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Business News/ Companies / People/  Ikea appoints Jesper Brodin new CEO to lead Asia expansion, online growth
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Ikea appoints Jesper Brodin new CEO to lead Asia expansion, online growth

Jesper Brodin will replace Peter Agnefjall as Ikea's new CEO from 1 September to drive the Swedish furniture firm's Asia expansion plans and online growth

Jesper Brodin will take as new CEO of Ikea, which has 348 stores, 45 shopping centres and 140,000 employees in 28 countries.Premium
Jesper Brodin will take as new CEO of Ikea, which has 348 stores, 45 shopping centres and 140,000 employees in 28 countries.

Stockholm: Ikea Group named Jesper Brodin, currently responsible for the development of the Swedish furniture retailer’s product range and supply chain, as chief executive officer (CEO) after Peter Agnefjall decided to step down.

Brodin, a 48-year old former assistant to Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad who has worked at the maker of the Billy bookcase and Klippan sofa for 22 years, will take up the new role on 1 September, Ikea said in a statement Wednesday. He is currently managing director of Ikea’s Sweden unit and will move to Leiden in the Netherlands, where Ikea has its headquarters, from Almhult in Sweden, where it opened its first store in 1958 and has its Swedish base.

Brodin will take over the helm of a furniture and retail empire with 348 stores, 45 shopping centres and 140,000 employees in 28 countries. During Agnefjall’s almost five-year tenure, Ikea expanded its presence in China, began a push into India and honed its online offering. That strategy won’t change under Brodin, Ikea chairman Lars-Johan Jarnheimer said in an interview.

Ikea to follow three-step retail strategy in India: CEO Juvencio Maeztu

“The strategic direction that the company has remains in place, and even if Jesper will mould it, he has been part of the development of the strategy together with Peter in his previous role on the management team," Jarnheimer said by phone. The new CEO “is used to transformative work, which is more relevant than ever today," he added.

Brodin started at Ikea in 1995 and has since then worked in purchasing, product-range development, logistics and group management and spent time in locations from Pakistan and China to Denmark and Sweden.

“We have a lot of exciting things ahead of us," Brodin said in a phone interview. “We’re growing, we’re keen on taking on new markets and we’re looking at how we can improve the customer experience in many dimensions."

ALSO READ: Ikea to double India sourcing to $667 million as store rollout nears

Agnefjall, 46, who has worked at Ikea for 22 years and has also been an assistant to Kamprad, said he felt it was “a natural time for me to take a change of path." The CEO job involves “working 365 days a year, 15 to 16 hours per day, and at some point one needs to hand over to the next generation," he said.

In the year through August, Ikea’s store sales rose 7.1% to €34.2 billion ($38.2 billion). The CEO change won’t affect Ikea’s long-held goal of raising annual revenue to €50 billion by 2020, according to its chairman.

The company will have introduced so-called multi-channel retailing, including online sales, in almost all of its markets by the end of the year, Agnefjall said. Ikea plans to open 18 new stores next year, he said.

ALSO READ: Ikea to decide India ‘quality’ strategy at Bengaluru workshop

“We see opportunities to continue to grow in all markets, because we’re quite small and have relatively low market shares everywhere apart from in Sweden," Agnefjall said. “We see big opportunities in large markets such as China and India and I’d also like to highlight the US, where there are still quite a lot of white spots on the map." Bloomberg

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Published: 24 May 2017, 06:39 PM IST
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