Index Living Mall Plc (ILM), the country's leading seller of furniture, home furnishings and decorative items, looks set to re-enter the Indonesian furniture market in the fourth quarter of this year.
Kridchanok Patamasatayasonthi, the company's managing director, said the company has partnered with giant PT Mitra Adiperkasa (MAP Group) to open two furniture & home solutions retail stores at Sogo Department Stores in Jakarta in the fourth quarter of this year.
The first branch will open next month at Sogo Senayan Plaza with a floor space of 1,524 square metres, and the second branch will open in November at Sogo Kota Kasablanka with a floor space of 1,365 square metres. Furniture will make up 70% of all products, with the remaining 30% being home furnishings and decorative items.
Indonesia is the eighth country that Index Living Mall has expanded its business into after Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, The Maldives and Pakistan.
MAP Group is Indonesia's largest retail group with businesses in fashion, sports, food & beverage and department stores in over 2,300 locations across 81 cities throughout Indonesia.
"This cooperation is an important step for us in expanding the furniture and home accessories throughout Asean markets and becoming one of the leading 'home style and lifestyle destinations' across Southeast Asia,'' Ms Kridchanok said.
Arnolda Ratnawati Sidarta, marketing director of Sogo Department Store Indonesia, said that furniture was one of the most popular products, and with this partnership it was hoped that it could gain trust from customers who were looking for products that fulfilled their standards and the value offered.
Mr Sidarta said that with more than 4.2 million MAP Club members, the partnership will help Index Living Mall meet the needs of lifestyle furniture and more easily reach Indonesia's vast potential market.
Gerard McGurk, head of commercial operations, international retail & field merchandising at Index Living Mall, said that apart from Indonesia, the company will open its first store in Brunei at the end of the year and cover 10 countries in 2022.
In addition to the franchise business, the company also exports Index Living Mall products and offers original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to its trading partners in the United States, Japan, South Korea, Europe, Bahrain and Mexico.
In Thailand, it plans to produce OEM products to sell at modern retail chains such as Do Home and Thai Watsadu during the rest of this year and build a team to expand its products via construction material.
"By pursuing these strategies, it is likely to see better performance in the fourth quarter of this year,'' said Ms Kridchanok.
ILM reported revenue of 4.19 billion baht in the first half of this year, a 2.8% increase from the same period last year with net profit growing by 85.7% to 246.4 million baht.