The Swedish homeware giant, Ikea, has announced details about its imminent move to New Zealand.
In December, Ikea revealed it was coming to New Zealand. Photo: AFP
The company's global chief executive, Jesper Brodin, said in the coming years its full online and in-store offering will exist from Invercargill to Whangārei.
Ikea last month publicised its intention to test the market in this country.
Mr Brodin said it will create several hundred jobs in New Zealand.
However the company won't source or manufacture products locally.
During the announcement, Mr Brodin apologised to New Zealanders for not opening a store here sooner.
"It can't be done overnight unfortunately."
He said Ikea will have a flagship store in Auckland and a national online store before rolling out other "touchpoints" across NZ.
He said they were looking at a number of areas in Auckland but that it was too premature to announce the exact location.
A store in Auckland makes sense as it has quite a good reach, Mr Brodin said.
He said Ikea was working with the government to decide where the store will be located.
Ingka Group, Ikea's largest franchisee which operates stores in 30 markets around the world, was granted exclusive rights to explore options to expand into New Zealand.
Founded in 1943 in Sweden, Ikea supplies 1.2 billion customers around the world.