Ikea goes ahead with $1.4b China deal

Bloomberg

Home furnishing giant Ikea has seen sales growth soften for three consecutive years in China as the country grapples with a slowing economy and waning consumer confidence caused by a grinding trade conflict with the US.
Still, the Swedish retailer is pressing ahead with $1.4 billion of investment in the next 12 months and opening four more stores in the country by August 2020, said China President Anna Pawlak-Kuliga at a media briefing in Beijing.
“We have strong confidence in the China market,” she
said. “It’s one of the most dynamic markets with the most potential.”
Global retailers, long used to counting on the rising Chinese middle class for explosive growth, are dealing with
unprecedented uncertainty in the world’s second-largest economy.
The next round of a tit-for-tat trade war with the US will likely drag economic growth below 6 percent, while a weakening yuan has weighed down consumer sentiment.