32 Super Interesting Facts About IKEA That You Should Know

Established in 1943, IKEA has come a long way from a mail-order sales business to a furniture giant. It is the contemporary and eco-friendly designs that have added to the popularity of the company IKEA.

For all who have already got a taste of the modern designs from IKEA or those who are planning to bring an IKEA furniture into their homes, here are 32 Super Interesting Facts About IKEA That You Should Know:

1. The actual meaning of name: IKEA stands for “Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd” where Ingvar Kamprad is the name of the founder, Elmtaryd was the farm name where he grew and Agunnaryd is the name of the village.
2. Presence in 50 countries: According to data, IKEA has marked its presence in 50 markets till the year 2018. However, two continents that this furniture giant is yet to explore includes South America and Africa.
3. Most popular book/catalogue: The year 2017 saw the publication and distribution of 217 million catalogues and the following year, in 2018 IKEA printing 203 million catalogues. The catalogue was printed in 35 languages and distributed in 52 countries.
4. Furniture naming convention: At IKEA, furniture’s are given the names of cities, rivers, or lakes. The reason behind such a naming convention is that the founder had dyslexia and had trouble remembering numbers.
5. IKEA restaurant: In 1960 IKEA opened its first restaurant in Sweden. However, the food brand IKEA Foods was launched much later, in 2006.
6. Flatpack revolution: IKEA started the flatpack revolution back in 1956.
7. Equality in the workforce: IKEA believes in striking a balance in its employees by hiring an equal number of men and women.
8. Not all is online: IKEA is still in the process of maximizing the online platform for sales as it is still in the process of rolling out its virtual shops in the market.
9. Nascent but soaring online sales: IKEA is still warming up to the online selling platform, but in 2018, the company reported sales of $2.1 billion through online sales.
10. Family outing at IKEA store: Shopping at IKEA can be a family outing day as along with shopping the entire family can enjoy at the cafeteria and relish delicious meatballs. Reportedly IKEA sells 150 million meatballs each year.
11. Entry into Japan: IKEA opened its first store in Japan in 1970, but the non-availability of furniture targeting the small Japanese homes and the reluctance of the customers led to the failure of the retailer and the store was closed in 12 years.
12. Re-entry into Japan: IKEA once again forayed into Japan in 2006 with its wholly-owned store and has a total of 9 stores across Japan.
13. Largest IKEA store in South Korea: The largest IKEA store in the world is located in South Korea. Spread across 63,500 square feet, the store’s target customers are people living in the cities of South Korea and the store reports higher sales for extra-large single beds.
14. No women in Israel’s catalogue: Taking into consideration the orthodox nature of the population, IKEA designed a women free catalogue in 2018.
15. Lawsuit for discrimination: The women free catalogue had IKEA facing a lawsuit for discrimination.
16. Tax exile: Ingvar moved to Denmark in 1973 to avoid paying exorbitant taxes in Sweden and then moved to Switzerland.
17. Soaring loyalty members: Launched in 1984, the IKEA Family loyalty card is growing at a rate of 10 million per year. The current figure of the loyalty members stands at 100 million!
18. Vases as tumblers: In the United States, when IKEA opened its first store, it saw a great demand for its vases. Later, it was found that the customers were using the small vases as tumblers and not as vases!
19. Store design as per geographic location’s demands: IKEA stores design their stores and display of furniture as per the demands of the location. Like in South Korea, kids normally sleep with their parents in the same bedroom, so the stores display children beds and cots alongside an adult’s bed.
20. Intense research: IKEA does intense research before foraying into any market to understand the demands, the weather conditions and general practices related to cleaning.
21. Furniture for pets: IKEA houses furniture not just for humans but also for their pets. With IKEA pet products, launched in 2017, cats and dogs can also have their own bed, dishes, toys and a lot more from IKEA.
22. IKEA housing: Along with home furniture, IKEA also forayed into making homes. In collaboration with Skanska, a Swedish construction company, the houses are available in Finland, Norway, Sweden and the UK.
23. Controversial advertisement: IKEA’s ad featuring a gay couple choosing a dining table made waves after it was aired in 1994.
24. Biggest markets in Germany and the United States: In terms of sales, IKEA has its biggest market in Germany and the United States, which accounted for 15% and 13% sales in the year 2018. However, in totality, Europe is IKEA’s largest market, account for 71% of the sales.
25. Tax payment in 2018: The year 2018 saw IKEA paying taxes amounting to $279 million globally.
26. Thrifty founder: Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA was known for his frugal ways of leading the company which really helped to maximize profits.
27. IKEA windmills: IKEA plans to become a user of renewable energy by 2020 and with this aim it invested in 13 turbines in Kemi, northern Finland. It is expected that once it is operational, the group will generate more energy than what all IKEA stores require in Finland. The group already operates 279 turbines spread across 9 countries.
28. IKEA’s augmented reality app: IKEA launched IKEA Place, an augmented reality app that allows the user to design their home virtually.
29. IKEA Bootcamp: Startup companies are invited to be a part of the IKEA Bootcamp to come up with ideas of how IKEA can be environment-friendly and affordable. The successful company not only received the fund to give shape to their design, but also a co-working space and housing until the completion of the project.
30. Commitment towards green energy: IKEA sells solar panels as well as solar battery storage as an act towards green energy.
31. Investment in forests: IKEA is a user of about 1% of the world’s wood supply. For more sustainable wood and as a moral responsibility, the company felt that there is no better way than investing in forests.
32. Products from recycled plastic: Products made of recycled plastic is the latest product range that the company is planning to launch.