IKEA Beyond Furniture, Into Culture

Nivedeeta Moirangthem on localising IKEA, decoding Indian homes and building relevance beyond retail

For IKEA, IKONIC is less about driving an immediate transaction and more about opening the door to discovery and allowing the relationship to develop over time.”

Kalpana Ravi : 

IKEA entered India in 2013 with a global home-furnishing proposition. Since then, the brand has been learning how India lives, shops and experiences the home. In this conversation with Kalpana Ravi, Nivedeeta Moirangthem, Country Communication Manager, IKEA India, discusses IKONIC, cultural relevance, localisation, DIY and why discovery is the beginning of the consumer journey.

From home furnishing to cultural relevance

IKEA IKONIC’s evolution from an intimate brand experience to a larger celebration of culture, creativity and community reflects the ambition to become more integrated into Indian consumers’ lives.

For IKEA, everything starts with understanding how people live at home. Since entering India, home visits have remained an important source of insight into people's needs, aspirations and challenges. Those insights influence the products, solutions and experiences we create.

IKONIC began as a smaller experience to introduce the brand and its proposition. But over time, IKEA realised that building a meaningful relationship with India meant coming closer to the country's culture and communities.

As a relatively young brand in India compared with Europe, the US and China, one of the first challenges was building trust. IKONIC is part of that journey, bringing together architects, designers, influencers, students and younger audiences, while creating opportunities for them to interact with global designers.

“We don't simply want to be a successful company. We want to become a brand integrated into people's lives.”

Growing the furniture ecosystem

IKEA’s entry into a market shaped by carpentry, customisation and local craftsmanship is about expanding consumer choice and growing the overall home-furnishing ecosystem.

“We never came into India intending to change consumer behaviour,” Nivedeeta says. The approach is to bring convenience, choice and new possibilities while coexisting with the ecosystem that already exists.

India's organised furniture and home-furnishings market remains relatively small, with a large unorganised segment. IKEA therefore sees an opportunity to grow the overall category rather than simply competing for existing share.

Its collaboration with Urban Company, including training carpenters to assemble IKEA furniture, is one example. The company also creates opportunities across logistics, warehousing and store operations, while focusing on hiring from the local communities around its stores.

The larger opportunity, she says, is to grow the share of the household wallet allocated to home furnishings. IKEA has also engaged with companies including Home Centre, Pepperfry, Urban Ladder, FabIndia and DMart to understand the Indian consumer and exchange knowledge.

Building IKEA for India

IKEA’s evolving colour palette and locally relevant products reflect a larger philosophy: the brand can remain global while adapting to the way Indian consumers live.

“We don't want to bring Sweden to India; we want to understand India and build IKEA for the way India lives.”

The Scandinavian range reflects those markets, with beige, white, black and grey. India, however, is an intensely colourful country, which is why IKEA is increasingly bringing in reds, oranges, pinks, yellows and vibrant textiles.

Most products remain global, but locally relevant expressions are increasingly important. The tawa, for instance, is an everyday part of Indian cooking but not necessarily relevant to a Swedish consumer.

“The product can be global, but the life around it is local.”

Communication beyond advertising

IKEA’s communication journey has been built less around high-decibel advertising and more around relationships, stakeholder engagement and understanding life at home.

When IKEA entered India, communication was among the early functions established within the retail organisation. The initial task was to introduce IKEA to governments, businesses, stakeholders and eventually consumers explaining who IKEA was, why it was in India and what it stood for.

Home visits and research continue to shape communication. Those insights influence advertising, media conversations, consumer engagement and internal communication. IKEA's co-workers are also viewed as important brand ambassadors.

For Nivedeeta, communication is therefore broader than advertising. It is about ensuring that interactions with consumers, employees, media, partners and communities consistently reflect the brand.

“If the experience is meaningful, communication has something meaningful to say.”

From experience to discovery

IKONIC is ultimately designed as a discovery platform, where curiosity can become consideration and, over time, a consumer relationship.

The immediate objective is not necessarily to convert every visitor into a shopper. Many people enter an IKEA store simply to explore and experience the space.

Nivedeeta points to China, where people working in nearby offices have been known to spend time in IKEA and even take a short nap on the beds before returning to work. It demonstrates how the brand can become more than a retail transaction.

The same principle applies to IKONIC. Someone may arrive for music, food, design or conversations without intending to buy furniture. But they may discover something and think, “This is exactly what I need for my home. Maybe IKEA has it.”

That is where curiosity can eventually become consideration and purchase. Not everyone will become a customer, and not every customer will become loyal. But IKEA wants to create meaningful entry points into the brand.