Furniture and home decoration retailer IKEA Romania has invested approximately 1.3 million EUR in the production and distribution of the new product catalogue, valid between September 2009 and August 2010. "We allocated 1.3 million EUR for making the IKEA 2010 Catalogue, which will be distributed as of September this year. The catalogue contains less products than last year, approximately 3,200 items," said IKEA Romania Marketing Manager Mihaela Muresan. IKEA Romania carries approximately 8,500 products, of which 25% are new products introduced this year. Approximately 4% of the items offered for sale in the IKEA store in Baneasa are made in Romania.
     Referring to prices, Marketing Manager Mihaela Muresan said that "as of September this year, 20% of the products in the store will be 18% less expensive than in the catalogue." According to her, this is part of the IKEA policy to cap prices for 12 months from the issuance of a catalogue and sometimes decrease prices on a case-by-case basis as a result of optimization. Muresan said the new catalogue had been printed in 900,000 copies to be distributed in the Bucharest metropolitan area and in Ploiesti as of 1 September.
     * 2.5 Mio EUR promotion budget
     IKEA Romania has allocated 2.5 million EUR as promotion budget for the next 12 months. According to Marketing Manager Mihaela Muresan, the value of the budget remained the same as in the previous year. Additionally, IKEA Romania is planning to open a new store, but the target date has not been disclosed yet. \"I cannot tell for sure when the new store is going to be inaugurated. What we do know is that the average investment in such store is 25 million EUR, whereas the construction works can take between 1 year and 18 months,\" said IKEA Romania Retail Manager Cornel Oprisan.
     * Projected 12% turnover growth
     Although sales achieved in the first half of the year were quite similar to the values reported for H1, 2008, IKEA Romania Retail Manager Cornel Oprisan said he maintained the forecast pointing to a 12% year-on-year increase in turnover. Notwithstanding the overall decline of the Romanian furniture market, Oprisan expects sales to pick up in July and August on a month-to-month basis.
     One of the novelties planned for the next year is the introduction of the new IKEA website on 15 September. The website will be redesigned to include the online edition of the new product catalogue and more useful information and services for the customers. The website will also contain the full rang of IKEA products, not just the items highlighted in the catalogue. The company will implement a free-of-charge consultancy tool enabling customers to better plan the layout of their IKEA furniture.