Lewis, E.2005. Great Ikea! A brand for all the people. London: Cyan Communications Ltd
Georgina - IKEA case study
Catherine - Taste, matchy consumer
Beth - Era's (scanned pages coming soon!)
Ikea has democratised the whole business of home making,
making furniture and household goods affordable to all. P.6
On the other hand, Ikea has made furniture a disposable
fashion item, a symbol of the way modern consumer society has corrupted our
sense of value – no one buys an item of Ikea furniture to hand down to future
generations. P.6
It is rare for a brand to have such an impact on society.
Ikea persuade us that fashion is no longer what you wear, but how your home is
decorated. It had played a crucial role in driving the rise and rise of fashion
in the home. P.14
There’s a “Topshop” fashion mentality, furniture has become
disposable and transient. Ikea is a brand that gives you an opportunity for
self-expression. P.14
We use our homes to project our personal identity. You can’t
control the outside world, but can control inside your home and make it look
nice. P.14
Ikea has made designers of us all. Buying some accessories
and feeling like you’ve made a whole difference p.15
The quality will be different, but the homes will look
similar. P.20
Dr Viviano Narotsky, senior researcher fellow in the history
of design at RCA. She believes that: “The differences in taste and furnishing
between income groups used to be more defined – they liked different things.
Now they like the same style. It’s a measure of popularisation of taste.” P.20
Dr Narotsky believes that Ikea reflects post-modernism. The
domestic space has become a closed expression of individual identity and is
ever-changing. P.21
There’s a supermarket mentality about furniture nowadays – it’s
disposable. The home fits into the shopping cycle like food and fashion. P.21
Ikea believes that is has impacted social change. Employees
are quite clear that they have educated the masses about how to furnish their
homes. We’ve taught people about symmetry, getting the dimensions tight and
about lighting and knowing where to place objects p.21
The Ikea generation. We buy sofas and tables for a quick
fashion fix. Each home, each room set reflects a certain moment in time –
there’s the student pad, the bachelor pad. p.22
Our parents have a very different relationship with
furniture. The things I inherit from my parents I’ll pass on. But it won’t be
Ikea because their furniture doesn’t pass the test of time. P.22
Ikea is an anti-marketing brand. On paper it doesn’t work.
It never asks its customers what they want, but tells them instead. P.23
Whether you love or hate the Swedish ministry of furniture,
be sure about one thing – Ikea loves you. That is, as long as you’re prepared
to work for its affection – by assembling your own furniture, fetching your
stuff from the warehouse. P.23
Ikea gives you a feeling of being useful and practical –
you’re doing something tangible for your home. P.24
Ikea’s way of shopping, of putting your stuff together and
taking it home – this is an innovation Ikea owns. This is why it’s so cheap and
this is what differentiates it from the competition. P.24
The Swedish delicacies in the restaurant and in the food
shop at the end of the store are all part of the Ikea experience. P.69
Sweden’s neutrality means that it is well liked abroad and
its “Swedishness” has been a help rather than a hindrance during Ikea’s
international expansion. P.74
Designing products that could be flat packed and assembled
by customers enabled Ikea to cut costs significantly. They no longer wasted
money transporting empty space with its products, and lowered both its storage
and transport costs. P.82
Ikea’s innovation lies not only in designing for the mass
market, but also in its production. Ikea’s mission “to improve the everyday
life of the many people” drives everything it does and leads to astonishing
feats of low cost, good design. P.84
One of Ikea’s entrenched competitive advantages, difficult
to replicate, is quite simply that the product itself looks more expensive than
it is. P.93
Sourcing cheap materials is essential for Ikea’s low prices.
P.93
Ikea is like a museum of the modern world. Herd-like
instincts are encouraged. P.100
Most major corporations don’t provide on-site childcare, yet
Ikea does – for free. P.103
It’s also replaced the family day trip. Going to Ikea at the
weekend is the new family outing. P.104
Each room set has been carefully crafted by an Ikea designer
to appeal to a certain type of person. There is a Scandinavian style, a country
style (which works well in England), a modern style, and a “young Swede” style.
P.104
When the Ikea designers prepare a room set they have got a
detailed picture of customers in their head: what kind of clothes they wear,
what kind of car they drive, what kind of taste they have – every detail. P.104
The Ikea pathway makes it almost impossible to stick to a
list. Even the most disciplined shoppers will find it hard not to be tempted
into buying something they didn’t even know they wanted until they saw it in an
Ikea display. It’s a clever selling device, and manipulates people into buying
things they hadn’t previously considered. P.104
Ikea people always say that their range is their identity.
It’s a mountain of choice rather than a carefully edited selection. Rather than
get people through the store quickly and conveniently, they march them past
every single item. P.105
There’s more to self-assembly furniture than another Ikea
cost-cutting measure. It becomes a tool of evangelism, another moral crusade that
teaches you the value of good, honest, Swedish hard work. And that’s why we
feel attached to our Ikea furniture – the ritual ties us closer to our
purchases. P.114
Advertising needs to cajole consumers to accept the
possibility of disposable, fashionable furniture. This is furniture that you
change and swap when you get bored; you don’t buy a sofa for life any more.
P.118
Ikea’s philosophy was that if you can’t change the product
you’ve got to change people à
change people’s taste p.123
New advertising brief was to persuade people that modern was
good for them and change their taste. P.124
Ikea’s advertising always works best when it has an enemy.
In 1996 in Britain, it was chintz. P.124
The most potent symbol of British taste in the home was
chintz – a floral, country-house style fabric that dresses English sofas,
cushions, beds, and windows. “Chuck out your chintz”, an ad that urged women to
spring clean their homes to make room for some Scandinavian style, was launched
in Autumn 1996. P.124
It’s easy to forget that Ikea’s most powerful weapon is its
catalogue. It’s read more widely than the Bible. It’s the crown jewels of Ikea’s
communications. In 2004, 145 million copies of the catalogue were printed in 48
editions and 25 languages. P.133
The catalogue persuades us that Ikea can tidy and transform
our chaotic, hectic lifestyles. P.133
Ikea’s expansion model is simple and unsophisticated. You
only need one set of instructions to assemble an Ikea store where you are in
the world. P.157
What other brands can learn from Ikea: p.187
1.
Ikea has a meaningful purpose. It understands
that the way to make money is to be dedicated to a vision.
2.
Ikea is driven by long-term thinking rather than
short-term sales pressure.
3.
Ikea understands the importance of being honest
and transparent
4.
Ikea rarely asks its customers what they want,
but uses good design, low prices, and challenging advertising to persuade them
5.
Ikea turns problems and difficulties into
opportunities.
How taste has changed in UK (click to zoom in)
BETH USEFUL FOR YOU?
