IKEA Creates In-Store Man Cave
The dirty little secret is out. Many guys don’t like walking around a cavernous IKEA trailing their female partners. To its credit, IKEA in Australia has recognized this and launched MÄNLAND.
For those not familiar, MÄNLAND is IKEA’s way of taking some of the dread out of going to its stores for guys. The concept is pretty simple: an in-store man cave with sports on the television, foosball and pinball machines, massages, free hot dogs, chips and drinks.
According to an Adweek report, MÄNLAND is "modeled off the actual IKEA toddler-care area — and women are given a buzzer to remind them to collect their significant other after 30 minutes of shopping."
Responses on the store’s Facebook page were largely positive, although some questioned the 30-minute limit.
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions: What do you think of the MÄNLAND concept? Is this something that can and should be repeated in other retail situations?
If it gets guys to go in and shop, why not? Could there be a corollary to women at an automotive parts store, a sports bar — who knows? Will guys come back repeatedly? Doubtful, but like with a fussy infant, it might just give mom more time to shop — and that has to increase sales.
This might be the only way to get me to go to an IKEA with my wife! While I completely admire the brilliance of their traffic flow model, trying to navigate the store with the rest of the ‘sheep’ is for me, and many men, too mundane, drawn out and painful. Don’t misunderstand … it works for them. But give men a chance to avoid the experience and they will. This is more brilliance on IKEA’s part because now more men may actually want to go to their store. Too bad it is just a temporary installation.
I like this idea but again, this provides a distraction from a potential customer that could increase the basket. Okay, so the man is bored; at least let them walk around and browse instead of shoving non-sale elements in their face. I personally would not implement such a strategy, but perhaps change around certain sections of the store to appeal to the man cave wanting dudes that walk around the store aimlessly. Or better yet, bring in products that would compliment a man cave. There’s a novel idea!
I think it a great idea and could be extended to other retail formats. Men tend to go into a location, buy what they are looking for, and leave. It is not retail therapy. It is something that has to be done in order to fulfill whatever need they have at the moment. This is especially true in a store like IKEA where many men don’t really care about the item(s) being selected. I do agree that in IKEA, 30 minutes is not sufficient time for a decision to be made, but it might be in some clothing stores and other formats.
This is an idea that would work not only in other IKEA stores but in all sorts of retail settings. In fact, the traditional regional mall typically has a female-centric tenant mix and could use a similar idea. Just providing a seating area (as many malls do) is a courtesy but not an incentive to extend the shopping trip. Let’s see if an enterprising mall developer follows suit.
IKEA may be on to something.
It would — at the very least — substantiate the longstanding claims of some feminists that the only difference between men and boys is their age.
But seriously … those poor men … dragged through the big, bad store by their insensitive, harpy-tongued, mindless shopping machines of a female companion.
Thank God somebody brought the couch, nachos and football game!
Really?
Men forced to shop IKEA in such great numbers that they need a sanctuary?
Man cave?
Really?
Like there aren’t women who would rather park themselves for half an hour while their male partners wander around DIY Land lost in their fantasies of using their impact drivers to assemble permanent domestic tributes to the power and glory of pressed wood?!
There may be a way to make this idea more offensively stereotypical.
Perhaps IKEA could dig out those old Playboy Bunny costumes from the 1960s that are all the rage of NBC this season and have Bunnies serve the poor, long suffering boys.
Gender neutral customer lounge — good idea.
Man cave — cave man thinking.
I think that it is very good and creative marketing gimmick. Should make it easier for some wives to get their husbands to go to IKEA and at the very least makes for interesting conversation. The buzz and free publicity that this generates is not a small thing.
I love it. Just drop me off and shop until you drop.
Ahhh! Thank you IKEA. There is a G_d out there looking after us. I am one who despises shopping. I am a buyer. I go to a store knowing what I need; and that is usually what I leave with. I agree withe the video customer who said going to IKEA is a 14 on a scale of 1 to 10. That is to say it is not IKEA that is the problem. It is the shopping and stopping and looking. Boring!
Now to the “man cave.” While it is a good idea that will entice the male to go to a store; I can see it also as something that will allow him to tolerate his wife possibly spending more. For me, it is OK for my wife to go and let me stay home watching football.
The 30 minute thing is like milking the cow and then kicking the bucket over. We do have a need for rules and bureaucracy don’t we — even in the most casual of situations?
The key is to listen in on the aisle-way and parking lot conversations of real people. What are they really saying and thinking? Forget the focus groups and surveys — that’s all artificial marketing stuff.
A friend used to have a very successful women’s clothing store outside of Toronto. Simple listening resulted in loungers and TVs for guys (no time limit), a full juice and coffee bar (he used to brag about having even grape juice for kids to show how much he trusted customers), change rooms so large you could rent them for banquets and gas money if you drove all the way out there and didn’t like the place. And that was at least 20 years ago!
Greatest concept since they put benches and sports bars in malls. I would be more than happy to “assist” in the shopping experience if I could wander off and watch a sports event and relax and still be there to carry the many purchases out to the car.
What a great concept! More retailers should have space for men to relax while shopping with women. It would make the shopping experience better for both sexes.
This sounds like a great way to keep couples in the store after exceeding the limited attention span some men may have for looking at furniture. No longer will the distaff side be limited in their examinations of Swedish furniture by their companions’ demands for comfort, which means more wandering and, presumably, more sales.
Obviously, there’s the potential for sales at the man cave itself. What better way to sell the ingredients for a personal man cave than at a store’s one already set up? IKEA should probably emphasize a soft sale strategy though; no one wants to be banged over the head by a salesman at a location that is supposedly a refuge from sales.
And, of course, the umlaut makes it extra manly.
IKEA’s Manland works as a short-term publicity stunt. But beyond garnering some press, e-chatter and word-of-mouth, the only thing Manland seems to succeed at is perpetuating outdated stereotypes of males and male shoppers — “daycare for husbands,” “mantrums,” “long-suffering male shoppers,” “imbecilic toddlers.” Really?!?!
I remain a fan of store lounges for shoppers who want to rest a bit, wait for family members and friends, enjoy a snack, and/or be mildly entertained by videos, TV, music, magazines, etc. But couching such lounges in caveman stereotypes falls well short of a real understanding of the various types of male shoppers, as well as their lifestyles, needs and behaviors.
If Manland were launched six or seven years ago, I might have felt different. But in 2011, it just feels dated. A more current approach to reaching both males and females would be slipping the IKEA offering into the everyday lives of consumers by, for example, creating an IKEA Pop-Up Lounge and taking it to major events so consumers could sample the IKEA wares outside the store in a casual, fun atmosphere.
I think IKEA would have been better off thinking of ways to make the IKEA experience more appealing to men. Men can be impulse purchasers and the IKEA aisles are full of impulse purchase opportunities. While guys hang out “in the cave,” gobbling down hotdogs (and other stereotypes…), they sure are not shopping. Thumbs down from me on this one.
As a divorced dad I would hate the predictable request of my tween girls to “go to the mall” every time they would visit.
Then I found AF — and those big comfy leather chairs placed right in the middle of the store where I could watch the girls from store floor to dressing room to checkout.
Perfect.
In deference to Ryan’s typically brilliant satire — I agree they should let women who’d rather nosh than shop with their significant other in as well.
Any time there are “tag along” shoppers, the retailer would be best served by providing them with some “time filling” activities. The activities need to reflect the target “tag along” shoppers with the ideal option being an activity that appeals to the “tag along” which might increase sales. In the IKEA example, the “man cave” might highlight products that it offers that guys are interested in, for example, storage, workplaces and outdoor products.
I can generally entertain myself at an IKEA by looking at all of the products and estimating how much of my weekend it would require to assemble each. But if corporate management has determined that wives buy more while their spouses are watching football with other men, then I will join the boys in Manland and enjoy. Heck, put in a tap and pour some cold ones, I would take no offense. I can’t until the management at Cabela’s unveils its Wife Corral–or the reaction that would bring about.
Great concept on the outset, except for one tiny drawback: THE MEN AREN’T SHOPPING. Why not place man-friendly products for sale in the ‘man cave’?
Somehow I am straining to connect “Man” and IKEA. Berkley grads and lost children of the ’60s maybe, but real men? Maybe when they open a Skjutvapen Butik on the first floor….
This made me laugh out loud, especially the Aussie news video.
I suppose we could act all mock serious about the social import of MANLAND in a world where women are more empowered than ever, and men are slipping ungloriously toward the status of bill-paying house pets.
Too bad we males are so undependable that we can’t be left home safely while our keepers venture out for a giddy retail excursion. Luckily for us, we are still handy for grilling things, carting out the trash and lifting heavy objects onto the roofs of our SUVs.
Seems to me they should have named it Mandergarten.
I can see the concept working in other similar retailers. It’s a brilliant idea. While 30 minutes is not nearly enough time, it is plenty of time to brand and sell to a very willing male audience.
Take away the fun aspect of Manland and it’s really a 30 minutes merchandising opportunity for IKEA. The masculine shopping behavior of a married man is very different than that of a single man — he has turned over all decisions on home decorating to his spouse or mate — so this concept allows the retailer to remind men they have choices and desires they can satisfy at the store.
Excuse me, but don’t most women take men along because they want them to be there regardless of how the men feel? If the men are going to stay in their own little play area, they might as well stay at home. If ’twere me, they might lose a customer for giving my man the excuse to humor me by coming but then irritate me by preferring to behave like a child and not provide the emotional support I need during the shopping “experience.” (Not that I would be caught dead in an IKEA myself, anyway, having broken my own rule by going back a second time after swearing off after the first visit. There will NOT be a third visit, come what may.)
I guess this concept could help if it means avoiding the initial browsing stage of the visit that my wife could complete. I’d gain some time for whatever I need or want to do (likely iPad-based) and then just be a part of the buying decisions. However, IKEA stores are generally designed to flow shoppers through the journey in a carefully managed way, so wouldn’t be that conducive to a browse then buy approach.
It would be better to browse on line then either order online or visit the store if necessary. Personally if I don’t need to be at the store then I’d rather not go at all. IKEA as a destination for TV watching and hot-dog eating doesn’t appeal too much!
I get this concept more for a Mall experience and especially if kids are involved, but not sure it would make much difference to my IKEA shopping.
I love the name MANLAND. I’m so happy to see that we men have moved beyond the bench at the front of the store. I use to work at the original MANLAND…The Sharper Image. Wives would drop off husbands there all of the time.
There are certain malls that already have MANLANDs…called the bar. Other than that, it’s smart business to engage anyone with a buyer who has the potential to distract them. More stores should do this.
By the way, the 30-minute limit is just stupid. What, do you they think our wives are just going to drop us off for the night and then go out with the girls? Why would you rush the shopper?
This to me seems like just one more effort in the current marketing and advertising trend that furthers the stereotypical man.
I made it through the 4.5 years that young Ms. Scanner spent in college without a trek to IKEA. I see no need to make one now or in the future.
Oddly, but maybe not, I have never minded pleasing my wife by accompanying her shopping or anywhere else she wanted my company. If anything, she reciprocates that pleasure by doing the same for me. She even doesn’t mind that I have a coffee while I accompany her. I consider it part of being grateful that she’s my wife and that she actually would even want my company after this long.
But then again, women are just dumb blondes that have as their top intellectual capability the activities of shopping, salons and getting their nails done right? Just as men are only oafs that can’t focus beyond an NFL game, waxing the car and drooling their food down their NASCAR t-shirt right? Come on! We should expect more of each other and have more respect for each other than the need for a man cave. Women should be just as offended by this type of continuous pigeonholing as men really should be by now.
Together Mrs. Scanner and I spent hours roaming car shows and cruises all summer long. If she wants to shop, I’m all about that.
The idea that men continue to allow these types of imaginary stereotypical pictures of them to continue to flourish is quite absurd — quite!
I’m sorry folks. A gender neutral lounge area — sure. A man cave? That gets a big thumbs down — BIG thumbs down.
I think it’s nuts, really. If we can’t figure out how to have “Manland” at retail all the time (depending on brand, but certainly IKEA), then the thought of appealing to 49% of the population doesn’t excite you. It’s also a little primitive…would we ever create “Womanland”? I doubt it.
Retail is currently so female driven (for good reason, I get it) that the thought of selling to every other person has become a strange marketing phenomenon, equivalent to adding playgrounds to the front of restaurants. It’d be good for us all to think a little more holistically…it might even drive sales.
Sears has been doing this type of babysitting for years. The women drop the men off in the tool department while they go shopping in the mall.
Great idea! This will keep the balance in retail shopping positive. IKEA has a great idea that many retailers need to copy!
Nontraditional tactics like these generate buzz, and get people into the retail stores. But they’re nuance-y, and have to be executed with precision to be sure they provide the customer with the right type of experience. What if, in fact, this mancave idea caused couples to fight? Or do men really want to hang out in IKEA? Will people really use it?
And also, are the men that MANLAND caters to expected to want to purchase the items there? If that IKEA doesn’t have a ‘kids center’, do the moms then have to take their kids shopping while the husbands relax?
Again, the idea here is great for generating buzz. But there seem to be some definite holes in the implementation. My core POV is that hiring an agency that specializes in this area of expertise is essential. They help you understand your audience, and gauge whether these out-of-the-box ideas can be executed properly.
I think we’ll have to keep an eye on how this works out for IKEA. But just because one wild idea doesn’t work, doesn’t mean you don’t aim to employ them going forward. It just has to be done right.
OMG! The answer is just don’t go shopping — hang out in your own man cave or better still, go cycling! Buy online and have it delivered. If you’re only going because the packages are too heavy, have IKEA provide carry-out boys to “help” the girls!
I can see that it could prevent some breakups and encourage more thoughtful shopping on both sides.