Dive Brief:

• Ikea Group CEO Peter Agnefjaell told Bloomberg on Thursday that the retailer is focused on growing its e-commerce business and sees e-commerce sales bringing in 10% of all revenue by 2020.
• Agnefjaell also said that online sales for the first time exceeded 1 billion euros during the fiscal year ending in August, accounting for 3% of total sales in 2015. 
• Ikea is planning to expand web sales to all of its markets by 2020. 

​Dive Insight:

Ikea made its online ambitions known in October, when Agnefjaell told CNBC the retailer is admittedly behind in building its online presence, but it is working on a new website and online supply chain. Ikea now expects online to account for 10% of sales by 2020, according to Agnefjaell. It's a big change for the Swedish furniture chain, which has mostly relied on its massive showrooms to draw in customers. 

While Ikea's experiential retail stores continue to be a huge draw—custumers travel through lanes of decorated bedrooms and living rooms, and can grab a quick bit at the stores' cafeteria—the rapid growth of e-commerce is not to be overlooked. Forrester Research has already noticed that online growth has already surpassed brick-and-mortar stores' growth.

Ikea is testing new online systems in Ireland, which will help smooth the supply chain. It also hopes to expand online sales to additional markets next year or in 2017. While Agnefjaell recognizes the sales lift these websites and new markets could provide the company, he also admits that it will take some time for the retailer to adjust. 

“Already today we have 1.9 billion visitors to ikea.com so it’s not like you just connect two cords and then it works,” Agnefjall told Bloomberg. “It’s an enormous investment in systems and distribution networks that should fall in place before we can introduce it on more markets.”