It's Ikea's World, We Just Live In It

March 17, 2015 5:22 AM

Today research is at the heart of Ikea’s expansion. “The more far away we go from our culture, the more we need to understand, learn, and adapt,” says Mikael Ydholm, who heads research. Rather than focus on differences between cultures, it’s his job to figure out where they intersect.
posted by ellieBOA (38 comments total)

Have we figured out who owns Ikea yet? That's always bothered me.
posted by schmod at 5:36 AM on March 17, 2015

Have we figured out who owns Ikea yet?

ᗅᗺᗷᗅ?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:50 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Have we figured out who owns Ikea yet? That's always bothered me.

A foundation, so it basically owns itself.
posted by effbot at 5:50 AM on March 17, 2015

IKEA seems to have become synonymous with Sweden. The VPN app TunnelBear has a set of graphics of bears in Stereotypical National Costumes representing its various endpoints; i.e., France gets a beret and stripy shirt, the UK a bowler hat and monocle, Germany a Bavarian hat and such. I was amused to find the Swedish bear dressed in an IKEA uniform, with a pencil behind its ear.
posted by acb at 6:32 AM on March 17, 2015

There’s an internal nickname for products that take too long to put together. “Sometimes,” Dickner says, “we call it a ‘husband killer.’ ”

Glares menacingly at KURA bunk bed in kids' room, which almost got thrown off a balcony during the last move.
posted by resurrexit at 7:30 AM on March 17, 2015 [5 favorites]

IKEA is a strange phenomena. My wife and I sold everything we owned on Ebay when we moved from Birmingham, England to Chicago. We had typical nomad academic still-paying-off-student-loans furniture. Some nice antiques we inherited from our folks that had both sentimental and actual value, some stuff we thrifted, some crap and a lot of 10+ year old IKEA furniture.

We got a terrible return on everything except for the IKEA furniture which at even 10+ years old sold for around 80% of its current retail price.

I put this down to two factors: First, IKEA is a known thing. You see the name and you know what you are getting - you can look in the catalog online, you've been to the store, it is familiar and it's market value is easily found and understood. Second, IKEA stores are almost always in really shitty locations that are a pain in the ass to get to. A large part of the value in buying IKEA second hand is that somebody has already transported it to almost where you are.

I'm still bummed that some 100+ year old solid wood furniture sold for about 1/5 of what it was worth but we made a decent amount overall thanks the over-valuing of cheap veneered particle board. C'est la vie.

*Upon arrival in Chicago I promptly paid more for a set of discontinued IKEA enetri shelves than they cost at the store when they were last sold because they are perfect for what I need them for - growing plants in front of a window. So I too am part of the weirdness of IKEAs perverse used furniture valuation.
posted by srboisvert at 7:47 AM on March 17, 2015 [5 favorites]

I'm sorry I said Ikea sucks
I just bought a table for 60 bucks
And a chair and a lamp
And a shelf and some candles for you
I was a doubter just like you
Till I saw the American dream come true
In New Jersey, they got a goddamned Swedish parade
♫♫♫
posted by Wretch729 at 8:02 AM on March 17, 2015 [5 favorites]

resurrexit: "There’s an internal nickname for products that take too long to put together. “Sometimes,” Dickner says, “we call it a ‘husband killer.’ ”

Glares menacingly at KURA bunk bed in kids' room, which almost got thrown off a balcony during the last move."

Heh. We just built the KURA and my husband said he'd come help me and I was like, "No you won't." "Why not?" "Because I like being married to you and you're terrible at flatpack. The number one cause of divorce is building flatpack furniture together." "I am not! I can build flatpack!" "I know you can build REAL things, but you cannot build flatpack. Face it, one of us knows how to build flatpack, and the other one of us thinks swearing at the flatpack will make it cooperate. Which it doesn't. It just turns the furniture against you. Everyone knows that."

I saw this article a couple day ago and read him the "husband killer" line because I thought he'd find it amusing, but instead he grumpily muttered, "I can too build flatpack," under his breath.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:10 AM on March 17, 2015 [26 favorites]

As a husband I can confirm that there is no such thing as a "husband killer", a preposterous insinuation, no flatpack is a match for the modern man (but maybe leave the house for the afternoon and ignore the worn-out heads on half of the screws and the beers missing from the fridge)

IKEA belongs to Ingvar Kamprad (the E and A refer to a former business partner, I am guessing), whose charitable foundation started making charitable donations around the time the tax authorities starting looking into it. He is a tax exile in my country, is notoriously frugal, and seems a decent fellow (except for the tax thing) who takes care of his employees.
posted by ormon nekas at 8:36 AM on March 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

The number one cause of divorce is building flatpack furniture together.

oh god this
posted by tivalasvegas at 8:45 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

and seems a decent fellow (except for the tax thing) who takes care of his employees

and apparently having been a Nazi sympathiser during WW2.
posted by acb at 8:55 AM on March 17, 2015

I really like their attitude towards mistakes and failure. Recognize it, find a way through, and remember it so no one needs to repeat an analog of it.
posted by Slackermagee at 9:12 AM on March 17, 2015

I put this down to two factors: First, IKEA is a known thing. You see the name and you know what you are getting - you can look in the catalog online, you've been to the store, it is familiar and it's market value is easily found and understood. Second, IKEA stores are almost always in really shitty locations that are a pain in the ass to get to. A large part of the value in buying IKEA second hand is that somebody has already transported it to almost where you are.

Yes. This. I just bought an IKEA Malm bed off CL last week, and part of the reason was that I simply refuse to go into IKEA. If I do have to go, my partner will not go with me, because we treasure our relationship too much to endanger it by going to IKEA together.

I love their products but the stores are exhausting and overwhelming.
posted by fiercecupcake at 9:16 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

The number one cause of divorce is building flatpack furniture together.

I am boggled that people have trouble with this. I usually have to fight with my wife to put things together, because we both think it's pretty fun.

But I was that kid who spent his allowance money on model airplane kits and erector sets.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 9:17 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Foe Hammer, Goblin Cleaver, and now ... Husband Killer.
posted by King Sky Prawn at 9:17 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I am boggled that people have trouble with this. I usually have to fight with my wife to put things together, because we both think it's pretty fun.

Yeah.. both of us enjoy it too, but we're both scientists/engineers so it's probably in our blood or something. We also love to go to IKEA and hardly ever quarrel there. It almost makes me feel that there is something wrong with our relationship.
posted by destrius at 9:24 AM on March 17, 2015

IKEA belongs to Ingvar Kamprad (the E and A refer to a former business partner, I am guessing)

Wikipedia says: "[T]he company's name is an acronym that consists of the initials of Ingvar Kamprad, Elmtaryd (the farm where he grew up), and Agunnaryd (his hometown in Småland, south Sweden)".
posted by amf at 9:31 AM on March 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I enjoy the building too, but I'm an architect, so.

We used to live 15 minutes from the Emeryville Ikea. We could never, ever, leave it without spending upwards of US$100, even if we only went in to buy a single replacement water glass. Don't remember fighting, so I guess we're atypical.
posted by signal at 9:32 AM on March 17, 2015

I'm still bummed that some 100+ year old solid wood furniture sold for about 1/5 of what it was worth

By what calculation of "what it was worth"? The value of furniture on the second hand market is determined solely by what people will pay for it. If people wouldn't pay more than 1/5 of what you wanted for it, then it wasn't worth more than that.
posted by yoink at 9:42 AM on March 17, 2015

yoink: isn't that a bit extreme? A piece of furniture may sell below the price informed buyers would be willing to pay if none are in the market at that time, or if it is impractical to ship the item to where such buyers are.

It would also not be unreasonable to be disappointed at a piece of furniture selling well below the cost of production of an identical piece, for example. (Not that I know the intentions of the original poster.)
posted by ormon nekas at 10:00 AM on March 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

A piece of furniture may sell below the price informed buyers would be willing to pay if none are in the market at that time

Sure. But the lesson the anecdote seemed to be designed to tell us was not "don't sell your furniture in a hurry because you may not be able to take the time to find an informed buyer" it was "people no longer want this kind of furniture." If people no longer want it, then it's kinda meaningless to talk about it selling for less than it is "worth."
posted by yoink at 10:03 AM on March 17, 2015

and apparently having been a Nazi sympathiser during WW2.

I didn't know that: apparently at the age of 16 he became a card-carrying supporter of a fascist politician in Sweden. A different reason to keep a low profile later in life.
posted by ormon nekas at 10:06 AM on March 17, 2015

I never actually buy anything at Ikea. I just like going through a mouse maze where you get to eat balls of horse meat at the end of it.
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:13 AM on March 17, 2015 [6 favorites]

IKEA desperately needs to provide mobility scooters, but I supposed that if they did, they'd have to have lots of extra ones. Because the place is so darn exhausting that even people without any disability would be tempted to use the mobility scooters in there. You have to be an athlete just to hike through the place, and the short cuts are well hidden. I wonder how many people with otherwise-minor mobility issues collapse in there every week, and how they get them out?

Like a cross between a retail store, a corn maze, and the Appalachian Trail.
posted by elizilla at 10:14 AM on March 17, 2015

yoink: if "informed buyers" willing to shell out for solid wood furniture are few and far between, it also becomes fair to say that (by and large) "people no longer want this kind of furniture". It all depends on your time horizon, I guess.

Either way, I have also noticed that IKEA furniture retains resale value to a surprising extent, and I agree that that is probably largely thanks to it being a known quantity.

(I always get the gravlax at the end of the maze, and buy the meatballs for home)
posted by ormon nekas at 10:15 AM on March 17, 2015

Interesting article, I guess one could say IKEA is succeeding by mastering user experience research and design. Which, as a ux designer, it's hard to imagine any enterprise not succeeding by putting UX at the forefront.

I gotta say I really like IKEA and always have. Partly because for a long time it was the only way to get any furniture that was at all something I could afford. But also because the alternatives were always so fussy and old-fashioned looking. I like how their furniture is stylish and plain without weird unnecessary details. Although right now they're going through some kind of 90s throwback phase that is not very attractive.

IKEA desperately needs to provide mobility scooters, but I supposed that if they did, they'd have to have lots of extra ones.

They will give you a wheelchair if you ask for one.
posted by bleep at 10:26 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

By what calculation of "what it was worth"? The value of furniture on the second hand market is determined solely by what people will pay for it. If people wouldn't pay more than 1/5 of what you wanted for it, then it wasn't worth more than that.

I was selling on ebay without shipping. If I had had more time I would have sold these items on consignment with an antique dealer and gotten closer to their value as unique antiques.

I too took intro economics and am aware of the idealized notion of market value. I also live in the real world and am aware of factors that moderate the purity of an idealized market. (I made hundreds of quid of pure profit selling Adromischus species to Germans at about 10X their UK value because of the unwillingness English cactus growers to ship to continental Europe (thanks WWI & II prejudices and EU flat rate shipping!)
posted by srboisvert at 10:34 AM on March 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

I never realized that Google Maps shows the interior of Ikea. I imagine this would come in handy on a mobile device, particularly if there are a few wireless access points around the place that have been mapped for precision.
posted by George_Spiggott at 11:10 AM on March 17, 2015

Man, you know what, sometimes my significant other looks up from the restaurant table where we're each looking at our own phones and wonders if we look like a couple that doesn't really like each other, but BY GOD WE CAN GO TO IKEA AND NOT FIGHT, so suck it, haters.
posted by clavicle at 12:38 PM on March 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

I didn't know that: apparently at the age of 16 he became a card-carrying supporter of a fascist politician in Sweden.

Yeah, he was a member of the New Swedish Movement and a huge fan of their founder, and also active in the Swedish Socialist Unity, both fascist organizations with roots in outright Nazism, but that had moved towards a more Mussolini-inspired fascism before Kamprad joined them. Yet at the same time, one of his best friends was a Jewish refugee from Vienna, Otto Ullmann, who worked at his parent's farm (Ullmann didn't know about the fascist stuff, and reportedly never forgave him once it came out). There seems to have been a certain element of willful ignorance there, Kamprad liked the corporatism angle and the charismatic leader of the movement and blocked out the rest, even if it was obvious to anyone who paid any attention whatsoever...
posted by effbot at 12:39 PM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Thanks for the downright chilling information, effbot!

Also, as much as I love the pretty-darn-good-quality-for-the-money IKEA stuff, every bit of particle board furniture I have ever bought there has completely disintegrated once one decides to move it from the location where it had been living since its assembly. Maybe I'm just abnormally rough on furniture (likely). I love my candy-striper loveseat.
posted by Mooseli at 2:11 PM on March 17, 2015

(I always get the gravlax at the end of the maze, and buy the meatballs for home)

Pepparkakor for the win!
posted by acb at 2:25 PM on March 17, 2015

The article says that Walmart and Target can learn from Ikea. But Ikea is a manufacturer that retails a (relatively) small number of items in large amounts. Walmart and Target have enormous inventories of items they buy wholesale. It's hard to tell what they could learn from Ikea.
posted by QuietDesperation at 2:32 PM on March 17, 2015

Are all of you aliens from outer space? IKEA furniture seems to be designed for the dimensions of interstellar beings. Note: I own this chair. It works for cats, but no other Earth species.
posted by acrasis at 3:13 PM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Ikea: 7 Predictions For What Your Home Will Look Like In 2020 - no mention of tealight candles.
posted by unliteral at 4:57 PM on March 17, 2015

I've never fought with my wife in or after IKEA, and I've never seen fighting couples there. What I have seen are people fighting with their kids. I love the fact that IKEA has a play room you can drop your kids off at while you shop. I hate the fact that the wait to enter the play room is always between 1 to 1.5 hours.

Also, building flatpack is fun!
posted by Bugbread at 5:35 PM on March 17, 2015

Flatpack breaks me. I go to IKEA, buy furniture I want, and then start bribing my friends and family members who have spatial awareness.
posted by angelchrys at 9:59 PM on March 17, 2015

I think the sorts of things Target and Walmart are supposed to learn are the ways Ikea studies a target market extensively before moving in.
posted by ericales at 5:45 PM on March 18, 2015