IKEA, the world's largest furniture retailer, said on Monday it had gained market share in nearly all markets to lift its global sales by 3.1 percent in the fiscal year of 2012-13.

Sweden's IKEA, seen as a good gauge of global consumption due to its vast footprint, said some of the strongest growth was in Russia and China, and there was also significant progress in North America during the past year.

"While southern Europe continued being affected by the current economic situation, the IKEA Group continued gaining market share in almost all markets," IKEA said in a statement.

In the twelve-month period that ended August 31, IKEA sales rose to 27.9 billion euros ($37.92 billion), the company said. Sales in comparable stores grew 1.8 percent in the same period, it added.

The sales figures were released separately with the full earnings report due in January next year.

Privately-held IKEA, famous for its affordable and easy-to-assemble furniture and huge stores, set a target last year to double sales to around 50 billion euros by 2020.

There are 303 IKEA stores globally, which were visited by 690 million people in the year. IKEA employs 139,000 people.