By Bonnie James/Deputy News EditorGlobal furnishing retailer Ikea’s Qatar store, which opened nearly six months ago, has been receiving an overwhelming response, a senior official claimed yesterday.“We have had 800,000 visitors and the initial expectations have been exceeded,” John Kersten, managing director, Ikea – UAE, Qatar, Egypt and Oman, told Gulf Times.Ikea Qatar is expecting 1.6mn visitors in the first year of operations.“The success was so big that we had a hard time getting the products in the beginning, but now that is fully under control,” he explained on the sidelines of the launch of Ikea’s 62nd annual catalogue.Ikea Qatar’s market share is very hard to estimate, Kersten said, because the available information is not so clear.“We expect the growth as we see it now. You can only compare growth if you have a full year,” he clarified.Kersten prefers to describe competitors as “colleagues selling similar products.” About competition, he feels “it is not trying to put somebody out of business.”“I think that the essence of an Ikea store is to bring good ideas, show good solutions and at the end of the day, the customer decides where they buy. We want to give inspiration to people. We are aiming just to give a better awareness about furniture, and to contribute to a better life and a home.”James McGowan, regional brand manager, observed that Ikea’s 30-day return policy also improves customer confidence.Vanessa Kaye, marketing manager, said Ikea’s annual soft toys campaign will be run in Qatar from November 10 to January 4, as part of the corporate social responsibility agenda.Discussions in this regard, with a local charity are in the final stages, added Nazneen Yasin, public relations manager, Gmasco (marketing communications arm of the Al-Futtaim Group which manages Ikea Qatar).Earlier, launching the 2014 catalogue, Kersten said the 324-page publication emphasises the theme, ‘Living with Children,’ dwelling on the importance of family time. It draws inspiration from the ‘The Play Report’ – a study conducted by Ikea of 11,000 households in 25 countries on parenting, children and the state of play. As much as 73% of children aged 7-12 surveyed would rather play with their parents than watch television and more than 50% of the parents interviewed agree that play is when they and their children lose all sense of time.