Amazon Expands; IKEA Opens Its Doors

IKEA and Amazon are two companies that have seized many opportunities in Mexico to expand their business and to support the economy through job generation. In this latest development, IKEA will inaugurate its physical store on Apr. 8, while Amazon will now open a new distribution center. 

IKEA’s store inauguration has been a highly anticipated event in Mexico. Despite delays due to the pandemic, as reported by MBN, the company experienced great results just by opening its digital marketplace, with demand exceeding expectations by 1,000 percent. As a result, the company decided to announce another IKEA store in Puebla in the first half of 2022, at the Vía San Ángel mall, in addition to the already planned store at the Oceanía mall in Mexico City. The wait is finally over and the latter store will finally open next Thursday.

At the moment, visitors will be able to access by appointment only, which can be scheduled through IKEA’s official website starting on Apr. 1. According to a Forbes article, the complex has an area of ​​23,500m2 with three floors, which will have more than 5,300 items. There will also be a restaurant with a capacity for 665 people, featuring more than 150 food products of Swedish origin. 

Regarding Amazon, the company has become an e-commerce success story following the pandemic, driving the inauguration of more distribution centers, as previously mentioned by MBN. The company will now open a new center in Hermosillo, Sonora, which joins the existing ones in the State of Mexico, Jalisco and Nuevo Leon, reports El Economista. The objective is to shorten delivery times for the northwestern states of the country. “We are more than pleased to continue our expansion in Mexico, now in Sonora. We are proud to be able to offer hundreds of job opportunities in Hermosillo and reach the homes of our clients in that area of ​​the Mexican territory,” Diego Méndez de la Luz, Director of Operations at Amazon, stated. 

Both IKEA and Amazon have mentioned that part of their objectives is to help reactivate the economy and to generate new jobs. After Best Buy’s departure from Mexico in December 2020, IKEA offered Best Buy employees new job opportunities, as mentioned by MBN. Meanwhile, Amazon has created several new positions driven by the success of e-commerce amid the pandemic and following the inauguration of its distribution centers, reported El Economista.