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THE ONLY Ikea store in Ireland, based at Ballymun in Dublin, is amongst the best performing stores across the furniture giant’s global network, attracting 3.6 million shoppers last year.

Confirming our love affair with all things Ikea, the Swedish-owned firm confirmed yesterday that the Ballymun store was ranked 9th in terms of sales across the 355-strong store network spread across 29 countries last year.

It is the first time that Ikea has disclosed the Ballymun store’s ranking in the global group – last year global sales by Ikea totalled €34.1 billion.

A spokeswoman for Ikea Ireland said that other stores in the top nine are based in Moscow, New York, London and Seoul.

In the 12 months to the end of August last, sales at Ikea Ireland comprising of its store in Ballymun and its order-and-collection point at Carrickmines jumped by 10% to €166.7 million – or €3.2 million a week.

Underlining the strong sales performance at the Ballymun store, the spokeswoman said that the Ballymun outlet’s home decoration department was ranked number two across the IKEA group in terms of sales last year, while the the Ballymun lighting department was ranked number three in terms of sales.

The 3.6 million visitors to the Ballymun store in 2017 represents a 36% increase on the three million visitors who went through the doors of the Ballymun store in 2016.

In addition, a further 400,000 shoppers passed through Ikea’s order and collection point at Carrickmines in 2017.

Growth

The biggest area of sales growth at the Ballymun outlet was bedroom furniture which enjoyed sales growth of 14%.

The spokeswoman said: “Aside from the Frakta carrier bag, the most popular product based on volume of sales is the Oftast plate.”

The biggest seller based on euro sales is the Kallax shelving unit, which retails at €49.

“Irish customers’ favourite time to visit Ikea is at the weekend, where the highest daily footfall is recorded in stores,” she added.

Market manager for Ikea Ireland, Claudia Marshall, said: “We are proud to achieve another year of successful growth in Ireland and hold our position as the leader in Ireland’s home furnishings market. This is a testament to our hard-working co-workers and our ambition to give our customers the best experience possible.”

The opening of our order-and-collection point in Carrickmines along with investments in lowering delivery prices and product prices highlights our commitment to making Ikea more accessible to Irish consumers.

Last year, 42 new jobs were created across a number of the flatpack giant’s functions, including sales, logistics and customer relations.

Ikea Ireland had a total of 705 employees in 2017, with the gender split across the company standing at 53% female and 47% male.

On expansion here, the spokeswoman said: “Ikea is committed to growing and investing in Ireland. We are always looking for opportunities and are investigating the potential for a second store in the market, specifically in Cork. However, we have no confirmed plans for the development of an Ikea store at the moment.”