Manila: IKEA’s first-ever store in the Philippines, touted as the world's biggest, is yet to open. But its online shop is already taking and delivering customers' orders 24/7.
The physical IKEA store in Pasay City, a district of Manila, is still in the works, and is slated to open "later this year". The much-awaited launch has been postponed by pandemic-driven curbs. Now, the online outlet is open following a successful test run, a store official said.
“After several weeks of learning from our test-run, we are glad that we are now accessible to more Filipinos,” IKEA Pasay City’s store manager Georg Platzer told local media. “We are very excited to be part of the lives of the many people in the Philippines and share in their dreams of a better life at home.”
The Swedish furniture retail giant is pressing on in Asia. For its Manila store, IKEA has said it will spend an initial 7 billion pesos ($134 million) to build, stock, and staff the store, which will carry 9,000 products.
In September, IKEA kicked off an online pilot test with a limited number of goods for their Philippine customers. The dry run was done to ensure a smooth operations and customer experience.
Some of IKEA Manila's best sellers during online pilot test:
- Kupong alarm clock at P90
- Fejka artificial potted plant at P290
- Bondis wall clock at P590
- The Karmig soft toy at P200
- Trofast storage box at P159
- Diktig play kitchen at P5,990
How to shop online
Just create an IKEA account (this is apart from the IKEA Family membership information) then proceed to shop, add to cart, then check out.
Payment options include:
- Major credit cards
- GCash
- Installments via BDO.
Delivery options
The are three delivery options:
- Truck (limited to Metro Manila)
- Parcel (not more than 30 kg and 1.8 meters in height — can be delivered to greater Manila such as Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, parts of Quezon up to Lucena, Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Bataan, and Subic).
- Click and collect (in designated collection points).
IKEA is expanding rapidly in Asia: It debuted the first of 2 stores in India; in 2020, it also opened the first city-center store in Tokyo near one of its busiest metro stations. The Swedish furniture retailer now has 4 stores in Indonesia and another 4 in South Korea.
The Philippines has a relatively young population of more than 105 million people dominated by a working-age demographic. Pre-COVID, the economy has expanded above 6% for 13 straight quarters, propped up by personal consumption which makes up the bulk of the country's gross domestic product.
