IKEA Home Furnishings
Although
IKEA has had stores in the United States for only 20 years,
Ingyar Kamprad began selling furniture in Almhult,
Sweden, under the Ikea name about 60 years ago. Kamprad got the
idea for producing ready-to-assemble furniture to reduce
his delivery costs when the milk wagon that was used to ship his
small orders changed its route. In 1953, he purchased an
empty factory and opened a show room. Five years later, when he
opened a large store, Kamprad cleverly added roof racks to the
inventory mix so that customers could take their purchases home.
Today, Ikea strives to facilitate the shopping process. Most stores have a spacious, open layout, a cafetaria, and even a playroom that offers baby-sitting assistance for customers. The layout encourages browsing and increases impulse purchases. The inexpensive cafetaria, which serves Swedish-style delicacies at cost, encourages customers to spend more time on the premises. The playroom enables shoppers to go through the store without their children tagging behind them.
Ikea constantly fine-tunes its merchandise assortment to keep its "furniture as fashion" image. For example, it recently designed a colorful $10 plastic drawer unit on wheels that snaps together like Legos, as well as a ready-to-assemble upholstered sofa. The retailer Ikea currently has nearly 170 stores in more than 30 countries, including roughly two dozens in the United States and Canada.
although: meskipun;
furniture: perabotan;
ready-to-assemble: siap untuk dirakit;
purchase: membeli;
strive: berjuang;
spacious: luas;
delicacy: makanan khusus
encourage: mendorong, menyemangati;
plastic drawer: laci plastik;
roughly: secara kasar
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