Ikea Case study
IKEA: Furnishing the World IKEA, the world’s largest home furnishings retail chain, was founded in Sweden in 1943 as a mail‐ order company and opened its first showroom ten years later. From its headquarters in Almhult,
IKEA has since expanded to worldwide sales of $12 billion from 175 outlets in 32 countries (see
Table 1). In fact, the second store that IKEA built was in Oslo, Norway. Today, IKEA operates large warehouse showrooms in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland, France, Belgium, Germany,
Switzerland, Austria, Finland, Italy, Canada, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and the United
Kingdom. It has smaller stores in Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore,
Malaysia, Taiwan, the Canary Islands, and Iceland. A store near Budapest, Hungary, opened in
1990, followed by outlets in Poland and the Czech Republic in 1991 and Slovakia in 1992, followed by Taiwan in 1994, Finland and Malaysia in 1996, and mainland China in 1998. Plans call for opening two stores in Japan by 2006. IKEA first appeared on the Internet in 1997 with the
World Wide Living Room Web site. The IKEA Group’s new organization has three regions: Europe,
North America, and Asia‐Pacific. Table 1: IKEA’s International Expansion
Turnover in
Year
Outletsa
Countriesa
Coworkers
Catalog
Circulationb Swedish Crownsc
1954
1
1
15
285,000
3,000,000
1964
2
2
250
1,200,000
79,000,000
1974
10
5
1,500
13,000,000 616,000,000
1984
66
17
8,300
45,000,000 6,770,000,000
1988
75
19
13,400
50,535,000 14,500,000,000
1990
95
23
16,850
n.a.
19,400,000,000
1995
131
27
30,500
n.a.
38,557,000,000
2000
159
30
61,700
n.a.
81,187,000,000 b 2002
175
32
65,000
110,000,000 99,200,000,000 a Stores/countries being opened by 2002 b Estimate c Corresponding to net sales of the IKEA group of companies
Source: http://www.ikea.com The international
IKEA has since expanded to worldwide sales of $12 billion from 175 outlets in 32 countries (see
Table 1). In fact, the second store that IKEA built was in Oslo, Norway. Today, IKEA operates large warehouse showrooms in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland, France, Belgium, Germany,
Switzerland, Austria, Finland, Italy, Canada, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and the United
Kingdom. It has smaller stores in Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore,
Malaysia, Taiwan, the Canary Islands, and Iceland. A store near Budapest, Hungary, opened in
1990, followed by outlets in Poland and the Czech Republic in 1991 and Slovakia in 1992, followed by Taiwan in 1994, Finland and Malaysia in 1996, and mainland China in 1998. Plans call for opening two stores in Japan by 2006. IKEA first appeared on the Internet in 1997 with the
World Wide Living Room Web site. The IKEA Group’s new organization has three regions: Europe,
North America, and Asia‐Pacific. Table 1: IKEA’s International Expansion
Turnover in
Year
Outletsa
Countriesa
Coworkers
Catalog
Circulationb Swedish Crownsc
1954
1
1
15
285,000
3,000,000
1964
2
2
250
1,200,000
79,000,000
1974
10
5
1,500
13,000,000 616,000,000
1984
66
17
8,300
45,000,000 6,770,000,000
1988
75
19
13,400
50,535,000 14,500,000,000
1990
95
23
16,850
n.a.
19,400,000,000
1995
131
27
30,500
n.a.
38,557,000,000
2000
159
30
61,700
n.a.
81,187,000,000 b 2002
175
32
65,000
110,000,000 99,200,000,000 a Stores/countries being opened by 2002 b Estimate c Corresponding to net sales of the IKEA group of companies
Source: http://www.ikea.com The international