IKEA

(Tale of Revolutionary marketing) 

IKEA, a Swedish firm, has just expanded into India after operating in over 25 countries.

For those who are unaware, IKEA is well-known for its low-cost, high-quality furniture, as well as it's home design goods. But before we go any further, let me tell you about IKEA's history.

Before we go any further, I have a question.

How often in our lives do we unwittingly underestimate others around us?

According to a study, around 73% of people do this.

 Remarkable history:

This is the story of Mr. INGVAR KAMPRAD, the creator of IKEA, who was similarly underestimated by the public. The plot begins in 1943. On his family farm, Mr. KAMPRAD began selling Christmas cards, pencils, and stationery products. 

But, the problems were never leaving his side as Everyone used to make fun of him because he was dyslexic.

       (MR. INGVAR KAMPRAD)

Despite all the people who tried to demotivate him, he never took anyone seriously, and it was only after years of continuous efforts by him that the firm began to flourish, and it quickly expanded over the years into a small retail Titan in home furnishing and a global cultural phenomenon. Currently, more than 615 million individuals are inspired by a high level of curiosity and all of them are acquiring the most recent customizable designs for their houses each year.

Latest news:

Yesterday, I was surfing the internet when I saw that IKEA (a worldwide brand of home decor) had debuted in India as well, and within three hours, all of Ikea's stock had been sold out, with individuals flying hundreds of kilometers to acquire furniture and home decor products. 

Such a crowd was only seen during the advent of Jio in India when a thousand of people used to gather outside the showrooms.

According to the NDTV, individuals are waiting in line for more than four hours.

(TRAFFIC JAM CREATED ON FIRST DAY BECAUSE OF GRAND OPENING)

I was extremely astonished after hearing this news, and I began to wonder what a company like IKEA may accomplish if people are so obsessed with its furniture and home design.

As a brilliant marketer once remarked, marketing is all about selling goods or services and profitably meeting the customer's requirements and wants. I assume IKEA is doing the same. Let us go over some more IKEA marketing methods.

Understanding the requirements and desires of the customer:

It is commonly stated that in order to achieve success in any business, one must first understand the requirements and desires of the consumer and then fulfill them. An example is IKEA, which thinks that because people have very thin budgets, and we should take care of their interests and give them top-quality furniture at the lowest feasible cost.

As the target audience is college-going students and families with children, IKEA recognized that spending money is difficult for these people, so it began to develop its USP of delivering furniture and home decor goods at reasonable costs.

The most recent design in relation to current trends;

To keep up with the latest fashions, the corporation alters one-third of its product range every year.

As previously stated, the creator of IKEA was dyslexic, thus all furniture names such as HEKTAR LAMP, BILLY BOOKCASE, and LACK SIDE TABLES were retained. Because IKEA feels that product names are simpler to recall than codes or numbers.

EDLP (EVERYDAY LOW PRICE MODEL) 

As previously said, IKEA deals in delivering inexpensive furniture with world-class design and A-class durability. After more investigation, I discovered that IKEA uses several cost-cutting strategies to make their things so low that everyone can purchase them.

According to my study, IKEA cuts their furniture prices by 1 to 3 percent every year.

Do you want to know how IKEA does it?

As opposed to traditional Shopping Marts, which have different levels where people must go to different floors to find their items, IKEA has a one-way format that features all the items on a single floor so that the next time people can grab a shopping card, therefore the items, visit the warehouse, and pick up their purchase in a flat box.

 Self-assembly product

It didn't take long for them to realize that in order to cut costs, they needed to cut some extra services, so they began offering assembled furniture to their customers, so the next time they load the items in their car, take them home, and completely assemble the products themselves. 

This strategy makes storage and transportation easier and cheaper for the stores.

Maintaining low operation cost

It has also tried a number of methods to reduce its operational costs. The corporation always buys in bulk, manages the supply chain, and employs low-wattage light bulbs and wind energy from six different nations.

Furthermore, its store are placed at a reasonable distance from most city centers, which helps to keep land costs low and taxes very low.

IKEA and the world's biggest brand, Walmart, have striking similarities, in my opinion.

What do you think?

Being versatile;

Many of IKEA's items are thought to be offered identically all over the world. However, this does not imply that IKEA is unconcerned with people's interests and preferences.

 

Customization after-taste and preference:

I'd like to illustrate this point with the fact that retailers in China carry special things for each New Year; for example, during the Chinese New Year, IKEA Increased production of roughly 250000 plastic placemats, which soon sold out.

When staff discovered that US shoppers were also purchasing VASES as drinking glasses because they thought IKEA's ordinary glass was too tiny, the business manufactured bigger glasses expressly for the US market.

   

After visiting European and US consumers in their homes, IKEA learned that Europeans like to put their clothing folded, whereas Americans want to store them folded. As a result, IKEA built wardrobes with deeper drawers for the US market.

Keeping in mind that various locations have distinct tastes, Because the bed is so essential to us, IKEA swiftly updated its showrooms to offer King beds and a variety of designs after learning that many US buyers assumed IKEA only sold European size beds.

Quirky marketing campaign:

IKEA is also recognized for its amusing marketing initiatives, which aim to raise awareness and enthusiasm about its stores and brand. IKEA recently conducted a campaign in which it invited consumers to be "Ambassadors of KUL" (Swedish for fun) and win prizes; candidates had to live in the IKEA shop for three full days before it opened, which they happily did. Thousands of people will queue in order to win prizes including IKEA furniture.

REVOLUTIONARY IKEA:

 

Finally, I would add that a fantastic example of optimal marketing may be learned from IKEA, which has always taken care of its customers and adapted to their tastes and preferences.

That's it for now, people. I hope this blog has added to your knowledge. If you have any questions or recommendations, please leave them in the comments area below.

Until then, good luck and be safe.

                      - PRANSHU GUPTA