Hyderabad opening, complete with military band, is Swedish firm’s first in country of 1.25bn

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Curious customers lay on beds and nestled into armchairs as Ikea opened its first Indian store, hoping to attract a burgeoning middle class with offerings tweaked to local tastes, including a variation on its famous meatballs.

With an opening that featured a military band, the store in the southern city of Hyderabad is the first of 25 outlets the Swedish furniture company hopes to have open across the country of 1.25 billion people by 2025.

But the Ikea’s concept of affordable, self-assembly furniture may be difficult to sell in a market where do-it-yourself homemaking is an alien idea and spending levels are low, analysts say.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest About 200 people queued up in the underground car park before the opening. Photograph: Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images

About 200 people queued up in the underground car park before the opening, and were greeted inside by hundreds of blue-and-yellow clad employees on the stairs waving Swedish and Indian flags.

“I’ve come all the way from Bangalore [360 miles away]. I am excited to see what’s there,” said Krishna Mohan Dixit, 39, clothing factory worker, who began lining up 90 minutes before the opening.

“We are looking forward to it. Actually it’s my wife who got me here. Her sister sends a lot of Ikea stuff from Dubai. So here we are,” said Nasrullah Khan, 34, an IT manager.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Customers experience the new Ikea store. Photograph: Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images

Patrik Antoni, the deputy retail manager for Ikea India, said he had tears in his eyes when the first customers arrived. “It is overwhelming, a dream come true,” he said.

The differences compared with Ikea products offered elsewhere start with the food in the restaurant – “Smaklig måltid”, “enjoy your meal” in Swedish, is written on the wall – which has space for 1,000 people, the company’s biggest to date. For religious reasons, the meatballs are not beef or pork but chicken or vegetarian. A biryani dish was on offer for 99 rupees (£1.12).

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A worker in the Ikea restaurant prepares to serve chicken meatballs. Photograph: Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images

Alongside standard Ikea furniture such as Billy bookshelves and Klippan loveseats, the chain has “locally relevant products” such as masala boxes, Indian frying pans called tawas, rice cake makers and mattresses with coconut-fibre centres.

There are also more than 1,000 products priced at under 200 rupees to satisfy consumers whom John Achillea, the store manager, said had “big aspirations for their homes and small wallets”. A six-piece bowl set with cutlery for children costs 131 rupees, for example.

The interior has an Indian feel, too, with patterned bedspreads and framed photos of the Taj Mahal and other Indian monuments – alongside Gustav Klimt’s painting The Kiss, recalling faraway Europe.

“We decided not to copy and paste,” said Juvencio Maeztu, Ikea’s chief financial officer. “We met and interacted with 1,000 Indian families to understand what were their dreams, their frustrations and what they want.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Customers eat at the Ikea restaurant, which has space for 1,000 visitors. Photograph: Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images

To overcome Indians’ aversion to assembling furniture, with people used to small, family-owned businesses providing a bespoke service, Ikea teamed up with UrbanClap, an online platform that connects people looking for work with consumers.

Satish Meena of Forrester Research said Ikea would also have to further adapt its offerings to the “extremely diverse” Indian market as the company expands.

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“No two states or cities have the same furniture demand and behaviour; lifestyle and culture vary from one region to another. Hence, Ikea will have to address space, pricing and design issues and pick products accordingly,” Meena said.

In Hyderabad, some residents were sceptical about the opening.

“I will wait and watch,” said Mohammad Noor, a businessman. “I have never been to an Ikea store before. But I believe there it’s all compressed wood. Indian wood is much better.”

Siddharth, in charge of a Hyderabad furniture shop, said Ikea may attract hard-up students but in general people would stick with “quality”.

“It will be a flop, I tell you,” he said. “The regular furniture consumer will stick with the more solid wood available in the Indian market ... I don’t think it will give us much competition.”