Ikea Case Study

IKEA was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad in Sweden when he was only 17 years old. The name of the retail shop comes from the initial of the founder for the I and K then from the names of the farm and village where he grew that are Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd. There are nowadays around 301 stores across 37 countries with most of them in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia.

The globally retail shop is known all around the world and its success comes from its Swedish heritage where hard work and making the most out of limited resources are important as well as living frugally. In any shop across the world IKEA kept this heritage in its entire product by always offering good quality products for cheap price.

In any IKEA shop all the products kept its original name in Swedish but then translate to the local language. Firstly the Swedish heritage is share around the world by the design of each of the products by using light and bright colours but also the way the products are design as they are modern and useful. IKEA is also know across the world for its original colours blue and yellow that are from the Sweden flag but also for its original idea of assemble it yourself. This process help the company to keep its price low but also it helps the customers to carried it out very easily at home but this is what the Swedish heritage is as there in this country people like to work together and help each other and this is why the company is proud of this process because the customer become part of the process of the product.

Moreover Sweden is also found in each store with the presence of the Swedish traditional dishes with the well-known meatballs that you can find in each store with other local food. Some people only go to IKEA to eat the food at any time and this make the success of the retail shop as it is the first shop that included a restaurant in all the shops which please people as they can eat then go shopping and it is also very cheap around compare to competitors.

There is also a small grocery where you can buy typical Swedish food in the store. The Swedish experience of always caring for others is also found when it is about kids as parents can leave their kids in the area reserve for them and let them have fun there for free which help them to do their shopping in peace. The key of the success of IKEA around the world is that it learn that it was important to keep its roofs but by adapting to the culture of the host country. This is seen in the way it deals with other countries. The company understood that there are cultural differences around the world and try to understand the emotional motivators behind consumer's behaviour.

In each country the company try to work which the stakeholders understanding that it is the company that need them to gain success. The success was easier in develop countries where only the flat packed and stylish product for cheap price were a good arguments for customers