‘I am nervous’: Ikea global retail manager Tolga Oncu on New Zealand opening

Ikea is set to open in New Zealand this year. Photos / Ikea, Getty Images

New Zealanders have been patiently waiting for the opening of our very own Ikea since we first heard about its impending arrival in December 2018.

The status of the furniture retail giant’s opening remains pending and only confirmed to be “within the next 12 months” by the company’s global retail manager, Tolga Oncu.

The building, the size of four rugby fields, is near completion, key local roles have been appointed and the Herald’s Anne Gibson recently reported on the company’s unprecedented $407 million spend in New Zealand.

While some might think after opening 480 stores, a new one would be as routine as a daily commute, Oncu confesses he’s “nervous” about the brand’s launch in Aotearoa.

“I would say I am nervous because it’s going to be the first time we meet,” he tells the Herald in Ikea’s head office in Malmo, Sweden.

“We are going to exchange, discussions, dialogues, and we’re going to come there and try to support and improve the everyday life at home.”

Despite more than 80 years of customer interactions, Oncu says there is something special about opening the doors to a new country for the first time.

“It’s not so often many of us have that experience, but when it happens I get goosebumps – there is something special.”

Ikea global retail manager Tolga Oncu says he’s “nervous” about the brand’s launch in Aotearoa. Photo / Ikea

So how is it all tracking? Are they ready for an onslaught of Kiwi customers filling their trolleys and Fraktas with colourful cushion covers, storage systems and flatpack furniture?

“My message would be we are going to do our utmost to be ready. But please be aware that we are also going to be nervous in the first meeting,” Oncu says with a laugh.

The brand is a month off expanding its recruitment of 400 staff, a mass human resources project headed by Johanna Cederlof, market manager for Ikea Sylvia Park.

Cedelof told RNZ in January that 20 senior management positions fulfilled so far had each attracted 700-800 applications.

“This start has positively surprised; we knew that the figures would be high, but this high is really positive and it gives us hope that for the next roles we’ll receive an even higher amount of applications,” she said.

“We are focusing on recruiting for long term here locally – people who have lived here, know the market and can support us establishing our business.”

Ikea has begun a mass hiring process headed by Johanna Cederlof, market manager for Ikea Sylvia Park. Photo / Ikea

So, what do they already know about Kiwis and how they can improve our lives, as their mission statement “to create a better everyday life for the many people” promises?

Product development teams recently completed the Ikea Life at Home report, surveying 500 Kiwi homes and finding our hallways and entryways are a bit of a shambles and we fill our garages with everything but cars.

“We have a lot of work to do when it comes to entryways,” revealed Christine Gough, home furnishing and retail design leader for Ikea Australia and New Zealand who led last year’s study.

“Eighty-eight per cent of them were crowded and they noticed how a standard behavioural convention – not always the case in other countries – is causing clutter around the front door. Shoes off is really common.”

Despite the chaotic state of our homes' main highway, Oncu says the brand’s expansion is here to help, promising they will listen to NZ customers and design and deliver products to help.

“There might be some products connected to the opening that might be very special for New Zealand. We have the tendency when we enter to do a couple of things, but in general, it’s not the product in itself, it’s how we put the solution together based on the insights on people’s everyday life at home,” he says.

“But then after a while when we start to get to know the customer and we get the customer feedback – what we are missing in the range and we have extensive surveys that we do with the customers throughout the year.”

And in exciting news for foodies and fans of the iconic meatballs, New Zealand, too, is set to have its own Swedish Restaurant and grab-and-go-style bistro in the Sylvia Park store, with menu items to be confirmed.

Jenni Mortimer is the New Zealand Herald’s lifestyle and travel editor. Jenni started at the Herald in 2017 and previously worked as an education publication editor. She’s also mum to a 5-year-old son who she loves taking on adventures across the globe.