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Live your life, love your home.
The First Days of IKEA Group
IKEA was founded in Älmhult, Sweden in 1943 by Ingvar
Kamprad, then 17. The company name is a composite of the first
letters in his name in addition to the first letters of the names of
the property and the village in which he grew up: Ingvar
Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd. This acronym is incidentally
similar to the Greek word οικία [oikia] (home) and to the
Finnish word oikea (correct, right).
The
Brand
The IKEA brand is the sum total of the emotional and
rational values that consumers associate with the IKEA
tradesmark and the reputation of the company. The
brand image is the result of over 50 years work by
IKEA co-workers at all levels all over the world.
Organization
IKEA is a privately held international low cost home
furnishings retailer.
The retailer was founded in Sweden, but is owned by a
Dutch-registered foundation, controlled by the
Kamprad family.
Inter IKEA Systems B.V. is the owner/franchiser of the
IKEA trademark and the IKEA Concept. It is a
Dutch-registered company, with offices in the
Netherlands, Sweden and Belgium.
Leadership of the IKEA Group
Of the 243 IKEA stores in 34 countries, 216 are
run by the IKEA Group. The remaining 27
stores are run by franchisees outside of the
IKEA Group.
The IKEA has its main center in Leiden, South
Holland, The Netherlands
Marketing Strategy
The IKEA vision, business idea and market positioning statement provide a
framework for all IKEA marketing communication worldwide.
The IKEA vision is "To create a better everyday life for the many
people.“
The IKEA 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 will be able to afford them.“
The IKEA market positioning statement is "Your partner in better living.
We do our part, you do yours. Together we save money."
The IKEA Catalogue
The IKEA catalogue serves as a permanent
invitation to the IKEA store. It provides
constant inspiration, and serves as an
invaluable source of product information
throughout the year. It also contains details on
how to get to the nearest IKEA store and its
opening hours.
Catalogues Distribution
The IKEA catalogue is mass distributed to a substantial nuber of
households in the IKEA store’s Primary Market Area, year after
year , door-to-door, free of charge.
The IKEA Concept
IKEA has always tried to do more with less. This
goes hand in hand with environmental work-touse resources in an economical and careful way.
Three cornerstones in IKEA’s environmental work:
- Recycle Information
- Resource efficiency
- Forestry
An Example of the IKEA Ethic
IKEA found out a few years ago that a supplier
was giving them wood from rainforests; so
they stopped using that supplier, bought their
own forest, and now plant their own trees to
use.
Future Challenges for the IKEA Group
The complexity of the logistics system will increase.
It will be more difficult to respond to national needs and cultural
sensitivity issues.
Franchisees may demand more control over operations.
With all these challenges emerging, it will be very difficult to
maintain a global organizational structure. The best approach
to meet these challenges is to find the proper balance between
country level autonomy and centralized intervention.