IKEA – Sustaining Customer Value  Kamprad, born in 1926 in Sewden was dyslexic. He was hard working and did well at school. He started his first business at the age of 5, buying matchbooks   in bulk and selling them individually. By the age of 10 he was selling stationary items and decorations for christmas trees. At 17 years of age, he started  IKEA with a cash gift given to him by his father for doing well at school. At the time IKEA sold small household goods like pens, wallets, and picture frames. Five years later IKEA got into the furniture business. Furniture manufactured by local manufacturers in remote places was transported to cities using milk trucks. IKEA’s mail order catalog was introduced in 1951. The product prices were so low that people were skeptical about quality of the furniture.  To showcase product quality, an old workshop was rented and converted into a showroom, displaying the furniture. Due to low prices, furniture manufa

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IKEA – Sustaining Customer Value 

Kamprad, born in 1926 in Sewden was dyslexic. He was hard working and did well at school. He started his first business at the age of 5, buying matchbooks   in bulk and selling them individually. By the age of 10 he was selling stationary items and decorations for christmas trees. At 17 years of age, he started  IKEA with a cash gift given to him by his father for doing well at school.

At the time IKEA sold small household goods like pens, wallets, and picture frames. Five years later IKEA got into the furniture business. Furniture manufactured by local manufacturers in remote places was transported to cities using milk trucks. IKEA’s mail order catalog was introduced in 1951. The product prices were so low that people were skeptical about quality of the furniture.  To showcase product quality, an old workshop was rented and converted into a showroom, displaying the furniture.

Due to low prices, furniture manufacturers started bycotting IKEA. To solve the problem, the product design and production was done in-house. Furniture items are bulky and incur high transportation costs. Most of IKEA’s products are packed flat resulting in money savings for customers and IKEA.

The IKEA range of products are managed in-house - designed, produced, showcased, flat-packed, and sold. Kamprad believed that everyone should be able to afford stylish, modern furniture. That is the driving idea behind IKEA. Until his death in 2018, aged 91, Kamprad continued to travel the globe visiting new IKEA stores. Over the years IKEA has grown tremendously yet maintained the same business concept. Today there are 433 IKEA stores in 38 countries.

Questions :

Q1. Examine the role of Kamprad in creating IKEA’s business model.?

Q2. Identify the manner in which the four utilities form, time, place and possession are being fulfilled by IKEA.?

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