Wang Haolan Holly_cn@163.com SHOPPING at IKEA can be a daunting task for some: You drive or commute to the suburban location, pick up a huge cart, and navigate a labyrinth of the “giant blue box,” typically spanning over 30,000 square meters in floor space. This shopping trip often includes a lunch break at its highly-rated canteen and takes up an entire day. However, things might be different now. The Swedish furniture and home goods giant opened a second store in Shenzhen on May 26. Hosted at MixC Sungang in Luohu’s traditional storehouse block, it’s also the brand’s first Plan and Order Point (PaoP) on the Chinese mainland, offering customized solutions in a smaller and more flexible format to adapt to changing consumer needs. While IKEA Shenzhen Store in Nanshan also offers tailored design services, unbeknownst to many, at this PaoP, these services are thrust into the limelight. IKEA specialists are available to assist customers in navigating complex home projects such as kitchen, bedroom, and living room design, offering advice on maximizing small spaces. All furniture and necessary spare parts for a completed project will be delivered to the customer’s doorstep. The store, showcasing stylish showrooms of small-sized dwelling units, offers services to corporate clients as well as signature Swedish food to shoppers. “We chose Shenzhen to open IKEA’s first Plan and Order Point on the Chinese mainland, as the city is one of our top priority markets,” said Francois Brenti, commercial senior vice president of IKEA China, at a news conference last Friday. “With this PaoP, we come closer to people living in Shenzhen.” Luohu’s Sungang region has traditionally been a shopping area for furniture, already hosting brandname stores such as B&Q from Britain and the local brand HOBA. The new IKEA store caters to the needs of nuclear families with children, young couples, single apartment dwellers, and individuals seeking house renovation or decoration services, as per a company statement. The brand has experimented with smaller-scale stores since 2014. Situated in the upscale Altona district of Germany’s Hamburg, the brand’s first city store tested a more urbanized concept. A city store is considerably smaller than a standard suburban store, which has further downsized to 300 square meters with a PaoP in recent years. Last year, IKEA opened a 215-square-meter PaoP in Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Shenzhen’s first IKEA store opened in 2008 in the Dasha River area in Nanshan District. There are 35 IKEA stores, two experience centers, a PaoP, and nine Livat shopping malls on the Chinese mainland. The brand also runs a Tmall flagship store and an official shopping app. | 