Madrid, (EFE).- Ikea will invest 150 million euros to open new points of sale in Spain in the next two years, in a plan that plans to hire nearly 1,500 people.
As reported by the company, with this growth plan – the most important of the Swedish company in Spain – they are committed to physical stores, after in 2022 their establishments received 43 million visitors, 20% more than the previous year.
By 2023, Ikea has projected 12 new points of sale, of which it has already opened two, and 32 collection points, of which seven are already operational and connected to the stores.
It will open up to five different types of formats, from the most traditional stores, to other urban ones of different sizes, planning spaces, collection points and temporary stores with the aim that any Spaniard has an Ikea within a 15-minute walk or 30 minutes by car.
Its priority markets will be Madrid, Catalonia and Andalusia, to be located in the centers of the cities.
The almost 1,500 hires that the company plans to make in these two years mean increasing the workforce by 15% over the 9,765 employees at the end of the 2022 financial year (ended last September).
In 2022, the Nordic multinational obtained a net profit of 88 million in Spain, 5.2% more than a year earlier but still below pre-covid levels due to the effect of rising costs and despite the fact that sales increased 8.2%, up to 1,820 million.
The CEO of the firm in Spain, Nurettin Acar, has said, in statements to Cinco Días: «We are very optimistic at a time where there is a lot of uncertainty. We believe in Spain, in the country’s economy, and we develop very ambitious plans for the future. We can contribute to development, employment, and that gives us a lot of energy.”