Ikea has finally entered the Indian market and the way people in Hyderabad showed their love for Ikea, it must have made the local brands a little worried. Over 40,000 people gathered on the very first day and had some had to wait close to 4 hours to enter the store.
There was a stampede and heavy traffic jam and traffic police had to deploy some extra officials to tackle the situation. For those who don’t know what Ikea is, it is a Swedish furniture brand which sells products at amazing offers with a wide range. Focussing on the middle-class families in India, the company has over 1000 items that are priced below Rs 200.
Also Read: Ikea Brings Hyderabad To A Stand Still With Its First Store Launch
While Ikea was enjoying the party with the response it was getting, a competitor had some other plans to catch the attention of Ikea lovers. Kishore Biyani’s HomeTown took up advertising space right opposite to IKEA’s flagship store and trolled the Swedish furniture giant with a banner reading “What’s not there is here,” said its message, which was visible from IKEA’s store. IKEA wasn’t mentioned in the ad but writing “there” in IKEA’s signature colours of yellow and blue shows the intentions clearly.
HomeTown’s campaign did manage to create buzz on social media, with users sharing pictures of the hoardings. Many like the positioning of ads and by comparing itself to IKEA, HomeTown wanted to show itself as a rival and used ‘moment marketing’ in the best way as everyone was talking about furniture and Ikea.
How about this innovation by Hometown opposite to IKEA store. pic.twitter.com/QDrs8tB9th
— Staying Power (@Gautampolisetty) August 9, 2018
.@HomeTown_In throwing shade at .@IKEAIndia on their launch day. Vilkommen IKEA. Did you think this was going to be easy? pic.twitter.com/SC9PxtKffk
— hasan (@hsnk) August 9, 2018
Biyani admitted that that was ambush marketing, He also believes that there is nothing wrong with the ads. According to him, he will benefit from the entry Ikea in the Indian market, Biyani said.“Our business is bound to increase, and the category will be created by IKEA. Our sales have gone up at the three Hyderabad stores”, he said. He is confident that the home furnishing sector in India would grow and there would be room for more growth. Talking about the HomeTown ads, he said: “This is a creative and fun way to reach out to us and we feel very welcome in India.”
“IKEA is ranked from 1-100 and everybody else starts from 101. They are a unique and probably the best retailer of the world. IKEA is IKEA and they are an institution.”Biyani added.
This is not the first time when Future Group has taken on big corporate giants with targeted advertising. Brand Factory stores made fun of the big e-commerce players, with ads reading Flip the Kart, Snap the Deal and Amaz-off, explaining about the better offers available at its offline stores.
Also Read: Top 10 Most Popular Retail Companies In India
Interestingly, his tactics seem to work as Future Retail doubled its profit in 2017, as Snapdeal has lost its popularity, and Flipkart & Amazon are still continuing their business in losses.
The challenge of Ikea is different as it has physical stores like the Future group on a very large scale. Ikea’s brand value is unmatchable right now. Also, the craze of Indian customers for discounts and foreign brands will be a boon for Ikea.
