The decision appears to have paid off, with Ikea opening not just a singular store but nationwide delivery access from day one for the first time in its history.

Brodin still remembers the initial conversations the company had about launching here, and said he takes the blame for suggesting the store should be open to everyone, everywhere on the same day.

Now, one month after its doors opened, Ikea New Zealand has had 569,417 in-person visitors, with the website attracting 1.9 million users and generating more than 12 million page views during the same period.

The store also achieved a major milestone, ranking as the top-performing Ikea globally for food sales across Ingka Group during its first month of trading.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Just nine days after opening, customers faced delays to online orders and the store was forced to cancel several purchases after a payment glitch.

Click and collect services and some delivery services also became unavailable while the retailer sorted through a backlog of orders.

Brodin was forthcoming about how the company was overwhelmed at launch, noting that while it had some ambitious thoughts about the demand, it still managed to surprise them.

He said that some areas have been selling more than double the company’s highest expectations, but praised the New Zealand teams’ ability to get their supply chain in order.

“Globally in Ikea today we have about 25-30% of our sales from online. In New Zealand, it was 50% from day one, so we had never heard of that before. I don’t know if we could have figured that out ahead of time, but we didn’t, so we’re learning.”

Years in the making

It’s been a long time coming for New Zealand to get an Ikea store, with the first rumours of a potential store in New Zealand pitched back in 2006 by then Herald journalist Gill South.

Brodin said it took longer than he had expected, with the Covid-19 pandemic and more intense construction contributing to the delay, with the build taking 28 months compared with 18 or 19 months for other stores.

He also acknowledged how the business changed its initial plans after receiving some “very good advice” from government representatives and industry strategists to shift locations.

Brodin couldn’t specify where Ikea initially planned to build its first store, but said they had found the right location in the end.

The 34,000sq m at Auckland’s Sylvia Park is the third-largest store across Australia and New Zealand, and was purposely designed with sustainability in mind.

Ingka Group chief sustainability officer Karen Pflug told the Herald in March 2025 that the business wanted to be a “responsible retailer”, utilising renewable energy, natural cooling methods and the development of circular services.

Brodin explained three reasons why sustainability is important for the company.

“It starts with our customers. When we do interviews globally, we speak to about 34,000 people in all our 40-plus markets in a biannual review. The top issue that people express concern about is sustainability and in particular, the climate. In Ikea’s customer base, it’s close to 70% who see that as the global challenge.

“Secondly, we think that the issues we are confronted with today, we’re not ready to pass that on to the next generation. We said we have an ethical and moral obligation, and we are happy to speak to that even if not everybody in the world agrees to our view.

“Thirdly, for us it is a really smart business move to be sustainable. When you build a business model like Ikea and you want to serve the many, you need to have prices that are low. We don’t think we will be able to do that unless we have renewable cheap energy, circularity in our products and recycled materials.”

Another aspect that Brodin has championed in his time as chief executive is second-hand furniture, significantly changing how some products are designed to accommodate deconstruction and reconstruction.

Then there are the trees

While these aspects have been at the core of Ikea’s sustainability strategy, another key pillar is forestry.

In just four years, Ingka Group has spent at least $500 million amassing more than 41,000ha of farm and forestry land, propelling it into the ranks of New Zealand’s top 50 landowners.

For landowners in Hawke’s Bay, Ikea’s entry into the area has been met with anxiety and fears over potential fire risk from pine plantations.

Brodin said wood is roughly 15-20% of Ikea’s materials, a significant part of its supply chain.

“To start with, what we do for all our products is we go for the highest standard, which is Forest Stewardship Council certified. We’re very ambitious that the wood comes from the right source, and again, this is not contradictory to business.

“We do invest in different places both for commercial reasons, but also we tend to more be part of afforestation projects and so on. New Zealand is very good at conservation and the principles of how to do this, and there are a lot of ambitions, thoughts and opinions around forestry.”

He said his deep belief for the company was that it needed to turn to renewable and recyclable materials, but while metals and plastics are great recyclable materials, they’re not renewable like wood.

Brodin explained that 40% of Ikea’s total cost is the production, transport and retailing of raw materials like wood.

“We have optimised production, we have optimised transport, we have optimised the flat packs. That means economically and financially, we are sensitive to raw material disturbances.

“Not to oversimplify it, but if we go for the coming decades with more people on the planet, that means less resources per capita. Therefore, it’s also an economic benefit for us to engage in the sustainability agenda in that way. If you’re smart about resources, you’ll be smart about your cost as well.”

That strategy of reducing emissions while safeguarding the business’ economic future through forestry investments has paid off in his tenure.

In 2023, the company reported a reduction in its emissions by 24.3% compared to its 2016 baseline, while increasing its revenue by 30.9%.

Next chapter

Brodin announced he would step down as global Ingka Group chief executive back in August 2025, with his deputy and right-hand man Juvencio Maeztu taking over the role – the first non-Swedish chief executive of the company.

It’s been a long 30-year career for Brodin, starting with Ikea as a purchase manager in Pakistan in 1995 before becoming assistant to Ikea’s founder Ingvar Kamprad.

“It was a great privilege to get to know him. I’ve had the opportunity to reflect back the simplicity of just thinking ‘what would he have done’? Sometimes I thought he would have just been emotional, but very often I think the opposite.

“He would have had the perspective and courage not to compromise on the values. In a way you could say he still helps me and the company in that sense. He was a remarkable leader and person.”

As Brodin enters the next stage of his career, he said he plans to spend half his time helping transform companies’ digital and sustainable practices, as well as continuing his pro-bono work co-chairing the United Nations (UN) Global Compact.

He also hopes to be able to spend more time with his friends and family now he has more time on his hands.

His time could have been spent very differently, after the Swedish Government nominated him to the role of UN High Commissioner for Refugees in October 2025.

While the role ultimately went to the former President of Iraq, Barham Salih, Brodin said it was both a surprise and humbling.

“I’m typically a yes person. Of course, I like to reflect on what can be the worst outcome if I say yes, but I typically do.

“Ikea was never just there right. It was developed with generations of leaders that had that courage to test and try and to believe, and I feel that the world needs even more of that. People who are ready to take responsibility both for future opportunities and for a better place for people and planet.”

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.