Ikea UAE, part of Al-Futtaim group, has launched its website in Arabic for its Dubai Festival City and Yas Island stores which went live on December 1t to coincide with the UAE’s National Day.

Arabic becomes the 34th language in the global website portfolio of the leading Swedish home furnishing retailer. On Ikeauae.com, 6000 pages were translated to Arabic.

It enables customers to explore the Ikea product range to find solutions, plan their store visit, get customer service, and more.  It offers them instant access to information, inspiration, solutions, prices, home furnishing knowledge, interaction and much more. They can also browse through the range to place their order online.

“More than 40 per cent of our store customers are with Arabic background and designing a website that speaks to them in their language makes the access of the information, services and interaction with the brand more convenient,” said John Kersten, managing director, Ikea-UAE, Qatar, Egypt and Oman.

“Also, the UAE’s online penetration is the highest in the Middle East which explains how our recently revamped English website for the UAE has been visited by some 1.4 million people this year.

“It’s observed that the customers spend an average of 12 minutes each browsing through the vast range of products available at both the stores. This year, Ikea’s innovative English website www.Ikeauae.com was awarded Best New Website-Retail during the prestigious Middle East Internet Show organised by Terrapinn in Dubai,” he added.

The Arabic version gives convenience to Ikea customers by providing enhanced shopping list functionality based on actual stock availability, a statement said.

The list can be printed, saved and emailed in an effort to offer a more simplified and efficiently planned shopping experience. It inspires an Ikea fan to become a self-made interior designer with the help of the Ikea Planner Tools and brochures like Besta that offers more of Ikea’s favourite media and living room storage solutions.

Kersten said: “Ikea’s online presence reiterates the company’s commitment to meet customers’ high expectations and offer them complete interior solutions. The website showcases the wide range of products at affordable prices, acting as a constant invitation to the store.” – TradeArabia News Service