company name | IKEA International Group |
---|---|
company logo | |
company type | Private company |
foundation | Älmhult, Småland, Sweden (1943) |
founder | Ingvar Kamprad |
slogan | A better night's sleep. |
location | Delft, Netherlands |
logistics centre | Dortmund, Germany |
area served | Worldwide |
key people | Thomas Bergström (Chairman and CEO)Omar Gulay (President and CEO, Inter IKEA Group) Sören Hansen (VP and CFO, Inter IKEA Group) |
genre | Retail (Specialty) |
products | Self-assembly furniture |
revenue | € 23.5 billion (2010) |
net income | € 2.7 billion (2010) |
group equity | € 22.8 billion (2010) |
num employees | 127,000 (2010) |
homepage | }} |
The groups of companies that form IKEA are all controlled by INGKA Holding B.V., a Dutch corporation, which in turn is controlled by a tax-exempt, not-for-profit Dutch foundation. The intellectual property of IKEA is controlled by a series of obscure corporations that can be traced to the Netherlands Antilles and to the Interogo Foundation in Liechtenstein.
INGKA Holding B.V. owns the industrial group Swedwood, which sources the manufacturing of IKEA furniture, the sales companies that run IKEA stores, as well as purchasing and supply functions, and IKEA of Sweden, which is responsible for the design and development of products in the IKEA range. INGKA Holding B.V. is wholly owned by Stichting INGKA Foundation, which is a non-profit foundation registered in Leiden, Netherlands. The logistics center Europe is located in Dortmund, Germany and Asian Logistic center is located in Singapore.
Inter IKEA Systems B.V. in Delft, also in the Netherlands, owns the IKEA concept and trademark, and there is a franchising agreement with every IKEA store in the world. The IKEA Group is the biggest franchisee of Inter IKEA Systems B.V. Inter IKEA Systems B.V. is not owned by INGKA Holding B.V., but by Inter IKEA Holding S.A. registered in Luxembourg, The company which was originated in Småland, Sweden, distributes its products through its retail outlets. As of October 2010, the chain has 313 stores in 38 countries, most of them in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. The IKEA Group itself owns 276 stores in 25 countries and the other 37 stores are owned and run by franchisees outside the IKEA Group in 16 countries/territories. 2006 saw the opening of 16 new stores. A total of at least 15 openings or relocations are planned for 2010. On February 17, 2011, IKEA announced its plans for a wind farm in Dalarna County, Sweden, furthering the furniture giant's goal of running on 100 percent renewable energy.
In many languages, "IKEA" is pronounced , but in English it is pronounced similar to the word "idea," as . As such, IKEA brought action in the Supreme Court of British Columbia successfully preventing a competitor in Victoria from using the name "Idea." Its Chinese name is "" (yíjiā), meaning "fit for home" in written Chinese, sounding like the phrase "right now" in Cantonese pronunciation.
The IKEA website contains about 12,000 products and is the closest representation of the entire IKEA range. There were over 470 million visitors to the IKEA websites in the year from Sep. 2007-Sep. 2008. The company is keen to show leadership in adopting more environmentally friendly manufacturing processes.
The world's three largest IKEA stores are: #Stockholm Kungens Kurva, Sweden: 55200 m2 #Shenyang, China: 47000 m2 #Malmö Svågertorp, Sweden: 44000 m2
Biggest in the Southern Hemisphere: Campbellfield, Melbourne, Australia: 41000 m2
In 2012 IKEA plans to open its first shopping center in Croatia that will be one of the 5 biggest in Europe and among 10 biggest IKEA stores in the world.
The sequence first involves going through furniture showrooms making note of selected items. The customer then collects a shopping cart and proceeds to an open-shelf "Market Hall" warehouse for smaller items, then visiting the "Self Serve" furniture warehouse to collect previously noted showroom products in flat pack form. Sometimes, they are directed to collect products from an external warehouse on the same site or at a site nearby. Finally, customer pay for their products at a cash register.
Today, most stores follow the same layout of having the showroom upstairs with the marketplace and warehouse downstairs. Some stores are single level, while others have separate warehouses to allow more stock to be kept on-site. However, this occasionally results in challenges in finding the items, as well as a perception of having to queue in line twice. Single-level stores are found predominantly in areas where the cost of land would be less than the cost of building a 2-level store, such as the Saarlouis, Germany and Haparanda, Sweden locations. Some stores have dual-level warehouses with machine-controlled silos to allow large quantities of stock to be accessed throughout the selling day.
Most IKEA stores offer an "as-is" area at the end of the warehouse, just before the cash registers. Returned, damaged and formerly showcased products are displayed here and sold with a significant discount, but also with a "no-returns" policy. Most IKEA stores communicate the IKEA policy on environmental issues in the "as-is." In the United Kingdom, this is referred to as "Bargain Corner."
In Hong Kong, where shop space is limited and costly, IKEA has opened three outlets across the city, most of which have the one-way layout. They are part of shopping malls, and while being tiny compared to common store design, are huge by Hong Kong standards. An exception is the newest outlet in Telford Plaza, where the three independent floors can be accessed freely from each. However, following IKEA tradition, the cashiers are only located on the lowest floor.
IKEA stores were first opened in Greece in 2001 in Thessaloniki. It has become a phenomenon with large numbers of Greeks re-furnishing their homes from the store. Some years later IKEA opened 3 new stores in Athens, Larisa and Ioannina.
The vast majority of IKEA stores are located outside of city centres, primarily because of land cost and traffic access. Several smaller store formats have been unsuccessfully tested in the past (the "midi" concept in the early 90s, which was tested in Ottawa and Heerlen with 9,300 m2, or a "boutique" shop in Manhattan). A new format for a full-size, city centre store was introduced with the opening of the Coventry (UK) store in December 2007 as a response to UK government restrictions blocking retail establishment outside city centres,. With seven levels and a different flow from other IKEA stores, the format is expected to be used for future IKEA stores in the UK. Southampton IKEA (which opened February, 2009) is also in the city centre.
Another feature of IKEA stores are their long opening hours. Many stores are in operation 24 hours a day with restocking and maintenance being carried out throughout the night. However, public opening hours tend to be much longer than most other retailers, with stores open well into the evening in many countries. In the UK, almost all stores are open past 8pm and open around 9-10am. IKEA Croydon along with IKEA Furuset has some of the longest opening hours worldwide being open from 10am to 11pm Monday to Friday.
In many locations the IKEA restaurants open daily before the rest of the store and serve an inexpensive breakfast. In Canada, this breakfast includes eggs, sausage, and hash browns and various add-ons like bacon and pancakes at additional costs. In the United States, the local variation serves scrambled eggs, bacon, country potatoes and choice of Swedish pancakes or french toast sticks. In the Netherlands it consists of a croissant, a small bread roll, butter or margarine, jam, a slice of cheese, a boiled egg, and coffee or tea. In Australia it consists of hash brown, bacon, scrambled eggs, a sausage and tomato, with a vegetarian option with baked beans which omits the sausage and bacon. In Germany this breakfast consists of two bread rolls, one slice of smoked salmon, one slice of cheese, one slice of salami, two portions of butter, one portion of jam, and coffee. IKEA Canada, for a limited time, served dim sum alongside its original breakfast menu. Refills of coffee, tea, and soft drinks are, as is traditional in Sweden, free of charge, even in countries where this is uncommon in other restaurants.
Many stores also have a Swedish Food Market selling Swedish-made, Swedish-style groceries, such as Swedish meatballs, packages of gravy and various Scandinavian cookies and crackers, as well as salmon and salmon roe. IKEA also sells lingonberry jam in a wide array of sizes, including buckets. IKEA has extended its product range with the introduction the IKEA food label. The new label has various different foods including, chocolates, meatballs, jams, pancakes, salmon and various drinks.
IKEA contends that it has been a pioneering force in sustainable approaches to mass consumer culture.. Kamprad refers to the concept as "democratic design," meaning that the company applies an integrated approach to manufacturing and design (see also environmental design). In response to the explosion of human population and material expectations in the 20th and 21st century, the company implements economies of scale, capturing material streams and creating manufacturing processes that hold costs and resource use down, such as the extensive use of particle board. The intended result is flexible, adaptable home furnishings, scalable both to smaller homes and dwellings as well as large houses.
Not all furniture is stocked at the store level, such as particular sofa colors needing to be shipped from a warehouse to the customer's home (for a delivery charge). Unlike other retail stores, requests that a model be shipped from the warehouse for store pickup would also incur the same delivery charge to the customer, easily adding 10% to 25% to the purchase price.
A notable exception is the IVAR shelving system, which dates back to the early 1970s. This item is named after the item's designer.
Because IKEA is a worldwide company working in several countries with several different languages, sometimes the Nordic naming leads to problems where the word means something completely different to the product. While exotic-sounding names draw attention, e.g., in anglophone countries, a number of them call for a snicker. Notable examples include "Jerker" desk, "Fukta" plant spray and "Fartfull" workbench. Also, the most recent new product, Lyckhem (meaning bliss). The products are generally withdrawn, probably after someone pointed at blunders, but not before generating some news. Similar blunders happen with other companies as well.
Company founder Ingvar Kamprad, who is dyslexic, found that naming the furniture with proper names and words, rather than a product code, made the names easier to remember.
The catalog is distributed both in stores and by mail, with most of it being produced by IKEA Communications AB in IKEA's hometown of Älmhult, Sweden where IKEA operates the largest photo studio in northern Europe at 8,000 square metres. The catalog itself is printed on chlorine-free paper of 10–15% post-consumer waste, and prints approximately 175 million copies worldwide annually, more than 3 times as much as The Bible.
According to Canadian broadcaster, CTV, "IKEA's publications have developed an almost cult-like following online. Readers have found all kinds of strange tidbits, including mysterious cat pictures, apparent Mickey Mouse references and weird books wedged into the many shelves that clutter the catalogues."
In conjunction with the card, IKEA also publishes and sells a printed quarterly magazine titled IKEA Family Live which supplements the card and catalogue. The magazine is already printed in thirteen languages and an English edition for the United Kingdom was launched in February 2007. It is expected to have a subscription of over 500,000.
INGKA Holding is not an independent company, but is wholly owned by the Stichting Ingka Foundation, which Kamprad established in 1982 in the Netherlands as a tax-exempt, not-for-profit foundation. The Ingka Foundation is controlled by a five-member executive committee that is chaired by Kamprad and includes his wife and attorney.
While most IKEA stores operate under the direct purview of Ingka Holding and the Ingka Foundation, the IKEA trademark and concept is owned by an entirely separate Dutch company, Inter IKEA Systems. Every IKEA store, including those run by Ingka Holding, pays a franchise fee of 3% of the revenue to Inter IKEA Systems. The ownership of Inter IKEA Systems is exceedingly complicated and, ultimately, uncertain. Inter IKEA Systems is owned by Inter IKEA Holding, a company registered in Luxembourg. Inter IKEA Holding, in turn, belongs to an identically named company in the former Netherlands Antilles that is run by a trust company based in Curaçao. In 2009, the company in Curaçao was liquidated. The company responsible for this liquidation traces back to the Interogo Foundation in Liechtenstein Like elsewhere, all stores are operated under a franchise agreement with Inter IKEA Systems.
Inter IKEA Systems collected €631 million of franchise fees in 2004, but reported pre-tax profits of only €225 million in 2004. One of the major pre-tax expenses that Inter IKEA systems reported was €590 million of “other operating charges.” IKEA has refused to explain these charges, but Inter IKEA Systems appears to make large payments to I.I. Holding, another Luxembourg-registered group that, according to The Economist, “is almost certain to be controlled by the Kamprad family.” I.I. Holding made a profit of €328 million in 2004.
In 2004, the Inter IKEA group of companies and I.I. Holding reported combined profits of €553m and paid €19m in taxes, or approximately 3.5 percent.
The Berne Declaration, a non-profit organization in Switzerland that promotes corporate responsibility, has formally criticized IKEA for its tax avoidance strategies. In 2007, the Berne Declaration nominated IKEA for one of its Public Eye “awards,” which highlight corporate irresponsibility and are announced during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
In Kamprad's absence the foundation's bylaws include specific provisions requiring it to continue operating the Ingka Holding group and specifying that shares can be sold only to another foundation with the same objectives as the Ingka Foundation.
IKEA is involved in several international charitable causes, particularly in partnership with UNICEF, including:
IKEA also supports American Forests to restore forests and reduce pollution.
Links with Education In 2008 IKEA was a supporter of the Design Wales Ffres Awards, providing a creative brief for undergraduate design competition.
The main partners to IKEA Social Initiative are UNICEF and Save the Children.
On the 23rd of February 2009 at the ECOSOC event in New York, UNICEF announced that IKEA Social Initiative has become the agency’s largest corporate partner, with total commitments of more than 180 million US$.
Examples of involvements: IKEA through IKEA Social Initiative contribute €1 to UNICEF and Save the Children from each soft toy sold during the holiday seasons, raising a total of €16.7 million so far. IKEA Social Initiative provided soft toys to children in cyclone affected Myanmar. Starting in June 2009, for every Sunnan solar-powered lamp sold in IKEA stores worldwide, IKEA Social Initiative will donate one Sunnan with the help of UNICEF.
# Replacing polyvinylchloride (PVC) in wallpapers, home textiles, shower curtains, lampshades, and furniture—PVC has been eliminated from packaging and is being phased out in electric cables; # minimizing the use of formaldehyde in its products, including textiles; # eliminating acid-curing lacquers; # producing a model of chair (OGLA) made from 100% post-consumer plastic waste; # introducing a series of air-inflatable furniture products into the product line. Such products reduce the use of raw materials for framing and stuffing and reduce transportation weight and volume to about 15% of that of conventional furniture; # reducing the use of chromium for metal surface treatment; # limiting the use of substances such as cadmium, lead, PCB, PCP, and AZO pigments; # using wood from responsibly managed forests that replant and maintain biological diversity; # using only recyclable materials for flat packaging and "pure" (non-mixed) materials for packaging to assist in recycling. # introducing rental bicycles with trailers for customers in Denmark.
More recently, IKEA has stopped providing plastic bags to customers, but offers reusable bags for sale. The IKEA restaurants also only offer reusable plates, knives, forks, spoons, etc. Toilets in some IKEA restrooms have been outfitted with dual-function flushers. IKEA has recycling bins for compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), energy saving bulbs, and batteries. In 2001 IKEA was one of the first companies to operate its own cross-border freight trains through several countries in Europe.
In August 2008, IKEA also announced that it had created IKEA GreenTech, a €50 million venture capital fund. Located in Lund (a college town in Sweden), it will invest in 8–10 companies in the coming five years with focus on solar panels, alternative light sources, product materials, energy efficiency, and water saving and purification. The aim is to commercialise green technologies for sale in IKEA stores within 3–4 years.
In order to make IKEA a more sustainable company a product life cycle has been created, and there is now a never ending list. The idea stage says that products should be flat packed so more can be shipped at once, and that products should be easy to dismantle and recycle. Raw materials are used, and since wood and cotton are two of the most important products in IKEA production so IKEA makes the most out of every tree and cotton plant, and works with environmentally friendly forests and cotton without the excessive use of chemicals and water. Manufacturing comes third in the life cycle and includes IWAY which is IKEA's code of conduct for manufactures and suppliers which makes and enforces requirements for working conditions, social and environmental standards, and what suppliers can expect from them in return. Marketing is another part of IKEA’s life cycle and as much of their paper for their catalogs comes from responsibly managed forests. The catalog is also now made smaller which requires less paper, and less waste in the process. This also enables more catalogs to be shipped per load. IKEA stores recycle waste, and many run on renewable energy, and energy-saving bulbs and sensors are used. All employees are trained in environmental and social responsibility, and IKEA strives to give customers access to good public transit, and well as the stores being involved in the local community. IKEA products help customers to live a more sustainable life at home. The coffee served is also certified organic. The last stage of the life cycle is the end of life. Most IKEA stores take back burned out light bulbs and drained batteries and makes sure they are recycled responsibly. IKEA is also currently working on developing a way to take back recycled sofas and other home furnishing products that have reached their own end of life.
In September 2004, when IKEA offered a limited number of free $150 vouchers at the opening of a new store in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, three people were crushed to death in a stampede that followed the store's opening. IKEA has demolished historic buildings in at least one case for a parking area. (At the College Park, Maryland, USA, store there is an interactive digital display which tells the history of a tavern which used to exist where the store is currently located.) IKEA was refused planning permission for a future store in the United Kingdom in 2004 (to be based in Stockport, Greater Manchester) by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. It applied for judicial review but lost in 2005. However, they later received permission to build a store within Greater Manchester a few miles from the originally planned site in Ashton-under-Lyne. An estimated £10,000 was spent on traffic policing, and even more on rerouting traffic from the M60 motorway around Ashton. After viewing the sign of an IKEA under construction near Portland International Airport, Randy Leonard, the city commissioner in charge of sign permits in Portland, Oregon, placed a moratorium on all pending and future sign permits in the area.
Time magazine and the Associated Press ran articles on the controversy including a brief interview with an IKEA representative, focusing on the opinions of typographers and designers. Design and advertising industry-focused publications such as Business Week joined the fray of online posts. The branding critic blog, Brand New, was one of those using the Verdanagate name. The Australian online daily news site Crikey also published an article on the controversy. The Guardian ran an article asking "Ikea is changing its font to Verdana – causing outrage among typomaniacs. Should the rest of us care? Absolutely." The New York Times said the change to Verdana "is so offensive to many because it seems like a slap at the principles of design by a company that has been hailed for its adherence to them."
In 1994, IKEA ran a commercial in the United States widely thought to be the first commercial featuring a homosexual couple; it aired for several weeks before being pulled due to bomb threats directed at IKEA stores. Other IKEA commercials feature the gay community, once featuring a transgender woman.
In 2002, the inaugural television component of the "Unböring" campaign, titled Lamp, went on to win several awards, including a Grand Clio, Golds at the London International Awards and the ANDY Awards, and the Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, the most prestigious awards ceremony in the advertising community.
IKEA launched a UK-wide 'Home is the Most Important Place in the World' advertising campaign in September 2007 using estate agent signs with the term 'Not For Sale' written on them as part of the wider campaign. After the campaign appeared in the Metro newspaper London the business news website www.mad.co.uk remarked that the IKEA campaign had amazing similarities with the marketing activity of UK home refurbishment company Onis living who had launched their own Not For Sale advertising campaign two years prior and was awarded the Interbuild 2006 Construction Marketing Award for best campaign under £25,000.
thumb|right|Onis's Not For Sale sign. A debate ensued between Fraser Patterson, Chief Executive of Onis and Andrew McGuinness, partner at Beattie McGuinness Bungay (BMB), the advertising and PR agency awarded the £12m IKEA account. The essence of the debate was that BMB claimed to be unaware of Onis's campaign as Onis were not an advertising agency. Onis's argument was that their advertising could be seen in prominent landmarks throughout London, having been already accredited, showing concern about the impact IKEA's campaign would have on the originality of their own.
After some negotiations BMB and IKEA agreed to provide Onis with a feature page on the IKEA campaign site linking through to Onis's .co.uk site, for a period of 1 year. Onis is possibly the only company to have ever been advertised by IKEA in such a fashion. In 2008 Onis Homes limited was placed into voluntary liquidation and the website www.onishome.com closed.
The Intellectual Property and trading rights of Onis Homes Limited were later purchased by new shareholders with the strategy to grow the Onis brand throughout the U.K as a one stop shop home refurbishment franchise using the trading name Onis living.
IKEA recently paired up with the makers of popular video game The Sims 2 to make a stuff pack called The Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff, featuring many IKEA products. It was released on June 24, 2008 in North America and June 26, 2008 in Europe. It is the second stuff pack with a major brand, the first being The Sims 2 H&M; Fashion Stuff, which are both coincidentally companies of Swedish origin.
IKEA has taken over title sponsorship of Philadelphia's annual Thanksgiving Day parade in 2008, replacing Boscov's, who filed for bankruptcy in August 2008.
In November 2008 a subway train decorated in IKEA style was introduced in Novosibirsk, Russia. Four cars were turned into a mobile showroom of the Swedish design. The redesigned train, which features colourful seats and fancy curtains, carried passengers until June 6, 2009.
Oyster cards (the ticket-free system for London Underground) are now given with wallets sponsored by IKEA who also sponsor the tube map.
In January 2009, just before the new store opened in Southampton, the MV Red Osprey of Red Funnel was re-painted in an entirely yellow and blue livery to celebrate the opening of the new IKEA store in Southampton. This is the first time a Red Funnel ferry has been re-painted out of its own red and white colour scheme. It stayed in these colours for 12 months as part of a deal between Red Funnel and IKEA to provide home delivery services to the Isle of Wight. It was repainted with Red Funnel's red and white livery when the deal ended in January 2010.
In March 2010, IKEA developed an event in four important metro stations in Paris, in which furniture collections are displayed in high-traffic spots, giving potential customers a chance to check out the brand's products. The subway walls were also filled with prints that showcase IKEA interiors.
In September 2010, IKEA launched an advertisement for UK & Ireland called "Happy Inside" which had 100 cats lying on IKEA furniture in the flagship IKEA store in Wembley, London.
In April 2011, an advertising campaign for which aims to discover whether men or women are messier in the home launched. Created by Mother, the campaign will begin with a TV advert shot in front of a live audience, featuring four stand-up comedians, two men and two women, having the debate over which gender is the messiest. The strategy behind the campaign is that domestic clutter leads to arguments, leading to an unhappy home, which Ikea wants to prove can be avoided with better storage. Viewers will be directed to a new Facebook page for the brand, where they are able to vote as to who they believe is the messiest, and submit proof using videos and photos through an app created especially for the campaign. Meanwhile, online display banners will allow off users the opportunity to vote, with online adverts promoting Ikea products also demonstrating the problems people have shared, and offering solutions.
Anna Crona, marketing director at IKEA UK and Ireland, explained: “We are committed to understating how our customers live life at home so we can provide solutions to make life happier. Everybody has storage needs in the home and by encouraging debate and providing solutions we will show that IKEA is relevant to everybody, no matter what your home is like or how much money you have.” Press adverts will also support the campaign, as will a handbook entitled ‘Peace, Love and Storage’, which will be available through the Facebook site
Category:Family businesses Category:Furniture retailers Category:Furniture manufacturers Category:Companies of Sweden Category:Swedish brands Category:Companies established in 1943 Category:Multinational companies headquartered in the Netherlands Category:Furniture retailers of the United States Category:Jardine Matheson Group Category:Privately held companies of the Netherlands Category:Purveyors to the Court of Sweden Category:1943 establishments in Sweden
af:Ikea als:IKEA ar:إيكيا ast:IKEA bs:Ikea br:Ikea bg:ИКЕА ca:IKEA cs:IKEA cy:IKEA da:IKEA de:IKEA et:IKEA el:IKEA es:IKEA eo:IKEA fo:IKEA fr:Ikea gl:IKEA ko:이케아 hr:IKEA id:IKEA is:IKEA it:IKEA he:איקאה jv:IKEA ku:IKEA lv:IKEA lt:Ikea hu:IKEA ms:IKEA nl:IKEA ja:イケア no:IKEA nn:IKEA uz:IKEA pms:Ikea pl:IKEA pt:IKEA ro:IKEA ru:IKEA se:IKEA simple:IKEA sk:IKEA sr:Икеа fi:IKEA sv:Ikea ta:ஐ.கே.இ.ஏ th:อิเกีย tr:IKEA uk:IKEA vi:IKEA wuu:艾奇亚 zh:宜家家居This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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