The first Romanian store opened by Swedish retailer IKEA, has witnessed sales worth 5 million euros within its first three weeks in business. The store opened on March 21 this year. "In the first week, we registered 2 million-euro sales," stated Cornel Oprisan, retail manager with IKEA Romania. This year, the company has budgeted sales worth 40-50 million euros. One of the biggest transactions recorded on a receipt was of 14,500 RON (4,600 euros) paid by an IKEA customer. Overall the IKEA store covers a 26,000 square-metre area, with total investments in building and decorating the store standing at 25 million euros. "A country the size of Romania can be covered by around 5 to 8 stores. At present we are examining several locations, but for the time being, we have not made any definite decisions," said Cornel Oprisan. IKEA has 7,000 furniture and decorative items on display, of which around 10% are supplied by Romanian producers. "One of our objectives is to increase the number of local suppliers we use," added Oprisan. IKEA's entry onto the market has put pressure on furniture prices, as it targets a market segment of people with average incomes. Competition in terms of furniture retail will be mostly felt by the medium-sized players, which operate a low price policy. The business growth of furniture manufacturers has seen a significant reduction in the last few years, as over half of the furniture production is exported. The IKEA brand was originally registered in 1943 in Sweden. The total number of visitors in IKEA stores worldwide stood at 500 million in 2006, whilst the total number of catalogues distributed stood at 174 million.
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