Runikon Retail runs the IKEA store near Tallinn and a planning studio in Tartu. The company's turnover reached €95.2 million during its financial year between September 2022 and August of last year.

Retail trade has been in decline for the past 18 months in Estonia. Finnish furniture stores Sotka and Asko pulled out of the Estonian market last year, while the turnover of the Aatrium furniture mall fell. The latter made a loss of half a million euros. Estonia's second largest furniture retailer after IKEA, Evelekt, which operates the Home4You trademark, also closed with a slight loss.

Marko Põder, head of market for IKEA Estonia, told ERR that the company's results should largely match last year's by the end of its financial year on August 31.

IKEA's new store in Kurna, Harju County was already operational during the financial year and delivered a sharp spike in turnover: Runicon Retail's sales revenue more than doubled from €44.5 million the previous year. Profit increased from €155,000 to €9.3 million. The company employed 448 people.

Põder said that IKEA has also picked up on altered customer behavior. People plan ahead and look for price-quality ratio, impulse buying is down. That is why shoppers need to be motivated differently.

"For example, we must be able to tell people how opting for different solutions can help them save money," he noted, adding that people also buy more products meant to make others last longer, such as coach and chair covers.

The lion's share or 90 percent of Runicon Retail's turnover was from the sale of furniture and light fixtures, €3.8 million came from food and €1.8 from services.

The company's goal for 2024 is to invest in an expansion of its Tartu showroom. Põder said that IKEA also has other Baltic expansion plans and will open a new planning studio in Lipeaja, Latvia in April.

According to Põder, since the beginning of the year, there has been a significant increase in IKEA's business customer segment, with the highest demand coming from companies engaged in real estate development. Specifically, IKEA offers these companies interior design services and furniture solutions for real estate, retail, hospitality, offices and similar needs.

IKEA opened a pickup point in Tallinn in August 2019 and in Tartu in November 2021. IKEA's first store in Estonia opened its doors in Kurna at the end of August 2022.

As of February 2023, the IKEA group included 460 stores in 62 countries, and all stores operate under franchise agreements. The owner of the IKEA franchise is Inter IKEA Systems B.V.

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