IKEA is the world's largest furniture retailer, operating 330 stores across 40 countries. It pioneers flat-pack furniture at affordable prices. To reach consumers globally, IKEA locates stores near cities, offers affordable pricing and customizable products, and transports flat-packed items easily. It also provides services like product delivery, van rental, furniture recycling, kitchen planning, and installation to enhance the customer experience. While its format introduces pros like wide product selection and transport convenience, it also presents cons such as potential quality issues and being overwhelming for some customers.

4. About IKEA
 IKEA is a privately established, international home products franchiser that sells
flat pack furniture, accessories, and bathroom and kitchen items in their store
around the world. The company which pioneered flat-pack design furniture at the
affordable prices is now the world’s largest furniture retailer.
 As the world largest furniture franchisers they offer specific customer service in
many countries. IKEA concept journey continues with its global operation in 40
countries, with 330 stores and 154,000 workers.

5. What are some of the things IKEA is doing right to reach
consumers in different markets?
 Located all over the world (increasing international visibility)
 Easy access to IKEA (stores located a good distance from city centres, customers
generally travel 50 miles round trip)
 Affordable pricing and looking after people interests (value for money)
 Provide uniform products, but also customise products based on customer
preferences (adaptability)
 Items come boxed and require own assembling by the customer hence easy
transportation of the items

7. What else could it be doing?
 Consider online sales/retail
 Make use of social media to increase awareness
 Offer further discounts (e.g. seasonal discounts)
 Expand to new markets e.g. Asia and Africa
 Make use of catalogues for convenience

8. IKEA has essentially changed the way people shop for furniture.
Discuss the pros and cons of this strategy.
PROS
 Wide variety of items displayed and the layout of the shop designed in a one way
format results in customers seeing everything available. They might therefore end
up buying even something that they hadn’t thought about.
 Convenience for the customer because everything is boxed and they do their own
assembling. It makes it easy to transport (on buying and when people move).
 Saving shelf space for other IKEA products and reducing transport costs for the
consumer hence resulting in the lower prices.
 Using unconventional names for their products that people can easily remember
(belief is that people remember names better than they do codes)

9. CONS
 The size and scale of IKEA sometimes affects the quality standards of their
products and therefore negatively affect the view that customers has of them. As
such customers will have to pay more attention to the products they are buying.
 The format of the shop (everything is on floor) can be too overwhelming for the
customers such that they may not even know where to start from .
 Not maximising on the growing technology available for marketing and
advertising , so consumers might end up going elsewhere.
 The fact that that people have to assemble their own items can be problematic for
people who are not good at fixing or assembling items.

10. IKEA- Services management

11. Picking with delivery
“If you want us to pick your furniture and have it delivered to you, we offer a
combined in-store picking and delivery service. Simply place your order with one of
our co-workers and they will arrange the delivery for you.”

12. 24/7 Van hire service
“We've teamed up with Hertz 24/7 to offer you a convenient hourly van rental
service to take your purchase home. From £13 per hour, £30 overnight and £50
per day - In three easy steps you could be driving your van home. Start by
collecting your Member Pack from any of our participating stores* * and in three
easy steps you could be driving your van home. Membership is free for life, and you
can hire in increments of one hour from just £13 + fuel charge, or take advantage of
our overnight rates from £30 or our daily rates (24 hours) from £50.”

13. Furniture recycling
“We are happy to take your existing bed, mattress, sofa or appliance away for you,
when we deliver your new purchase for a non-profit fee. We have partnered with a
number of charity organisations who will try to give your old furniture a new life
with local families in need of some support. In the case that any item is not reusable,
it will be disassembled and recycled with the lowest environmental impact. ”

14. Kitchen planning
“We provide you with everything you need to design your own dream home and our
specialist kitchen co-workers can help you to plan your new kitchen in our stores
using our online planning tools.”

15. Take goods home today
“In addition to our services we also offer a range of useful tools and products to
help you to take your purchases home yourself.
Single use plastic bags are harmful to our environment, that is why we only sell our
reusable blue bags at the check-outs. We also sell the handy FRAKTA trolley for
you to wheel your purchases home in case they are too heavy to carry. ”

16. Kitchen & bathroom installation
We can build and install your kitchen or bathroom for you

17. Curtain making & alteration service
We can help you to customise your curtains