* IKEA reports growth in all markets, including southernEurope
* Strongest growth in China
* 2013/14 sales up 5.9 pct to 28.7 bln euros
* Target to lift sales to 50 bln euros by 2020
* Growth in e-commerce and store visitors (Recasts lead, adds details on China, CEO quotes)
By Mia Shanley
STOCKHOLM, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Full-year sales at IKEA Group,the world's biggest furniture retailer, gained pace as consumerspending and global demand for its sleek designs and flat-packfurniture continued to pick up, notably in China.
The Swedish company, seen as a reliable indicator ofconsumer spending because it has more than 300 stores in 26countries, said on Tuesday some of the strongest growth was inChina, where it opened three new stores this year to tap intothe spending power of the country's rising middle class.
IKEA's customers are welcome to lounge on sofas and beds forhours and thoroughly test its products unlike most other Chinesefurniture stores.
Europe, where the privately held company derives almost 70percent of its sales, is still burdened by a challengingeconomic situation and deflationary pressures, but its chiefexecutive said improving employment will lift consumer spending.
"A year ago, it was very difficult for most retailers insouthern Europe, as for IKEA, but we now generally see thatthings are stabilising," Chief Executive Peter Agnefjall toldReuters.
The Swedish furniture giant's biggest markets are Germany,the United States and France.
IKEA is sticking to its strategy to expand in Russia despitethe crisis with Ukraine.
"I think it's fair to say our approach is very long term,"Agnefjall said.
IKEA's sales rose 5.9 percent to 28.7 billion euros ($37.0billion) in the 12-month period ended Aug. 31 adjusted forcurrency impact - an acceleration from the 3.6 percent growth itreported for the previous year.
Sales in comparable stores during the year grew 3.6 percent.
ONLINE PUSH
IKEA has a target to double sales to around 50 billion eurosby 2020 through combined growth in sales at existing stores andby launching in new markets, a goal which Agnefjall saidremained intact.
Founded in a shed in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad to sell pens,wallets, watches and jewellery, and whose stores now selleverything from candles to fitted kitchens, IKEA said demand forproducts sold online rose, while the number of visitors to itsdistinctive blue and yellow warehouse stores increased 5 percentto 760 million during the year.
IKEA was initially slow to embrace online retail but is nowinvesting more as rivals compete for a chunk of its business.
German firm Home24 has set its sights on challenging IKEA'sdominance. It is expanding to Belgium - its sixth market - andplans to launch in other countries next year.
IKEA, which has an online presence in 13 of its markets, had1.5 billion visits to its www.ikea.com website during the year,up about 20 percent from the last year.
Agnefjall said IKEA was expanding the product range that canbe bought over the Internet, although he declined to say howmany new markets it would launch sites in.
The company is also facing competition in home furnishingsfrom fashion chains such as Zara, Next andHennes & Mauritz.
In response to a shift in shopping habits to smaller localstores and the Internet, IKEA opened its first city centre storeearlier this year in Germany.
More customers were arriving at its stores by foot, bike orpublic transport, Agnefjall said, adding that it was too earlyto say whether IKEA would open any more city stores.
"I think it's important for us to grow and be where manypeople are," he said. "We do see growing urbanisation and wehave to see how that will impact our business." (1 US dollar = 0.7759 euro) (Reporting by Mia Shanley, editing by Emma Thomasson and LouiseHeavens)
Next (NXT)