Ikea: 10 curiosities about the Swedish furniture chain

Ikea has transformed the way furniture is understood and made furniture and household items more accessible.

Thanks to Ikea we can often change furniture without spending a fortune. Before, you could only find certain things in specialized shops and at much higher prices. For example, we once thought of the sofa or armchair as an important purchase that would last for life.

With the great diffusion and the great efficiency in production, Ikea has become one of the most important companies on the planet.

After talking about the renaming of Bricoman and the reality of the Manomano marketplace , let's continue by discovering 10 interesting curiosities about the most famous Swedish furniture chain in the world.

I'm sure I can tell you at least something you don't know about the Swedish giant.

What is Ikea?

I'll start by explaining first what Ikea is , assuming that there is still someone on the face of the earth who doesn't already know it.
The Ikea reality has more than 300 points of sale in more than 40 countries (many of which in Europe) where it generates 70% of its total turnover. For example, Ikea Italia deals with the management of Ikea stores in Italy.

The other sales centers are located in the rest of the world, such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Asia, the United Arab Emirates, Australia and Morocco.

Ingvar Kamprad is the brilliant founder of this huge-earning empire. According to Forbes, Mr. Ingvar was one of the richest men in the world. Just think that in 2007 he reached the fourth place in the ranking. His greatest merit was knowing how to combine the concepts of low cost and interior design. Unfortunately he passed away in January 2018.

1 - History of Ikea

Did you know that the name IKEA is the acronym of the initials of its founder I ngvar K amprad, of the farm E lmtaryd and of the Swedish village where he was born, namely A gunnaryd.

Ikea was founded in 1943 as a mail order company for everyday items such as pens, matches, watches, seeds and decorations. The very young Kamprad, still a teenager, decided to use the sum of money received from his father as a prize to open his business.

Shortly thereafter, the furniture also became part of the assortment and produced the first catalog: a 16-page publication. From this moment the Ikea catalog becomes a real distinctive sign for the company.

In 1953 the headquarters moved to Älmhult, where Ingvar Kamprad opened the first shop (now home to the Ikea Museum ). From here Ikea began to specialize more and more in furniture, providing design items at advantageous and affordable prices.

The expansion continued and in 1963 the first Ikea store outside of Sweden was opened in Oslo, Norway. Since 1968, Ikea began producing their own furniture by replacing wood with cheaper chipboard. Starting from the sixties, Ikea experienced a strong territorial expansion and in terms of sales points.

In the 1980s, stores were opened in Spain, France, Belgium, the United States, the United Kingdom and Ikea Italy (1989), continuing a development that still seems unstoppable today.

2 - Ikea products and marketing

The product managers in Älmhult (Sweden) take care of the assortment of furniture and furnishing accessories. The principles on which they are based are low price, function and aesthetics. They also carefully evaluate the environmental impact of production. Often the choice of furniture with simple lines is preferred, made with renewable or recycled natural materials .

Ikea's main communication tool is its iconic catalog. In 2020, the company stopped physically printing it.
Did you know that in the UK alone it has been calculated that a tenth of the furniture purchased comes from Ikea? Also in Great Britain they found that one in five children was conceived on an Ikea mattress. In Italy we are on significantly lower averages.

3 - Ikea Family for those who become a member

Like other retail chains, Ikea has its own IKEA FAMILY loyalty card . The card allows access to even more discounted prices.

In fact, the Ikea loyalty program provides free access to seminars in stores and other special offers on products and / or services of partner companies.

Fill out the registration form online or at Ikea points of sale and you will be able to receive your Ikea family card for free and take advantage of special offers, agreements and subsidized loans.

4 - How are the names of Ikea products given?

The names of the objects produced by Ikea furniture are those of Swedish people, places and things . They are established by a special system that determines how to name certain categories of products.

The textiles have proper names for women, the linens have names of plants, chairs and stools for the home, Scandinavian male names, the furniture names of Swedish places and the articles for children names of animals. Other words used are the names of Swedish days, months, rivers and Swedish colloquialisms.

Here are some examples: the Smörboll bed takes its name from a yellow flower typical of Northern Europe, the Knutstorp chaise lounge from the castle where the astronomer Tycho Brahe was born, the name of the Fyrkantig candles is the term "square".

5 - Ikea stores

The structure of the group's stores is similar for each country, but there are differences in size and number of items sold. Usually the shops are divided into an upper floor, dedicated to the furniture showroom and fully furnished rooms, and a lower one, where the market is located, dedicated to furnishing accessories, the self-service for the withdrawal of some items and The boxes.

In each shop there is a restaurant and cafe serving Swedish food specialties and a shop selling Scandinavian gastronomic products. Also known is the playground " Småland ", which means "little land".

6 - The new concept of Ikea stores

In 2021 Ikea decided to try a new type of store in Shanghai. This is not the usual maze of furniture, sofas and kitchens, but an open space where people can do more than just buy furniture and objects.

For example, attend a theatrical performance in a reserved space. But it is also possible to meet friends and spend an evening with friends.

There are also courses where they explain how to recover our old objects to transform them into something new. All this in the name of sustainability and the circular economy.

7 - Ikea Italy

Ikea Italia is present in numerous Italian cities , including Padua, Catania, Rome, Bari. Various functional, good quality and eco-sustainable products are offered at a low and accessible price.

The declared goal of Ikea Italia is to combine its idea of a sustainable future with the needs of as large a number of customers as possible.

Ikea in Italy has dozens of stores (more than 20) and has a turnover of several billion euros. I would add that it employs several thousand employees (more than 6000).

Furthermore, Italy is the third country, after China and Poland, from which Ikea purchases the raw materials used to produce it.

8 - Ikea website

The Ikea site is the king of low-cost furniture. Ikea has created a site where you can appreciate the simplicity and practicality of the objects and furniture for sale. They are all products of clear Nordic inspiration, designed mainly for housing solutions of a few square meters.

Do you need furniture? On the Ikea website you will find thousands of them, with the ability to customize the furniture according to your personal needs.

There is also a section dedicated to inspirations on the Ikea website, where you can find many ideas for furnishing outdoor spaces, a mix of colors for the table, a section dedicated to leisure and much more.

9 - How to find furniture on the IKEA website?

Availability of Ikea products in a store or on their website.

• Search or browse IKEA.it to find the product you want;
• Select the store to see the availability of the products;
• View real-time availability of products.

 

10 - Reinvent your home with Ikea Planners

Do you want to design the interiors of your home like a real architect? Choose the furniture and change the positions until you are satisfied, then save the project on the Ikea server and consult it directly in the store together with an expert.

You can modernize all environments, from the dining room, making the most of the living space, with rugs, lamps, and objects for the home, but also thanks to space-saving solutions.

Conclusions on Ikea

As I have already told you, Kamprad's winning idea was to create low cost furniture and furnishings. This makes the house a place where you can dress up and change whenever you want.

By the way, I conclude our journey by recommending you some of my favorite Ikea furniture:

• Billy bookstore;
• Rens carpet;
• Lack coffee table;
• Malm bed;
• Kallax shelf;
• Klippan sofa;
• Poäng chair;
• Frosta stool.