IKEA's world's largest store

IKEA building world's largest store in Philippines, sets 2020 opening

Jessica Fenol

ABS-CBN NEWS

20 NOVEMBER 2018

MANILA -- Furniture maker IKEA said Tuesday it would open its first store in the Philippines, envisioned to be the world's largest, in 2020.

Once complete, the IKEA store at the SM Mall of Asia will occupy 65,000 square meters, roughly the size of 150 basketball courts, the company said in a statement. It will target more than 5 million households within 60 minutes distance.

The store will carry 9,000 products and it will also include a warehouse, an e-commerce facility and an integrated call center, IKEA said. A pre-opening website www.IKEA.ph was also launched for design inspiration, it said.

IKEA Southeast Asia will invest an initial P7 billion for the store, which will employ some 500 Filipinos on top of spin off jobs and other business opportunities, the company said.

The Philippines' young population, with an average age of 24, drew IKEA to build its largest store in the country, said Georj Platzer, who will manage the facility once it's finished.

"Also together with the developments and condominiums, residential building together with the growing middle class, it's a fantastic future market for IKEA," he said.

IKEA is also looking for partners in food supply, transport, waste management and security among other services, it said.

On Tuesday, the IKEA team served Swedish meatballs from an electric jeep painted in its signature blue and yellow colors to mall-goers at the SM Mall of Asia.

IKEA will also be the largest tenant in the Mall of Asia complex.

"The IKEA vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people, so we are excited to be bringing our offer to a country where millions of people share our passion for home," said Christian Rojkjaer, managing director IKEA Southeast Asia which owns stores in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

Filipino Global Brands

12 Filipino brands win at 2018 World Branding Awards


Associated Press
Business Mirror
02 November 2018

LONDON—The prestigious World Branding Awards, the ultimate global brand-recognition accolade, saw 270 brands from 33 countries named “Brand of the Year” in a glittering ceremony held at the State Apartments of Kensington Palace on October 31.

Beijing Tong Ren Tang, BMW, Cartier, Club Med, JinkoSolar, Johnnie Walker, Lego, L’Oréal, Louis Vuitton, Nescafé, Rolex, Samsung, Schwarzkopf and Yakult were announced as global winners of this edition of the awards.

Regional winners included Ajinomoto, Uniqlo (Japan); Giordano, Optical 88, Sasa, Shangri–La (Hong Kong); Indomie (Indonesia); LuLu; RAK Ceramics (United Arab Emirates); MTN (South Africa); and Zara (Spain).

National tier winners from the Philippines were Ayala Land (Property Developer), BENCH (Fashion Brand), Condura (Electrical Appliances–Refrigerators), Globe (Telecommunications–Mobile), Jollibee (Quick Service Restaurants), Lucky Me! (Noodles), Meralco (Power/Energy), National Book Store (Retailer–Bookstores), Petron (Petrol/Gas Stations), San Miguel (Beer), SM Cinemas (Entertainment– Cinemas), and Tanduay (Alcoholic Beverages–Spirits).

Winners are uniquely judged through three streams: brand valuation, consumer market research, and public online voting. Seventy percent of the scoring process comes from consumer votes. There can only be one winner in each category per country.

“The awards celebrates the achievements of some of the greatest brands around the globe. With an average of just six winners per country, it is truly a great achievement to be a winner of these awards,” said Richard Rowles, chairman of the World Branding Forum.

This year the awards were split into two award ceremonies, with brands from the Americas and the Caribbean awarded in a separate New York event earlier in July. Over 230,000 consumers from around the world participated in the voting process.

“More than 4,500 brands from 57 countries were nominated this year, with 351 brands from 49 countries declared as winners—81 brands from 16 countries were awarded in New York; and 270 winners from 33 countries awarded in London. Not every country was awarded, as a few did not receive enough votes to qualify,” said Peter Pek, chief executive of the Forum.

Now in its fifth year, the awards is organized by the World Branding Forum, a global nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing branding standards. It organizes and sponsors a range of educational programs. The Forum also publishes branding news on its web site that reaches a global audience of over 23.69 million.

The event was hosted by David Croft from Sky Sports.