x. Business Philosophy & Business Strategies used.
IKEA customers typically spend between one-and-a-half to two hours in the store – far longer than in rival furniture retailers. This is because of the way it organises its stores – all of which are more or less the same all around the world. IKEA’s philosophy for its stores goes back to the original business, started in southern Sweden by Ingvar Kamprad in the 1950s. At that time Mr Kamprad was successfully selling furniture through a catalogue operation. Since customers wanted to see some of his furniture, he built a showroom in Stockholm – not in the centre of the city where land was expensive but on the outskirts of town. Instead of buying expensive display stands, he simply set the furniture out as it would be in a domestic setting. Also, instead of moving the furniture from the warehouse to the showroom area, he asked customers to pick the furniture up themselves from the warehouse. This almost ‘anti-service’ approach to service is the foundation of IKEA’s stores today.
