Ikea India starts contactless shopping in Hyderabad store

Ikea India has restarted its online services in Hyderabad store in conformity with the latest government guidelines. The company on Monday launched ‘click and collect’ — a safe and contactless shopping experience.

Ikea India has restarted its online services in Hyderabad store in conformity with the latest government guidelines. The company on Monday launched ‘click and collect’ — a safe and contactless shopping experience. This feature gives customers access to household products like work furniture, cooking essentials, children’s furniture or textiles while keeping in mind safety and convenience.

Ikea India, part of the Ingka Group, opened its first retail store in Hyderabad in August 2018, followed by online stores in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Pune in 2019. The company recently introduced its online home furnishing and remote planning services in Hyderabad and Mumbai. Mumbai is the first Ikea market to go online without physical stores.

The ‘click and collect’ service ensures minimal contact between co-workers and customers when customers arrive to collect products from the store. Customers can order Ikea products on the company website, pay online and select the ‘click & collect service’ option when checking out. Its delivery team will prepare the order for them to pick up from the ‘click and collect’ station in the store’s car parking area. The store team will notify customers by text or email to come over to the store and collect their orders.

“Safety and security of our co-workers and customers are our top priority and all measures have been put in place to enable safe shopping and a safe working environment, in line in with our own internal standards and government guidelines,” Aurelie Raimon, Hyderabad store manager, Ikea India, said in a statement. The company has put the highest standards of safety measures in place such as contactless temperature checks for customers who visit the store to collect their products, regular sanitisation of the workplace, practising physical distancing norms, hygienic handling of products and training co-workers to ensure hassle-free and safe delivery of the products.

Ingka Group is a strategic partner in the Ikea franchise system, operating 380 Ikea stores in 30 countries, with 839 million visits during FY19. The company is planning to enter the top Indian cities with a multichannel approach. Ikea Purchasing has been sourcing from India for over 35 years. There are 60-odd suppliers with 45,000 direct employees and 400,000 people in the extended supply chain in India.