Swedish furniture and homeware retailer Ikea said it has achieved 100% electric vehicle (EV) – powered deliveries of goods to consumers across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune, according to a company press release on Tuesday.
Its Mumbai operations will soon join a similar drive, and the company will enter all new markets with an EV-first approach, starting with Delhi NCR, a market that the Swedish furniture and homeware retailer is expected to enter next year. Ikea is also piloting same day delivery in Hyderabad and plans to scale it across all its markets in the coming year.
“For Ikea, a sustainable value chain is an essential part of our growth journey,” said Susanne Pulverer, chief executive officer, Ikea India. “This is just the first of the many milestones in that effort and we are proud to lead the EV journey from our foundational years in India.”
The company started commercial exploration of EV solutions in 2019, and achieved 28% green deliveries in 2023 and 88% EV adoption rate recently.
Initially, the retailer deployed three-wheeled tuk-tuks delivering thousands of orders a month. To accommodate larger furniture deliveries, the company also incorporated retrofit trucks into its operations and established in-house infrastructure for charging these electric vehicles.
To scale its network transformation, Ikea has partnered with local original equipment manufacturers in India, including small and medium-sized businesses and startups.
“Our approach to sustainable logistics at Ikea India goes beyond adopting EVs—we are focused on building an efficient infrastructure, skill building initiatives and future opportunities for all in the value chain,” said Saiba Suri, country customer fulfilment manager, Ikea India.
Ikea is also expanding charging stations for large EVs in India and installed charging stations across all its large-format stores for delivery vans, customers, and co-workers. Currently, the brand’s EV fleet handles load from 680kg to 1,700kg.
The furniture brand aims to achieve 100% EV deliveries by 2025 across all its operations. Globally, the company aims to become climate positive and halve greenhouse emission across the value chain by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.
Ikea, owned by Ingka Group, made its debut in India with a 13-acre complex in Hyderabad in the year 2018. Today, the company has three big-format stores operational in Hyderabad, Navi Mumbai and Bengaluru and two city stores in Mumbai. It is also present online in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Gujarat and Bengaluru.
Now, the retailer is looking to open its miniature version 25,000 sq. ft. stores in India that are almost one-third of the company’s current smallest store in India. Read more about it here.
