Ikea Media Plan

The philosophy states “ Our vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people. Our business idea is to offer a wide range of well-designed, functional, home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible can afford them.” IKEA needs to create products following this motto but have these products molded to the tastes and styles of the U.S. population. The prices must still be low but IKEA must force the message that even though the price is low that does not mean the quality of the product is poor. This message will be key for expansion in the U.S. to be a success. IKEA must maintain their shopping experience as that is a strong competitive advantage, and tweak their philosophy so it fits the American lifestyle. If they do this then they will have success in expansion.

It can also help them gain a temporary competitive advantage because other firms will not be able to imitate them to speak regarding IKEA’s strategy , IKEA’s strategy has continually been to style and develop product supported consumers’ everyday wants, keeping costs low and providing purposeful, engaging and reliable furnishings and solutions. property has been at the basis of IKEA’s strategy throughout its evolution. In 2012 it launched its folks and Planet Positive property strategy, that sets out the company’s approach to achieving positive social and environmental impacts. This property strategy brings all the weather of vision, values and mission along to drive innovation and rework the IKEA business. this may strengthen IKEA’s aggressiveness by securing long access to big raw materials and energy provides, maintaining and developing its provider base, developing relationships with co-workers and customers, and increasing market share

As explained in the “bargaining power of consumers”, it is hard to substitute the products that are offered by IKEA. This is further intensified by the fact that IKEA has formed a brand perception that makes it stand out amongst its

Low prices are one of the cornerstones of the IKEA concept which attrack their customers to but their products. This low price strategy is coupled with

In 1951, to reduce product returns, he opened a display store in nearby Älmhult village to allow customers to inspect products before buying. It was an immediate success, with customers traveling seven hours from the capital Stockholm by train to visit. Based on the store’s success, IKEA stopped accepting mail orders. Later Kamprad reflected, “The basis of the modern IKEA concept was created [at this time] and in principle it still applies. First and foremost, we use a catalog to tempt people to visit an exhibition, which today is our store. . . . Then, catalog in hand, customers can see simple interiors for themselves, touch the furniture they want to buy and then write out an order.”2 As Kamprad developed and refined his furniture retailing business model he became increasingly frustrated with the way a tightly knit cartel of furniture manufacturers controlled the Swedish industry to keep prices high. He began to view the situation not just as a business opportunity but also as an unacceptable social problem that he wanted to correct. Foreshadowing a vision for IKEA that would later be articulated as “creating a better life for the many people,” he wrote: “A disproportionately large part of all resources is used to satisfy a small part of the population. . . . IKEA’s aim is to change this situation. We shall offer a wide range of home furnishing items of good design and function at prices so low that the majority of

Advertising is done via online catalogues, social media, email, website and a virtual and physical showroom to reach customers. IKEA establishes their brand presence using a transactional e-commerce website enabling customers to search for products, place orders and make payments via a simplified online checkout process. This has enforced their sales revenue model (Chaffey, D. 2015).

Generating awareness in a new country is a very expensive task whereby you need unique techniques to help the community recognize IKEA as a company and the products it sells. The most common methods used were TV and radio advertisements, sending marketers to the markets to do the marketing one on one with the customers or the buyers in the community, and by putting up billboards and posters around urban areas. Due to its exposure in different countries, they had to train employees who have been working with the company for several years to learn foreign languages to help expand the company. This idea helped the company venture into a new country and do the marketing.

It also needs to increase its marketing efforts by printing and distributing more catalogues. IKEA should learn more about demographics of market segments in Canada since management feels that the IKEA concept appeals to a much wider group than the existing target market. In addition, IKEA can increase the frequency of catalogues distribution. E.g. quarterly or semi-annual distribution. Despite the increase in costs that comes from printing more catalogues, IKEA can reduce its marketing expenditures on magazines advertisement and other means of promotion.

As IKEA stores are located away from the urban areas, many customers may only patronize the stores during weekends. Hence, the store may be relatively quiet during the weekdays and highly packed with shoppers over the weekends. In the case of IKEA, although it adopts the self-service concept in their stores, it actually still maintains a high level of contact with their customers. To ease and facilitate consumer’s shopping, IKEA provides catalogues, measuring tapes, shopping list and pencils. In addition, IKEA stores are designed to have a ‘family shopping experience’ with customer services and facilities such as a restaurant, day care facilities and a Swedish shop. Parents can leave their kids in a supervised play area, or keep their children with them in pushchairs provided (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2007). The key point about IKEA is that it is different to the rest of its industry. In typical furniture stores similar products are grouped together and the final delivery of products to customers may take several weeks.

IKEA furnitures, privately held, international, low-cost home products are an inevitable part of interior furnishings at many houses in the world. IKEA furnitures are marked for its modern utilitarian design. The company has 260 retail outlets around the world and more new stores are on the line to be opened in 2008 (Dhanyasree, 2007).

IKEA is the largest furniture chain in the world, and in 2011 the Swedish company operated over 270 stores in 25 countries. In 2011 IKEA sales soared to over $35 billion, or over 20% of the global furniture market. Most of its stuffs believed IKEA will massive growth throughout the world in the coming decade because IKEA could provide what customer wanted: good design, and good made contemporary furniture with an affordable price. In one word, IKEA’s global approach focuses on simplicity, attention to detail, cost consciousness, and responsiveness in every aspect of its operations and behavior. (Jones, 2013)

IKEA is a manufacturer of home and business furnishings who offer interior furnishing products to consumers in several countries across the globe. Before IKEA plans on expanding and entering any new market, they are required to obtain a clear understanding of what consumer behaviour and requirements are in that particular market. There are basically two types of Markets which include Consumer Market and Business Market.

At the outset, it may be useful to characterise IKEA in terms of the characteristics of demand (also known as the four Vs, see Slack et al. p 20). First, IKEA is clearly a high volume operation – as indeed most international retailers are – which lends to systematising operations but which implies capital intensive processes and therefore cost considerations will be crucial. Second, IKEA offers a large number of products (up to 14000 depending on the country/store) so there is high variety in the

IKEA’s strategy before the mishaps in America could be characterized as going against the norm charting their own path to success using low priced manufactures to secure lower selling prices aimed to target those who were of older age and of middle class standing. Their new strategy was to target those of a younger demographic, young married couples, college students, and 20-30 something singles. By reemphasizing design, promoting through hip quirky advertisements, and encouraging consumers to do away with their old furniture, IKEA revenues doubled in a four-year period. IKEA today has adapted somewhat of a local customization strategy where their store layouts will resemble that of many local household layouts as proven by their success in China where they failed to expand beforehand. They also keep their prices extremely low in some areas as China by sourcing a large percentage of products in the area of operation.

Customer tends to position a brand perceptually, In our respondent’s mind they perceived that IKEA is for people how rent house and who do not have considerable salary.