Photo: IKEA
What legacy did IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad leave to retail?
In his obituary of Ingvar Kamprad, James Hagerty at The Wall Street Journal wrote that both IKEA’s founder and Sam Walton “slashed prices and rallied their employees with folksy wisdom. But Mr. Kamprad’s IKEA has proved more of a global success story than Mr. Walton’s Walmart Inc.”
Many columns underscored how IKEA changed furniture design to embrace “lagom” — the Swedish spirit of minimalism and balance. The philosophy was highlighted in a “Chuck Out The Chintz” campaign that ran in the United Kingdom in the mid-nineties. The simplified design was part of an underlying goal of making affordable furniture for everyday people.
Wrote Michele Koh Morollo for Dwell, “By offering simplicity and value — and improving the design, manufacturing, and distribution of furniture and homes accessories — Kamprad made it easier and more convenient for everyone to live well in affordably and smartly furnished homes.”
Among the steps IKEA took to lower costs was locating stores in remote areas outside cities, buying materials at a discount, minimizing staff and promoting self-service at the store level while emphasizing non-lacquered, flat-pack and home-assembled furniture.
Warren Shoulberg, a consultant to the home furnishings industry, told The Washington Post, “IKEA showed up and said, you can buy something and use it for a couple of years — or you can keep it longer — but this isn’t necessarily something you’re going to pass down to your kids or your grandkids. That was a remarkable transition.”
Less mentioned in the OBITs has been IKEA’s in-store experience characterized by blue Frakta shopping bags, the accessible trolleys and Swedish meatballs, and in especially its maze-like shopping routes.
“You often can’t see what is coming next and fear you’ll miss something you need if you don’t continue all the way along the path,” wrote Catherine Jansson-Boydfor for Australia’s Marketing Magazine. “There are potential escape points throughout the store, but that would mean that you will miss several of the sections, and rarely consumers are prepared to take that risk.”
- Ingvar Kamprad Built Global IKEA Chain From a Single Furniture Store in Sweden – The Wall Street Journal
- Ingvar Kamprad, Founder of IKEA and Creator of a Global Empire, Dies at 91 – The New York Times
- How IKEA Founder Ingvar Kamprad Built an Empire Out of Swedish Resourcefulness – Dwell
- The IKEA effect: how Ingvar Kamprad’s company changed the way we shop – The Washington Post
- The IKEA effect: how Ingvar Kamprad’s company changed the way we shop – Marketing Magazine
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: How would you assess what Ingvar Kamprad and IKEA brought to retail? What’s your favorite/least favorite parts of the IKEA shopping experience?
Poll
BrainTrust
Peter Luff
President, Ipsos Retail Performance
Charles Dimov
Vice President of Marketing, OrderDynamics
IKEA has revolutionized furniture and home furnishings retailing in several ways. It developed a low-cost operating and sourcing culture that passed along savings to its customers, developing an almost cult-like global reputation in the process. For all the jokes about the difficulty of assembling IKEA furniture, there is no doubt that millions of customers own home furnishings of decent quality that would once have been out of reach.
As to the in-store experience, I shopped the IKEA at the Mall of America last summer and it seemed noticeably easier to navigate than I remembered. (And yet I worked my way through the entire store.) Maybe IKEA has taken seriously the critique that its shoppers are like lab mice lost in a maze.
And yes to the meatballs … but don’t miss the lingonberry preserves near the checkout lanes!
Experimentation, a fresh, simple new approach and a light practical appeal. Ingvar brought in fresh new ideas, a willingness to take a risk and to change with the practical needs of the middle class. Although, I personally always dreaded shopping at IKEA on a Saturday and taking the long route through the store, I must admit that I always walked out with an exciting new piece that freshened up our place and brought in some creative flair.
Simply an innovator. IKEA retail is an experiential event, from meatballs to furniture. He created the archetypal destination shopping experience, years ahead of others. Traditional slow-moving furniture design suddenly became fast moving, fun and affordable. On the flip-side the chaos at the payment area has been far too much for me and keeps me away from IKEA stores today.
He transformed retail from transaction to experience. It is a lesson still unlearned by the industry.
IKEA is an event. Entertainment. Immersion. They don’t need a store 10 minutes from your home as shoppers will travel hours to go there.
He started by creating furniture that was more than get-away-with-it and cheap. It was actually good furniture, simple, timeless and affordable. This got the people into the stores and coming back. The experience evolved and lead to even more sales. This is the love-hate part for me though. I can’t just run in to get one thing. My problem, their gain and my 2 cents.
Few people can claim to have genuinely revolutionized retail. Ingvar Kamprad did.
When he founded it, IKEA was markedly different than anything that had existed in retail. Much of this difference was down to Ingvar’s Swedish heritage and instincts.
He believed that home furnishings should be democratic; that people of all income levels should be able to afford to decorate and furnish their homes stylishly and comfortably. He also believed in thrift, efficiency and hard work.
Putting these two concepts together, gave rise to the revolutionary idea of flat-pack furniture. Distributing flat-pack was much more efficient and economical than shipping fully made items. It also divided the effort – prices were lower because the customer had to assemble the product; that was the trade-off or compromise.
IKEA made it easy to shop for just about everything you need – and probably didn’t know you needed – for your home. It enhanced the shopping experience with product placement and room settings that make it easy and fun to shop. The Swedish product names, like Mammut and Periska, make you smile as you wind your way around the endless loop aisles of the store. If you’re hungry, grab some Swedish meatballs in the restaurant or shop unencumbered while your kids play in Smaland. You don’t run into IKEA to grab one thing, Ingvar Kamprad created a place where shoppers spend the entire day.
IKEA made my life easier each time we helped outfit our kids’ first apartments. It was one-stop shopping. Easy. Done. Check out can be a hassle, especially on weekends, but my least favorite thing about IKEA is having to put items together once we get them home; praying we have all the parts we need, and getting it right the first time.
I think Tom summed it up correctly: a philosophy that put cost (minimization) above everything else … an idea that has both advantages and as we have often seen and discussed, disadvantages.
Ingvar Kamprad brought to life what retailers today still strive for — a great in-store experience that makes the shopping visit memorable for the customer providing a true sense of discovery and delight while building solid loyalty to the brand. And to think he did it without digital technology! A model of experiential retail that today’s retailers can still learn from.