IKEA eyes expansion of children's range in India

Foxconn of toy world to set up India's first toy cluster in Karnataka

This Quality Control Order requires all toys and materials designed or intended for use in play by children below 14 years of age to be certified by BIS. IKEA claims that while its products are compliant with BIS, its suppliers do not have the BIS marking yet.

IKEA is now hoping that the India Toy Fair being organised by the union government will give the company a chance to engage in dialogue with industry, and understand what’s happening in the toy space.

Kavitha Rao, commercial country manager, IKEA India said the company is also hoping to forge more partnerships with toy suppliers to further grow its toy range. While the company already sources a large part of its toys range in India, this government push will help it increase its local sourcing, Rao said.

Also read: India can become world's toy hub, time to be vocal about local toys: Narendra Modi

"This impetus gives suppliers in India the opportunity to scale up and meet global needs. It also helps Indian suppliers reach international standards of quality and safety of toys. A lot of our children’s range is being sourced locally and now with the toy fair over the weekend, we are looking forward to forge more partnership and increase local sourcing as much as possible," Kavitha told CNBC-TV18 on the sidelines of the Retail Leadership Summit organised by Retail Association of India.

The company most recently launched its Navi Mumbai store in December after several delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also looking to expand its presence in Mumbai by opening two small format stores to make IKEA more accessible to residents of Mumbai.

Also read: Mandatory BIS norms for toys aimed at curbing low-quality imports: Goyal

The next store will come up in Bengaluru in the next year where it is looking at both a large-format store and an e-commerce presence. Post this it is eyeing a foray through e-commerce into other cities as well as the company sees a huge opportunity to make IKEA more accessible to customers through e-commerce and the omni-channel route.

However, an e-commerce presence will also require back-end services in the form of fulfillment centres and services to assist with IKEA’s do-it-yourself furniture. "Customers in India haven’t embraced the do-it-yourself format yet. So along with an e-commerce presence, we also will have to establish a whole host of services that go along with it. So taking all that into account, we will step by step foray into many markets going ahead," Kavitha added.