Analysis And Strategy Recommendation Plan For Ikea Brand Essay

IKEA-products are extremely popular, there are very few people that never heard about the yellow-blue brand. Moreover, it will (even) be hard to find people that have no products from IKEA in their houses. This makes us wonder: “Why is IKEA so successful?” We will analyze IKEA’s marketing department to answer this question. We think IKEA’s marketing strategies are very unique and therefore an important factor causing IKEA’s success. Our main belief was that IKEA is a company with a great proficiency in pricing. However, after some readings about the company we discovered all the 4p’s of the marketing mix are very well developed and still very innovative. IKEA’s marketing strategies are based on its democratic design statement; “Democratic design brings good design to the many

Nowadays, the concept of strategy in general and marketing strategy in particular appears very popularly in modern market. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2005, p.1516) defines strategy as “a plan that is intended to achieve a particular purpose” or “the process of planning something or putting a plan into operation in a skilful way”. Chandler, A. D. Jr (1962, p.7) views strategy as “the determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary to carry out these goals”. In another work, according to Anthony, R. N. (1965, p.15), strategy is “the process of deciding on objectives, on the resources used to attain these

In order to assess and give recommendations to IKEA, it is important to fully understand the operations and the values that drive the company, ant its philosophy. Since was founded in 1954 by Ingvar Kamprad the Swedish company’s vision of “creating a better life for the many people” inspired them to develop high quality and lower cost products in the furniture business, and almost a decade later, after they consolidate in the Swedish market, they made the decision to expand abroad opening stores in Northway and Denmark respectively (Exhibit 1). With a relatively rapid expansion the company needed to transmit their unique philosophy and created the testament of a furniture Dealer and trained ambassadors to help spread and secure the firm’s values (Exhibit 3). Furthermore, IKEA’s adopted another principle, the company preferred to focus on establish close ties with business partners and supporting their suppliers in a long-term relationship rather than just

IKEA is rumored to be a very standardized retailer, i.e., a certain set of marketing strategies is used that are the same around the world. This indeed sets IKEA, operating on markets in Europe, US as well as Asia and Australia, apart among international retailers. Often the theoretical conclusions in international

What is a strategy and why is necessary to have one? A strategy can be simply defined as a long term action plan for achieving a goal (InvestorWords.com, n.d., n.p.). Strategies are an integral part in the success of any company and are key in a company 's overall ability to accelerate its sales, gain market leadership, and really power up its revenue growth (Rowe, 2010, n.p.). In other words without a strategically developed strategy a company can not attain its future goals and objectives.

IKEA is a unique Swedish furniture company. The company we so widely recognize today for selling good quality budget friendly Scandinavian style furniture began in 1943 as merely selling pens picture frames and wallets. Ikea was founded by a then 17year old Ivor Kampard, of the farm Elmtaryd near the small village of Agunnard in Smaland, hence giving rise to the name IKEA. This area is know for its thrifty and hard working ethos and Kampard very much incorporated this into his business venture. His innovative idea was to offer home furnishing products of good function and design at prices much lower than competitors by simply using cost-cutting solutions that did not affect the quality of products.

Spatial and place concerns are the most detrimental issues of modern day marketing approach. There has been an increased emphasis on sensory marketing as a new addition to the branding literature (Hoyer). Companies and brands are realising the importance of involving the customer in non-product characteristics of their sale. The retailer is constantly interplaying with various places through different resources including business units, facilities, inventory, and the product or service itself (Heizer). There are many factors that are responsible in conjecture for specific purchase behaviour of a customer. These factors include space, layouts, lighting, furnishing, music, floor, décor, scents and aromas, aisle positioning, and many more. These factors together make up a retail environment which is essentially influential in the sales of a company (Nath).

IKEAs brand image is built on their long term strategic focus to produce products from sustainable materials in an aim to care for the environment and earth’s natural resources. This aligns with IKEAs vales to promote social, environmental and economic development. IKEAs concept of customers shopping for mass produced, standardised products in a ‘self-service’ environment allows for cost efficiency

IKEA, founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, has a vision “to create a better everyday life for the many people”. With its business idea of “offering 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”, IKEA’s operational processes continues to focus on creating quality products and services at low costs as well as environment sustainability. (IKEA, 2016) More than being a furniture merchant, IKEA sells a brand that is easily recognizable, chic, stylish, minimalist and modern. It believes that everyone will leave IKEA store with something they like, be it the products or services. Its success is evident internationally where there are more than 300 stores in 35 countries. (Freden, 2015) The case study will

Ikea, originating from Sweden was started out by Ingvar Kamprad by first selling daily used items and home accessories in the 1940s, over the years it has now evolved to being an established home furnishing company that “designs and retails its own ready-to-assemble furniture, appliances and home accessories”.

In some instances IKEA’s expansion to a new country had lacked sufficient research. This is evident from its expansion to United States and Japan. IKEA entered Japan with a local partner but had failed to win over Japanese consumers as they had underestimated the significance of cultural differences. The rush into Japanese market and Japanese customers’ unacceptance for flat pack and self-assembling their own furniture were some of the reasons for failure. Whereas, in US, IKEA had initially replicates its existing business model and products when in expanded its business operations in that country. However, there arise need to customize its products to cater the local customers’ needs. For instance, American customers demand for bigger beds and closets. Hence, several marketing strategies were also changed for the American

IKEA’s strategy mainly depends on its wide range of products that followed clear and detailed guidelines on range, quality, profile and price. The IKEA catalogue, which is distributed to homes in the area of IKEA stores all over the world at the end of August each year, is the main marketing tool in order to educate customers about the product line and help marketing communication to build relationship and inspire people to come to the stores. (UK essays, 2013)

IKEA is a Swedish furniture store who has become a globally recognised company because they use consumerism strategies to attract more customers and increase their sales. As of 2004, IKEA had more than 200 stores in 32 countries. IKEA also sells around 12,000 different products, making them a one-stop destination for any interior renovation. Their stores are laid out almost like a maze, and customers are provided a map to navigate their way through the store. Many IKEA stores also have Swedish restaurants and they provide a play area for children to be dropped off while parents browse the store. This technique was first used in the Wesnedbury store in England and the store saw a rise in profit and found that customers were spending double the amount of time in the store, to approximately 4 hours. The food that is sold at IKEA is also cheap as a way of making all of the company

　Ikea is not only a furnishings market brand, but also a furniture brand. Through a series of operations, in people 's eyes, Ikea is not simply a purchase house ware places, it represents a way of life. In our mind, Ikea 's success not only depends on its integration of the trade, logistics, but it used to integrate the core idea of trade, logistics-lifestyle (Margonelli, Lisa 2002). As we said before: using Ikea’s products is just like eating McDonald 's, drinking starbucks coffee, becoming a symbol of a lifestyle.

Marketing Chief, Bill Agee, some of the largest segments of shoppers are young families and individuals who are just starting to live on their own (Manners, 2009). IKEA (2011) strives to offer quality furniture at exceptionally reasonable prices for these consumers. IKEA (2011) customers must also be willing to assemble their furniture as most of the products come unassembled in order to lower prices and ease transportation.