In early August, shoppers in multiple cities in China noticed hoardings being put up in shopping centres, featuring wall-to-wall ads for the opening of a new IKEA store. If that piqued your interest, you’d probably want to find out the opening date, but after turning the corner to see the next panel, you’d realise that the new store is not, in fact, at that location. It is on JD.com, one of the largest e-commerce sites in China.
The hoarding, of course, does not mark a construction site but is simply billboard advertising. And yes, you will learn the opening date of IKEA’s JD flagship store, which is 8 August.
In the promotional video JD.com made for the launch, it notes that there are currently only 29 cities in China with IKEA stores. IKEA and JD.com are trying to tap into the 665 cities in China that do not yet have an offline IKEA store.
The new online IKEA store will offer over 6,500 items in 168 categories, with delivery covering 301 cities across the country. The IKEA JD flagship also boasts a “viewable smart interactive” shopping experience, thanks to JD’s glasses-free 3D and AIGC technologies.
On 8 August, the official opening day, there will be a limited-time 50% off discount on items and a store-wide 30 RMB (4.15 USD) off every 300 RMB (41.50 USD) spent. IKEA membership and JD PLUS membership will also provide a 40 RMB (5.55 USD) off every 300 RMB.
IKEA China has been a little late to the e-commerce game, launching a PC-only web shop in 2019, followed by its first global third-party flagship on Tmall in 2020. JD.com, on the other hand, has been working to expand into the furniture and homeware market through partnerships with brands such as MUJI, HAY, Le Creuset and Loewe. The new team-up appears to be a win-win for both retailers.
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