IKEA targets growth of small-business market: retailer offering planning tools.

Time was small businesses opened hoping to capture a niche.

Now these same businesses have themselves become a pocket of opportunity, sometimes for far larger players.

IKEA, the latest player to target small businesses, has already established store displays geared to providing furnishings for small business operators, and in the spring, will launch several different services specifically for these business owners.

"We recognized that many features of the IKEA concept would be a benefit to our small business customers," said Diane Kokoska, a spokeswoman for IKEA North America. "We know that for most small business owners, limited budget and limited space are two of the greatest challenges they face when it comes to furnishing their business."

IKEA, with worldwide sales of about $19 billion (U.S.), hopes to serve businesses of all kinds, from service providers working out of small offices to beauty salons, bookstores and dance studios, providing everything from accessories and decorating help to storage and furniture for work spaces, meeting areas and break rooms.

The Swedish retailer, known for its focus on urban dwellers with tight space and tight budgets, has dedicated between three and four vignettes in each of its stores including its Burbank location to showcase some of the products it offers in settings that mimic a real office or retail establishment.

In March, IKEA plans to launch a website with online planning tools to help small business owners design their space, including a variety of decorating ideas and a software program that will allow them to draw a scale version of the space and drag in furnishings to test out different layouts.

Later in the spring, IKEA will launch a series of in-store events for small business owners.

"We can bring in subject matter experts to help people in the process of starting a small business," Kokoska said. "It might be a finance expert, a real estate expert, an HR person--some tools to help people."

IKEA expects to charge a fee for the seminars, which will include lunch.

The approach is much like recent efforts by other large companies that have recognized the business opportunities the small business segment presents although each program is different for different retailers,.

"Everyone is competing for the same walkin customer and now what they're doing is saying we might have plus business in these little pockets," said Frank Brancale, a spokesman for the Los Angeles district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration. "We can see it in Best Buy and in Staples and Office Depot. IKEA is borrowing a trick from others who have gone that way."

The number of small businesses in California alone has risen to nearly 3.6 million, from 985,846 in 2001.

With those numbers, several retailers have begun to focus on the sector, offering services and programs that are designed for small businesses or just marketing specifically to the sector.

Consider the Geek Squad launched by Best Buy to provide in-home computer repair services. Although consumers can use the service for their personal electronics, the Geek Squad also acts as a kind of outsourced IT management service to small businesses who cannot afford to contract with larger IT companies, offering setup and networking services as well as troubleshooting on site or via the Internet.

In many cases, these retailers had already been serving small businesses, but the owners would shop the stores much like any individual consumer.

BY SHELLY GARCIA

Senior Reporter