States of Maharashtra, Karnataka. Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and some cities in Gujarat also. As we expand our physical presence the online will also grow at a rapid pace.”
The Focus Areas
In India, a lot of people looking at home furnishing look to buy small things which is also easy on the pocket. Gradually, there has been a shift from buying small items to buying bigger items. Consumers are also not looking to change the entire home but certain corners of their home. With the living room being the main room in India, more money is invested in this room.
With reports indicating that India is ranked as the second most sleep-deprived nation, IKEA India released a campaign, ' It’s time to sleep beautifully'in September. The campaign emphasizes the six essentials for a perfect night’s rest: Comfort, Light, Sound, Temperature, Air Quality, and Decluttering and highlights sleep as a focus area at IKEA. While the competition in many countries take a very technical approach to sleep, IKEA is looking to providing a 360-degree approach to sleep. Covering all aspects of sleep – from the mattress, cushion, quilt, light and even the importance of a tidy room for a good night’s sleep, IKEA claims to offer the perfect sleep solution. A lot of IKEA’s communication this year will, thus, focus on all aspects of sleep.
On a final note, Ohlin says that a dream scenario for IKEA in India would be to be available on the quick commerce platforms. She says, “We would love to be on quick commerce and are trying to find out what we need to do to be able to do it. It will probably take a little bit of time. It's of a lot of interest for us to be able to sell at least the main essentials of home life from IKEA. India is probably the number one company in the world for quick commerce. We have a lot to learn and we're studying the fastest we can. We will be there hopefully in the future and that would be a dream scenario.”
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