Ikea opens an innovative format inside the Cavallino Shopping Centre (Lecce)

Ikea has opened an innovative format inside the Cavallino Shopping Centre (Le) designed to bring the brand experience to a compact space integrated into everyday life.

The new format

The store, the first of its kind in Italy and among the very first in Europe, covers a total area of 3.000 sq m and offers the opportunity to see and touch more than 2.400 products for the home displayed in the showroom’s inspirational settings, of which more than 1.400 items are immediately available for purchase.

The store offers a selection of the most requested products and furnishing solutions that best meet the needs of home life, with the possibility of ordering all the items in the Ikea range and choosing the most suitable delivery method, through flexible solutions for home delivery or collection.

The areas

In the Planning Area, customers can design and customise their homes with the support of Ikea co-workers, trained to provide furnishing advice at a 360° level for every area of the home. But that’s not all: through Ikea for Business, companies, offices, shops and hospitality facilities can rely on dedicated advice and solutions tailored to the needs of their business. This is a particularly important service in a region such as Puglia, where tourism and hospitality represent a strategic resource for the local economy.

Sustainability also has a place in this journey, with theCircularity Corner, designed to give products a second life and promote a more responsible consumption model: here, customers can find second-hand items offered at even more accessible prices. The food area is also present, Swedish Flavours with a selection of gastronomic specialities, starting with the iconic meatballs, for a taste of Nordic culture.

The omnichannel strategy

This format represents a new element in Ikea’s omnichannel strategy , which aims to make the shopping experience increasingly integrated and flexible. The store combines the physical experience with all the benefits of Ikea’s digital ecosystem, giving people the freedom to choose how and when to interact with the brand.

“Today, with the opening of Ikea Lecce, we are taking another step in our growth journey in Italy, bringing a format to the country for the first time that makes Ikea even more accessible. Because homes change, habits change and the ways in which people choose to furnish their spaces change too. That is why Ikea continues to evolve, experimenting with new solutions capable of bringing the shopping experience ever closer to people’s needs. The way we are present in the area is changing, but not our ambition: to create a better everyday life for the many,” says Alpaslan Deliloglu, CEO of Ikea Italy.

New jobs and solidarity

The opening of the new store also brings new employment opportunities. The store will have a team of 28 co-workers, of whom 14 new recruits, who will support customers throughout their purchasing journey and in designing their home and professional spaces.

On the occasion of the opening, Ikea is strengthening its commitment to the local area by launching a social project in Lecce together with the association F.orti for Lecce Aps which works to promote social, cultural and environmental causes in support of social inclusion and people with disabilities. Ikea will support the project “When biodiversity rhymes with solidarity”, aimed at spreading a culture of natural and conscious eating, based on the use of seasonal products collected directly from the land and prepared in a healthy way, contributing to the creation of a workshop space designed as a place for socialising and sharing, where users will actively work with students and teachers to transform products from the land.

The project will involve the entire community, including not only people with disabilities, but also children from primary schools, students from secondary schools and older people, with the aim of offering a practical and inclusive experience, open to the entire community, with particular attention to the most vulnerable groups.

This initiative dedicated to the local area forms part of the wider project “A Place to Call Home”, through which Ikea Italy, alongside local institutions and associations, has already carried out more than 800 social projects over 10 years throughout the country, aimed at restoring a sense of home to those who need it most.

This article was translated from the original Italian version with the assistance of artificial intelligence. In case of discrepancies, please refer to the original Italian version.