Ikea will vacate its existing 8,000 sq m store located in a shopping centre when it opens the standalone 36,000 sq m store at a cost of RM300 million (US$76 million) in Petaling Jaya's Mutiara Damansara district near the centre of Kuala Lumpur.
Ikea is poised to step up marketing activities ahead of the store's opening.
The retailer's newly-appointed agency TBWA-ISC said Ikea faced serious communications challenges in Malaysia.
One issue is to educate local consumers on the benefits of the 'do-it-yourself' concept in a market where furniture is bought fully assembled.
Ikea's other challenge is to ensure that consumers see the new outlet as more than just a furniture store.
Joseph Lau, Ikea Malaysia general manager, said the standalone store would give Ikea room to expand, without compromising on layout and design.
Lau said Ikea would design the mega store in a way which allowed the company to demonstrate "what Ikea is all about as a brand", something it could not do effectively with an outlet in a shopping mall.
With the mega store due to open in less than a year, the chain has handed its integrated marketing account, worth RM3 million, to TBWA-ISC following a pitch against the Ogilvy Group.
J. Walter Thompson was Ikea's incumbent agency and it held the account for a year.
TBWA-ISC teamed up with its media shop Wizard Media Dynamics and below-the-line agency Tequila, which covered interactive marketing, promotions, events and public relations, for the pitch, said Austen Zecha, the agency's chief executive officer. Stressing that Ikea faces serious communications issues, Zecha said the chain's communications must avoid giving the impression that Ikea furniture is only suitable for Western-style homes.
Zecha said Ikea needed to highlight the adaptability of its range of furniture.
He also said getting consumers to warm to the "do-it-yourself concept was important because some Malaysians were reticent about assembling furniture themselves.
For Malaysian consumers, "putting together something as simple as a bookcase is a bit too iffy and complex to do", said Zecha, adding that Ikea also needed to tell consumers that it had a wider range of furniture and its prices were affordable.
In Malaysia, Ikea competes against furniture retailers such as Courts and Singer, which generally run tactical product and price campaigns.
While these ads do little for branding, they at least give consumers the impression that the furniture on offer is affordable.
