Photo: Courtesy of IKEA China

IKEA China on Tuesday announced the opening of its online store on e-commerce platform Tmall to provide its consumers with a more flexible and convenient shopping experience. With the easing epidemic situation in the country, firms including both domestic and foreign ones have been gradually resuming their business.

It is the first time that IKEA will offer its products and home furnishing solutions through an e-commerce platform. An online IKEA app was launched at the same time, which shows the company's active expansion of its online footprint in China.

The virtual IKEA store at Tmall will provide about 3,800 IKEA products and offer the same services provided in existing sales channels, including home delivery, assembly and product return. The online shop is now available for customers from Shanghai and provinces including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui. It will gradually expand to other provinces and cities, read a statement sent to the Global Times by the company.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic in late January, IKEA, among many retailers, has been impacted by the strict epidemic prevention and control measures. As the country has seen an eased situation, especially outside Hubei Province, IKEA started to resume business at some of its physical outlets.

By Monday, 16 of 33 IKEA offline stores in the Chinese mainland had resumed operation, Anna Pawlak-Kuliga, CEO and president of IKEA China, told the Global Times at an online press conference on Tuesday.

There are 12 other stores scheduled to be opened on Wednesday, according to the company.

China recorded 19 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Monday, in which 17 were from Wuhan and two were from overseas. Provinces and regions outside Hubei recorded zero cases, according to data from the National Health Commission.

Global Times