IKEA entered the Romanian market directly in 2010 when it bought the store in Baneasa, northern Bucharest, from businessmen Puiu Popoviciu and Radu Dimofte. While operated by franchisees in 2007-2010, IKEA generated EUR12 million profit for its owners, but after becoming a directly operated store it slipped into the red. The store posted EUR3.6 million loss in 2012.
“The shift from the operation of IKEA as a franchised store to it becoming part of the IKEA Group generated a series of costs that will affect the bottom line in the next few years until we’ve reset the operations to IKEA Group’s working procedures. We are still in transition but the decline in losses is a sign of recovery,” the IKEA officials in Romania said.
On the other hand, the sales of IKEA, which can be regarded as a barometer of the middle class spending, rose by 7% to EUR82 million. IKEA’s Romanian operations have been run by Cornel Oprisan as retail manager, since its entry on this market.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)