How many times have you entered the IKEA store with the intention of buying an item, and ended up loaded with many items that you did not even realize that you need them?
This condition is more common than you might think.
Ingvar Fyodor Kamprad, the founder of the IKEA chain of stores, who died in early 2018, not only created a chain of stores, but was able to create a different and distinctive shopping experience that pushes customers to buy more and creates a strong relationship between them and IKEA, so what is the secret of this relationship?
Ingvar Fyodor Kamprad was born in a small county in southern Sweden in March 1926, and began his working life at an early age, when he began in his childhood at the age of five selling matches and pencils.
After that, he worked in selling Christmas decorations, greeting cards, stationery, etc., and was able to accumulate his small profits to open his first store in 1943 at the age of seventeen. In 1948 he realized the market’s need for good furniture at reasonable prices, so he began to display furniture manufactured by local manufacturers In his shop at affordable prices, targeting middle and low-income customers.
The furniture business was very successful, and then he decided to publish a small brochure called "Ikea News" to market his products, which later evolved into IKEA's Illustrated Guide.
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Today, there are 422 IKEA stores around the world, attracting more than 957 million visits annually.
But the question remains: Why do we love IKEA stores, and how do we buy more and more things every time, is it just the difference and distinction of what IKEA offers?
Or are there hidden tricks that push us towards buying more?
The IKEA shopping experience makes customers part of the game. In a recent study published by the Journal of Consumer Psychology, it provided a scientific explanation of what it called the IKEA effect, which it defined as a cognitive bias that makes the consumer give higher value to the products he participated in building. Partly, as the consumer depends on the effort and time they put into building this product.
Assembling furniture is similar to building blocks, but for adults, where the correct completion of the task gives them a sense of accomplishment that creates a sense of satisfaction associated with the product. (3)
According to Alan Bean, a professor at University College London, IKEA stores are designed like a maze, which prompts customers to walk through the entire store before leaving. (4) The corridors are also designed to push you to bend every 50 feet to follow the curves in front of you, which increases the Feeling curious about what stands behind those corners that you cannot see, and to satisfy your curiosity, you should walk in the corridors for as long as possible.
The store is divided into two main sections:
The first: It
is the showroom through which you can wander through the different rooms and homes with different areas that you see on the pages of the pictured guide. You will be able to touch and try the products, sit on the chairs, and sleep on the beds.
During your trip, you will encounter many things that you can take with you that you may not have planned to buy, for example: ceramic pots at affordable prices, batteries, light bulbs, candles, and many small things that you will find paid to buy.
According to Alan Bean, the customer finds himself motivated to pick up these small purchases and put them in blue shopping bags so that he does not have to go back and cut these confusing, maze-like roads.
The second section:
is the warehouse (and before you reach it you have to go through the IKEA restaurant, which we will talk about later), you will reach the warehouses to find the trolleys specially equipped to transport the disassembled and packaged pieces of furniture in a flat flat manner to carry it with you easily.
Look for the parts you made on your list, and when you get there, simply carry them onto the trolley, yes!
These little boxes hold your whole new bedroom. (5)
At the beginning of your shopping journey, you will find pencils, empty shopping lists waiting for you to fill out, and measuring tape as well, carry your equipment and start your journey, and if a piece of furniture catches your attention, you will have to write its number and data from the notes on the card attached to it, which creates an inner feeling With commitment, according to Demetris Sivrikos, Professor of Consumer Psychology and Business at University College London, the key to IKEA's success is to make the consumer aware of responsibility from the start of the shopping journey, and IKEA employees are trained not to offer help until you ask for it. Pen and paper and write down the information you need, and even collect pieces of furniture yourself from warehouses, and finish installing the pieces of furniture yourself at home. (6)
Did you notice that there are no windows in the showroom?
Sometimes the experience of shopping at IKEA is like entering a time capsule in which you do not feel the time has passed, and the whole day may pass without you realizing (unless you look at your watch of course). All IKEA branches are designed in this way to ensure that you spend more time without feeling the passage of time, of time Longer definitely means higher sales.
IKEA pays great attention to the family, and to the children in particular, so you will always find suitable seats for children in the restaurant, a special room for changing diapers in the bathroom, and the most important of all is the Småland games area at the start of the store.
If you have children then you definitely know how the experience of shopping with children can turn into hell if the child suddenly becomes tired, sleepy, bored, or suddenly cries.
For a less stressful shopping experience, IKEA provides a play area where you can leave your children safe, and enjoy shopping without worry.
IKEA restaurant website is one of the smart weapons in the IKEA shopping experience, as in the middle of a shopping trip you are attacked by the smell of famous Swedish food.
You will definitely sit down to relax and have your lunch, especially with those low prices that will encourage you to eat more, and perhaps sip a cup of coffee (available free of charge if you are an IKEA family card holder).
After filling your stomach with delicious Swedish food, you will be able to continue your shopping experience with pleasure, and make your purchasing decisions faster.
Even after the shopping trip is over and the money is paid into the accounting box, there is one last offer that you will not be able to refuse, as you will find a Swedish food store in front of you.
Do you remember the delicious meatballs and the delicious coffee you just had?
You can now buy it and take it home with you.
Before reaching the checkout area you will have to go through more offers in large quantities, perhaps picking up a serving tray, egg slicer, cleaning brush, or a stuffed toy for your children, all in front of you in large quantities and cheap prices that motivate you to buy. (5)
Getting to IKEA requires a drive of at least 20 minutes, as most IKEA branches are usually located on the outskirts of the city, and this is how the buying experience is complete, so IKEA is not the place you pass by by chance, but rather the store you seek to go to, which prompts you to buy unconsciously. So that you feel your efforts are not wasted. (7)
IKEA is keen all the time to emphasize its constant desire to have a positive impact on the planet and people, for example, they work to reach 100% renewable energy consumption, and they are keen on sourcing cotton and wood from more sustainable sources.
They also reuse materials and are keen to use environmentally friendly materials, for example, they replaced paper bags and bags made of organic plastic with those made of traditional plastic.
They are also concerned with issues of women's empowerment and equality, and according to their location, up to 48% of senior management positions are held by women. (8)
All these social obligations make the consumer feel that he is a part of it and that he is indirectly performing his duty towards the planet.
IKEA was able to gain the loyalty of its users around the world, but after knowing all these marketing tricks, would you think twice before placing more purchases in your blue shopping bag?