IKEA to close seven stores in China amid strategy shift

Furniture retailer IKEA is closing seven stores in China as it moves from "scale expansion to ​precise cultivation".

The stores earmarked for ​closure from February 2 include one in suburban Shanghai, another in Guangzhou, and ⁠several more in second-tier Chinese cities such as Nantong, Xuzhou and Harbin, IKEA said in a post on its official WeChat account.

Retailers in general have been ‌struggling to ​grow sales in China, where consumer sentiment remains muted ‍following a prolonged property crisis and concerns about employment security and stagnant wages.

About 40 IKEA stores are in mainland China, and the company said five new stores ​of various sizes had recently opened.

China, ‌the world's second-largest economy, accounts for about 3.5 per cent of IKEA's global sales.

​With a growing percentage of sales in the country ‍coming from online flagships, IKEA opened a new store on JD.com last August to help cultivate ​that ​online sales growth.

"We will ​shift from scale expansion to ​precise cultivation, exploring Beijing and Shenzhen as key markets, and opening more than 10 small stores in the next two years," IKEA said, adding that new store openings in Dongguan and Beijing were expected in the ‍first half of 2026.