NETHERLANDS - Last October 9th Inter IKEA Systems B.V., owner of the IKEA Concept and the worldwide IKEA franchisor, issued a press release summarizing the results for fiscal year 2017 and the future outlook. The company also highlighted its future target markets: South America and South East Asia.

During fiscal year 2017, IKEA sales amounted to 38.3 billion euros. In the period IKEA attracted 2,300 million online visits and 936 million visits to the 403 IKEA stores in 49 markets where 194,000 people are employed. During the year, 14 new IKEA stores were opened, including opening in Serbia, a new market for the company.

In fiscal year 2018, 22 new IKEA stores are planned, including new markets in India and Latvia, as well as the continuous launch of new formats and expanded e-commerce activities. "In the long term, we continue to explore new ways to meet customers in new and potential markets with a focus on Southeast Asia and South America," the company said.

“Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru are among the first countries in which Ikea can enter Latin America,” said Torbjörn Lööf CEO of Inter IKEA Group, as quoted by Bloomberg, adding that the only location currently operating in the region is in the Dominican Republic. “Brazil also has 'great potential', but it is complex and unlikely to be among the first,” he said. “We have not focused or decided on any particular market, but we have said that within the next five years we should have opened our first Ikea in South America,” Lööf said. “When we open in South America, because it’s a new continent and a new region, we can’t just open one warehouse,” Torbjörn Lööf explained. As South America is a new region, IKEA is likely to open between two or three markets at the same time to ensure supply and production.