IKEA was founded in 1943 and has since revolutionized the furniture industry. It operates 392 stores globally and is the largest furniture retailer. IKEA stays true to its core values of simplicity, innovation, and affordability through ready-to-assemble furniture and easy-to-understand manuals. The company targets both millennials through fun campaigns and middle-class families by offering high-quality, low-cost products. IKEA utilizes strategic marketing approaches like cost reductions, market research, and unique store experiences to attract customers.

2. About IKEA:
• Founded in 1943 in
Netherlands.
• IKEA’s name was derived
from its founder’s initials.
• As a mail order sales
business.

3. About IKEA:
• First store opened in 1958.
• Largest furniture seller
since 2008.
• Operates 392 stores.

4. About IKEA:
• Sold $36.4 billion worth of
goods in 2016.
• One of largest users of
wood.
• Sells ready to assemble
furniture.

5. Brand Values

6. Simplicity:
• Simple yet classy in design.
• Innovative DIY forms of products.
• Very easy-to-understand assembly manuals.

7. Coming of age:
• Gives a unique carnival experience in its stores.
• Collaborating with coming of age celebrities to
establish a fun image.
• Company has a very unique line up of products.

8. User Friendly:
• Product accompanied by detailed manuals.
• Innovated the store experience.
• Cheap and Elegant.

9. Market Targeting

10. Millennials
• IKEA is prevalently extremely
popular amongst millennials .
• IKEA’s image often associated with
coming of age trends leads to this.
• IKEA’s celebrates LGBTQ
community.
• Their one of a kind commercials
and campaigns contribute.

11. Middle Class
Families
• IKEA delivers premium products at
cheap prices.
• Preferred by them as they are
looking for cheap but good
products.
• Has marketing campaigns targeting
them.
• Has attractive facilities in their
stores.

12. Marketing Strategies

13. Core Strategies:
• Annual goal of lowering costs by 1-2%.
• Conducting thorough market researches to serve consumers
better.
• Sources products globally.
• Gives its consumers an one of a kind experience.
• Saves on shipping costs as people buy directly from store.

14. The Store Experience:
• Located generally in outskirts of cities.
• Are built on large properties.
• Walk in experiences.
• Stores generally have a carnival like atmosphere.

15. The Store Experience:
• Some stores also have in store restaurants which serve food at
reasonable prices.
• Some also contain a supermarket.
• Generally contains IKEA Smaland for children.
• Have easy to read catalogues which are widely published.

16. Initiatives:
• Often partners up with charities and UNICEF to conduct
campaigns.
• Uses alternate energy sources to save power costs.
• Often donates to charities.
• Committed towards saving the environment as millennials are
very passionate about it.

17. Popular Marketing
Campaigns

18. IKEA’s Facebook
Tagging Campaign
• In 2009, people tagged themselves on
products.
• The first one to tag themselves won the
product.
• It was widely successful.
• It generated immense word of mouth of
their new catalogue and saved costs.

19. IKEA’s Soft Toys
Holiday Campaign
• During holiday season of 2014, this
campaign was launched.
• IKEA collaborated with UNICEF and Save the
Children.
• For every toy sold, 1 euro was donated.
• It was wildly successful.

20. Summary:
• IKEA, founded in 1943 with its one of a kind products
revolutionised the way we shopped for furniture.
• They sold their products in a trademark DIY form.
• They are consumer specific and stay true to their core
values.
• They are generally associated with coming of age and
millennial’s trends.
• But are also extremely popular amongst working class
families.

21. Disclaimer:
• Created by Varshit Kumar, IIT Bombay, during
a marketing internship under Prof. Sameer
Mathur, IIM Lucknow.