[Report] 'Japanese IKEA' Nitori Lands in Yeongdeungpo... "Aiming for 200 Stores in Korea"

Homeplus Yeongdeungpo Store Opens as Korea's 2nd Branch
Approximately 700 Pyeong Size... Selling Furniture, Kitchenware, Household Goods
Focus on Large Mart Entry Strategy... Increased Customer Accessibility
"Seoul is a Key Hub... Efforts to Meet Korean Customer Expectations"

On the morning of the 22nd, the first floor of Homeplus Yeongdeungpo branch in Mullae-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul was visited. Although there were about 10 minutes left until the mart's opening time at 10 a.m., about 20 customers lined up along the control line. The waiting line was headed towards Nitori Yeongdeungpo store located on the first floor of the mart. At exactly 10 a.m., with the announcement signaling the opening of Nitori Yeongdeungpo store, customers began to enter. They each received an eco bag given as an opening gift and headed to the store in small groups.

Nitori opened its second store in Korea at Homeplus Yeongdeungpo branch on the 22nd and held an opening ceremony event. Nitori is Japan's largest home furnishing company, known as the "IKEA of Japan." Nitori officially entered the Korean market last November by opening its first store at Emart Hawolgok branch. Nitori Yeongdeungpo store is Nitori's second store in Korea and the first store to be located inside Homeplus.

Exterior view of Nitori Homeplus Yeongdeungpo branch.
Photo by Lee Myunghwan

Homeplus Hub Store... Store Atmosphere Similar to IKEA with Showroom

Homeplus Yeongdeungpo branch, where Nitori's second store is located, is considered a hub store. Yeongdeungpo branch was the first Homeplus store opened in Seoul and boasts the largest scale among Seoul stores. Located in the heart of Yeongdeungpo, it has a solid customer demand base. Considering this, Homeplus completed renovations of Yeongdeungpo branch last November and renewed it as an experiential store by introducing 'Mega Food Market,' a specialty food store.

The Nitori Yeongdeungpo store, which was visited in person that day, boasted such a vast scale that it did not feel like a store inside a large mart. Nitori Yeongdeungpo store occupies 679 pyeong (approximately 2,243 square meters) on the first floor of Homeplus Yeongdeungpo branch, accounting for about 40% of the entire first-floor area. The store offers a wide range of products, from furniture such as beds, sofas, and dining tables to kitchenware, household goods, and storage items. Among these, furniture and other products are directly manufactured and sold by Nitori.

The store atmosphere and products sold were not significantly different from other lifestyle and furniture brands such as IKEA or MUJI. Although the brand emphasizes cost-effectiveness (performance relative to price), some products like beds are sold at high prices.

Furniture and household items sold at Nitori Homeplus Yeongdeungpo branch.
[Photo by Lee Myunghwan]

Located in the Heart of the City... Differentiated by Convenient Accessibility

Nitori emphasizes accessibility to customers as a differentiating factor from existing furniture stores like IKEA. IKEA sets up large standalone stores in suburban areas of major cities. The four IKEA stores in Korea are also located in the metropolitan area or near Busan. While this allows them to create separate showrooms or display a wider variety of products, it is difficult for nearby residents to visit frequently unless they live nearby. In contrast, Nitori chooses to enter major large marts in metropolitan areas with relatively good accessibility. Following the first store (Emart Hawolgok branch) and the second store (Homeplus Yeongdeungpo branch), upcoming stores will also open in Homeplus Gayang branch, Incheon Yeonsu branch, and Geumcheon branch.

Keigo Onuki, CEO of Nitori Korea, explained, "We are focusing on entering mainly large marts with the hope that many customers will visit," adding, "We are not yet planning to open large stores outside the metropolitan area." Regarding Lotte Mart, where Nitori has not yet entered among the three major large marts, he said, "It is not at a stage where we can say there is a plan to open stores in Lotte Mart, but we do want to open stores there."

Before entering Korea, Nitori expanded into other Asian countries such as Taiwan, China, Singapore, and Thailand, and is approaching the milestone of 1,000 global stores. Currently, it operates 809 stores in Japan and 174 stores in China, Thailand, Taiwan, and Malaysia, totaling 983 stores. Nitori aims to open 3,000 stores globally and achieve sales of 3 trillion yen (approximately 26.5 trillion KRW) by 2032. During this period, it plans to open 200 stores in the Korean market. However, since it is still early in its Korean market entry, it has not set specific sales targets for Korea yet.

On the morning of the 22nd, attendees are cutting the ribbon at the Nitori Yeongdeungpo store opening ceremony held at Homeplus Yeongdeungpo in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Jiwon Shin, Head of Store Operations Division at Nitori Korea; Keigo Onuki, CEO of Nitori Korea; Masanori Takeda, Vice Chairman of Nitori Holdings; Jo Juyeon, CEO of Homeplus; Youngsun Ko, Executive Director and Head of Mall Business Division; Jaeheung Lim, Executive Director and Head of Hyper Sales Division. (From left)
Photo by Myunghwan Lee

Nitori is also accelerating its online market strategy. Currently, Nitori sells some products through its own online mall, Nitori Korea, as well as on Coupang. Among domestic e-commerce channels, it is only present on Coupang but plans to expand to other online malls in the future.

Masanori Takeda, Vice Chairman of Nitori Holdings, said in his welcoming speech, "(Even in overseas markets) Seoul is considered an important hub, and we are putting a lot of effort into it," adding, "Korean customers have a high sense of interior design and great interest, so we will strive to meet their expectations." Jo Ju-yeon, CEO of Homeplus, said, "Opening Nitori at Homeplus Yeongdeungpo branch is very meaningful as a collaboration case between the two companies, and we have high expectations for future partnerships," adding, "We believe that Nitori's various lifestyle proposals share Homeplus's vision of providing fresh experiences."

Meanwhile, the event was attended by Vice Chairman Masanori, Nitori Korea CEO Keigo Onuki, and Shin Ji-won, Head of Store Operations at Nitori Korea. From Homeplus, CEO Jo Ju-yeon, Go Young-sun, Head of Mall Business Division, and Lim Jae-heung, Head of Hyper Sales Division, also attended.