Swedish-based home product retailer said it expected sales to increase by 11.7 – 12% year-on-year in September 2008 – August 2008.

According to Cornel Oprisan, retail manager of IKEA Romania, the July and August sales grew slightly compared to previous months. “July and August sales increased slightly compared to May and June, and flat compared to year-ago period”, he said.

September, when the new IKEA catalogue will be launched, is usually the peak sales month of the year for the Swedish retailer. “Last year, September sales accounted for 12% of full-year sales”, Oprisan added.

IKEA Romania earmarked 2.5 million euro for the marketing and promotion for the following 12 months, same as a year earlier, of which 1.3 million euros will be used for the compilation of 2010 catalogue.

“For IKEA 2010 catalogue, which will be distributed as of September this year, we allocated 1.3 million euros. The catalogue contains fewer products than last year, namely 3,200 items”, said the marketing director of IKEA Romania, Mihaela Muresan.

In addition, 20% of the products in stores will be 18% cheaper than in catalogue.

The company said a new IKEA website for Romania would be launched in September 15.