Ikea

IKEA is a company promoting social values and paying close attention to the work atmosphere in order to encourage its employees to develop their talents and skills.

IKEA is an abbreviation of Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd. The initials come from the name of the founder, the farm where he grew up and his home parish. The firm has grown rapidly since it was founded in 1948. From a very young age, Kamprad started selling furniture and he always kept his low costs - so low that other furniture stores pressured the National Association of Furniture Dealers in Sweden to stop providing Kamprad with products. The first store of IKEA was opened in Almhult, Sweden. The next stores are in

The services and products offered by IKEA provide value to its customers in various ways. For one, the products and services are very affordable. The products and services are not priced highly and therefore, the average customer can enjoy them. At the same time, the products are of high quality. From IKEA’s slogan “low prices but not at any price”, it is clear that the company prices its products lowly but that does not mean that the quality is compromised. IKEA satisfying its customer’s needs through providing them value for their money as they provide quality products that will last for a long time, and at affordable costs. The fact that the company has set the minimum acceptable standards for its wood, implies that it is also keen on quality and on the environmental impact of its action of making furniture ( Edvardsson, Enquist & Hay, 2006).

We continue to learn from the best practices of our brands and employees to unite and strengthen our efforts across brands, regions and functions as we strive to be the best. We are proud of the progress we have made to date and we recognize that we have opportunity for growth. We are committed to constantly improving our

Today IKEA is progressing towards being one of the top furniture retailers in the world. In 2002, they served 286 million customers through 154 stores resulting in $12 billion in revenue. Although IKEA has several stores placed around the world, they are not always thought of as the most popular furnishing store in America. All the stores are self-service and are based on a do-it-yourself shopping experience. There are few contacts with customer service representatives within the stores, except for when the customer enters the transaction phase of their buying experience.

For example, IKEA provides customer services and facilities such as an in-house restaurant, supervised play area where parents can leave their kids in a safe place while shopping in IKEA, or able to push their children in the pushchairs that IKEA provided.

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.

In this business report on the global retail business IKEA, it will cover the nature of business, influences on operations, operation processes, operation strategies and how the business can sustain competitive advantage. IKEA was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad in Älmhult, Sweden. The business established after and with the money his father awarded him for succeeding in his studies, Kamprad sustained a cash inflow by selling pens, wallets, watches, picture frames, table runners, jewellery and nylon stockings at reduced prices to customers. Although, later on in 1958, IKEA was introduced as a leader of Swedish Furniture Company as they started to produce local furniture by the Swedish local manufacturers, which gained positive attention from their customers. Eventually, developing flat packs of furniture for storage and self assembly, making their signature style of IKEA and turning the small business into a global sensation.

IKEA wants its coworkers to feel important so that they will be able to express their ideas and feel responsible for improving the way things are done (Larsson, Brousseau, Driver, Holmqvist & Tarnovskaya, 2003). For example, on opening day of the original Stockholm store, the warehouse could not cope with the rush of customers. The store manager suggested that they be allowed to go into the warehouse to pick up their purchases. The result was so successful that future warehouses were designed to allow self-selection by customers, resulting in cost savings and faster service (Bartlett & Nanda, 1996).

Ikea has grown into a worldwide phenomenon with an almost like cult following and the world’s largest furniture retailer due in large part to its founder Ingvar Kamprad’s charismatic personality combined with his own philosophy of business management and the Scandinavian style of open management he has parlayed a fortune that will be left to one of his children who has proven their own business acumen by running one of his many companies profitably. According to Kamprad himself in his July 23, 2008 Acticule published by stoked in Major Companies Kamprad states;

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)

The stores have restaurant, childcare facilities and plenty of parking. Customers can drop off their kids at the playroom and have delicious meal when they are tired. All of these not only provide customer with a comfortable shopping environment but also let them make an ‘IKEA trip’ and enjoy the fun of buying. Besides, IKEA’s distinctive show rooms help creating differentiation. Products are strategically placed in different small spaces like rooms which allow customers imaging this furniture in their own home. This makes everything looks more attractive.

The IKEA group sells quality furniture at a low price, to maintain a strong competitor. For that, the company has to try to cut cost without losing quality in the products that it sells.

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.

IKEA is a Swedish multinational group of companies founded by then 17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad in 1943, that design and sell self-assemble furniture like chairs, tables, beds, appliances and home decorations. Since January 2008, IKEA has been ranked as the world’s leading furniture retailer. IKEA has been established by their high quality, well-designed and functional products at affordable prices and they offer great variety of merchandises. Cost conscious approach is followed by employees and managers, which had been started by the founder. Their companies require down-to-earth, straightforward people who want to help accomplish the IKEA vision- “ To create a better everyday life for the many people ”. IKEA’s human resource management