Word: ikea
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...commotion was stirred by the annual sale taking place at the two new American outlets of IKEA, the Scandinavian retailer of unassembled furniture and other household goods. While most Americans have never heard of IKEA, the chain had $1.7 billion in sales last year at 76 stores that stretch from Norway to Australia. Already one of the fastest-growing merchants in Europe, where 51 of its stores are located, IKEA is now successfully bringing its pizzazz and promotion to the U.S. The company put a store in suburban Philadelphia two years ago and followed with the Dale City outlet...
What sets IKEA apart is that much of its merchandise is sold apart. Buyers must assemble the kits at home, using sparsely worded drawings, a screwdriver and a little hexagonal allen wrench that IKEA supplies to install the special bolts in its furniture. IKEA gets promotional mileage even from the wrench: it appears everywhere in the store, talking in cartoon balloons and giving advice about such things as the store's return policy and its delivery service. The allure of the unassembled products is that they sell for at least 30% less than finished furniture of comparable quality. Customers...
Last week everyone from Virginia and Maryland housewives to Capitol Hill secretaries and foreign diplomats were streaming to Dale City to take advantage of discounts of up to 70% off IKEA's regular low prices. A sofa that normally goes for $195 was $95, while $69 dining-room chairs were marked down to $49. The 3.5 million people in the Washington area could hardly miss the 330 radio and TV commercials touting the sale -- or the double-page ad in the Washington Post. City buses winked with the company's cryptogram: an eye and a key followed...
...IKEA experience is instant gratification cloaked in cleverness. Upon entering a store, parents can deposit children in what IKEA calls a ballroom, essentially a giant box filled with thousands of brightly colored balls that becomes a delightfully diverting wallowing ground. Supplied by the store with a 196-page catalog, note pad, pencil and measuring tape, shoppers then stroll through seductively decorated settings of furniture from 1,500 worldwide suppliers. Office chairs? IKEA has 14 designs. Lamps? There are versions that stand and hang and squat, each labeled in English, Danish, German, French and Swedish. The displays include kitchen tables from...
Sometimes, though, shoppers are dismayed by SORRY OVERSOLD tags on popular pieces. Though some frustrated customers think IKEA is always out of all the goodies they want, the actual total hovers at 200 to 300 of 13,000 items. To keep prices down, IKEA buys a whole year's supply of goods in advance for all its stores throughout the world, then bets that its projections are right...