IKEA'S Latest Annual Report: New Bright Spot For E-Commerce

IKEA Group, the world's largest furniture retailer, announced its financial report on the fiscal year September 1, 2014 (August 31st September 1, 2014 ~2015) on Thursday.

Benefiting from the expansion of the Chinese market, profits in the last fiscal year and

Both growth has been achieved, and sales growth is mainly reflected in the strong growth of existing stores and online sales.

According to Reuters, the financial key for the current fiscal year

As follows:

Most of the group's revenue comes from Europe, with total sales reaching 31 billion 900 million euros, hitting a new high.

Among them, same store sales rose 5% compared with the same period last year, and 13 online store sales increased 35% year-on-year.

Net profit rose 5.5% to 3 billion 500 million euros compared to the same period last year.

CEO Peter Agnefjall said: "this year's bedding sells well, whether it's new products or classic series such as Sultan and Malm (beds and cabinets, below).

They boosted growth in the last fiscal year. "

Price cuts are also one of the reasons for attracting customers. IKEA said that lower cost of goods purchase and higher efficiency of supply chain partly offset the adverse effects of price cuts.

From the regional perspective:

Germany has seen record growth;

The United States is the largest single market of IKEA group, and its performance in the financial year is still good, compared with Germany.

China is the fastest growing market, including three new stores, and sales grew by 19% year-on-year.

"Everyone is saying that China's economy is slowing down, but our data do not reflect this," Agnefjall said.

He also said he had a good start in the current fiscal year.

"We feel that the overall economic situation is quite good, and there are only a few small problems in some single markets."

Multi channel sales

In the last fiscal year, the group increased investment, rising 45% to 3 billion 200 million euros over the previous fiscal year, mainly for stores, shopping centers and renewable energy.

Agnefjall said future investment will remain high, he said.

We turn to multi-channel retailers, such as investing in new technologies and distribution networks.

He also said that the total investment in the new fiscal year will be slightly lower than in the previous fiscal year, because some cooperative shopping centers have been pformed into IKEA sole proprietorships.

Future expectations

2015/16 launched more electricity providers and new stores in more markets in fiscal year

By 2020, sales will reach 50 billion euros.

In the fiscal year 2014/15, IKEA did not add any new online stores, but it added 13 new stores, mostly in the largest market in Europe.

At present, IKEA has 328 stores in 28 markets worldwide.

In addition, the parent company Stichting INGKA Foundation received a dividend of 666 million euros.

Increase output of renewable energy

IKEA is committed to achieving the goal of balancing renewable energy and energy consumption by 2020.

Sustainability director Steve Howard hopes that by 2020, the group can produce enough renewable energy to offset the power consumption of stores, distribution centers and factories.

To achieve this goal, he said in the interview that he will buy 1~2 family wind farms this year, or even more.

He added that he had earlier placed orders with leading wind turbine manufacturers such as Vestas and SIEMENS (Siemens).

In the fiscal year 2014/2015, IKEA produced 53% of its energy consumption.

Howard says that once the purchased wind farm is fully operational, the number will rise to 70%, that is to say, the power calculation will be about 3.6 watt hours with the current power calculation of 5.1 tw.

In August this year, the group announced that it would increase investment of 6 million euros for renewable energy projects.

Since 2009, IKEA has invested 1 billion 500 million euros in wind and solar projects.

(see "ornate ambition" previously reported, "IKEA promised 1 billion euros for renewable energy in the next five years")

Howard said: after the end of the pilot project, IKEA lifted its cooperation with the solar panel supplier Hanergy Thin Film Power (from Han's film power generation group in China). From the beginning of 2016, IKEA will sell solar panels from new suppliers in three market stores.

In the next 2~3 months, the group will launch solar panels in a new market.