Ikea to launch e-commerce business model in Shanghai

An outlet of Ikea Group in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province. SHE JI/FOR CHINA DAILY

"This business model, with small investments, is suitable for smaller cities, where they don't have physical stores. Ikea will launch more such pickup and order points in China," the company said.

In its 2016 financial year, Ikea achieved sales revenue of 11.7 billion yuan ($1.76 billion) in China, jumping 19.4 percent year-on-year. During the year, about 83 million customers visited Ikea stores, up 20 percent over the previous year. Also, Ikea websites had more than 67 million individual visits, an increase of 25 percent year-on-year.

Ikea has opened three new stores in China this year in Chengdu, Suzhou, Jiangsu province, and Foshan, Guangdong province. The retail giant said it will keep to its plan of opening three new stores in China every year.