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IKEA from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (Redirected from Ikea) IKEA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Ikea) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2013) IKEA Type Private Industry Retail Founded Älmhult, Sweden (1943) Founder Ingvar Kamprad Headquarters Delft,[1] Netherlands Europe Area served Asia North America Oceania Africa Atlantic Key people Peter Agnefjäll (Chairman and CEO) Products Self-assembly furniture [2] Revenue €29.293 billion (2014) Operating income €3.793 billion (2014)[2] Net income €3.329 billion (2014)[2] [2] Total assets €44.667 billion (2014) [2] Total equity €31.608 billion (2014) Owner Stichting INGKA Foundation Number of employees 147,000 (2014)[2] Website www.ikea.com IKEA (/aɪˈ ki ː ə/; Swedish: [ɪˈ ke ːˈ a] [3]) is a multinational group of companies that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture (such asbeds, chairs and desks), appliances, small motor vehicles and home accessories. As of January 2008, it is the world's largest furniture retailer. [4] Founded in Sweden in 1943 by then-17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad, who was listed as one of the world's richest people in 2013,[5] the company's name is an acronym that consists of the initials of Ingvar Kamprad, Elmtaryd (the farm where he grew up), and A gunnaryd (his hometown in Småland, south Sweden).[6] The company is known for its modern architectural designs for various types of appliances and furniture, and its interior design work is often associated with an eco-friendly simplicity.[7] In addition, the firm is known for its attention to cost control, operational details, and continuous product development, corporate attributes that allowed IKEA to lower its prices by an average of two to three percent over the decade to 2010 during a period of global expansion. The IKEA group has a complex corporate structure and is controlled by several foundations based in the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein.[8] As of August 2015, IKEA owns and operates 373 stores in 47 countries.[9] In fiscal year 2010, US$23.1 billion worth of goods were sold, a total that represented a 7.7 percent increase over 2009.[10] 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 IKEA's websites in the year from September 2007 to September 2008.[11] The company is responsible for approximately 1% of world commercial-product wood consumption, making it one of the largest users of wood in the retail sector.[12] Contents [hide] • 1History • 2Store design o 2.1Layout o 2.2Food markets o 2.3Småland • 3Products and services o 3.1Furniture o 3.2Houses and flats . 3.2.1Solar PV systems o 3.3Retail o 3.4Family Mobile o 3.5Manufacturing o 3.6Product names o 3.7Catalogue o 3.8IKEA Family loyalty card • 4Corporate structure o 4.1Profits o 4.2Control by Kamprad o 4.3Charitable giving o 4.4Minimum Wage • 5IKEA Social Initiative • 6Environmental performance • 7Negative media attention • 8Criticisms o 8.1Accusations of price gouging o 8.2Biased branding and advertising accusations o 8.3Errors and recalls o 8.4Labor issues o 8.5Operation Scandinavica o 8.6Use of forced labor, 1980s o 8.7Verdana typeface • 9Advertising • 10Other ventures • 11Awards • 12Countries with IKEA presence • 13References • 14External links History[edit] Main article: List of countries with IKEA stores Map of IKEA stores around the world Legend: Current market locations Future market locations No current or planned market locations The first IKEA store, located inÄlmhult in Sweden, not far from where the founder was born. The world's largest IKEA store located near the KTX Gwangmyeong Station in Seoul Capital Area, South Korea. The world's second largest IKEA store, situated at Kungens Kurva inHuddinge Municipality, Sweden. This IKEA store was opened in 1965. IKEA store in Shenzhen, China. IKEA store in Frisco, Texas, United States. IKEA store at Port Island in Kobe, Japan, one of the very few IKEA stores with direct mass transit access. Entrance to an IKEA store at the 4th floor of MegaBox in Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong. An IKEA 4.5 Museum display at the outer precinct of the MeiJi Shrine inTokyo, Japan. Ingvar Kamprad founded IKEA in 1943 as a mostly mail-order sales business. It began to sell furniture five years later.[10] The first Möbel-IKÉA store was opened in Älmhult, Småland, in 1958, while the first stores outside Sweden were opened in Norway (1963) and Denmark (1969). The stores spread to other parts of Europe in the 1970s, with the first store outsideScandinavia opening in Switzerland (1973), followed by West Germany (1974). Amid a high level of success, the company's West German executives accidentally opened a store in Konstanz in 1973 instead of Koblenz.[10] Later that decade, stores opened in other parts of the world, such as Japan (1974), Australia and Hong Kong (1975), Canada (1976), and Singapore (1978).[citation needed] IKEA further expanded in the 1980s, opening stores in countries such as France and Spain (1981), Canada (1982), Belgium (1984), the United States (1985), the United Kingdom (1987), Italy (1989).[citation needed] The company then expanded into more countries in the 1990s and 2000s. Germany, with 50 stores, is IKEA's biggest market, followed by the United States, with 42 stores. At the end of the 2009 financial year, the IKEA group operated 267 stores in 25 countries.[13] The first IKEA store in Latin America opened on 17 February 2010 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.[14][15] As of July 2013, the company's presence in developing countries remains minimal. The world's five largest IKEA stores are: 1. Gwangmyeong, Seoul Capital Area, South Korea: 59,000 m2 (640,000 sq ft) 2. Stockholm Kungens Kurva, Sweden: 55,200 m2 (594,000 sq ft) 3. Shanghai Baoshan, China: 55,032 m2 (592,360 sq ft) 4. Shanghai Pudong Beicai, China: 49,400 m2 (532,000 sq ft) 5. Wuxi, China: 49,117 m2 (528,690 sq ft) The largest store in the Southern Hemisphere is located in Tempe, Sydney, Australia with a total area of 39,000 m2 (420,000 sq ft).[16]The biggest store in North America is located in Montreal, in the province of Quebec, Canada. The store was opened in 1986 in the Ville-St-Laurent area, and was completely renovated and expanded in 2012-2013. Built in 1986, the store's initial area was 22,062 m2(237,470 sq ft), while the renovated store now measures 43,636 m2 (469,690 sq ft). In 2014, IKEA opened its first warehouse in Croatia, near Zagreb.[17] Due to problems with building permissions, the construction was postponed to 28 August 2013.[18] Eventually, the warehouse opened its doors on 21 August 2014.[19] The shopping centre in Zagreb with a total area of 38,000 m2 is one of the 5 biggest in Europe and among the 10 biggest IKEA stores in the world.[20][21][22][23] In 2013, IKEA opened its first shopping centre in Vilnius, Lithuania that is the biggest furniture-selling mall in the Baltic states.[24] In March 2013, IKEA opened its first outlet in Qatar, after a delay of several months.[25][26] Like others in the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Doha outlet is operated by the Al-Futtaim Group.[27] In August 2013, the first store in the Baltic States was opened in the Vilnius region of Lithuania. Construction of the 26,500 sq ft (2,500 m2) store commenced in 2011 and the store employs over 200 people.[28] In July 2014 IKEA announced it would open its first store in India in the city of Hyderabad, where the local government has committed to fast track all the required paperwork and permits, as it is seeking to attract foreign investment. The new IKEA is expected to open in 2015.[29] In December 2014, the world's largest IKEA store at 59,000 square meters (640,000 square feet),[30] bigger than the previously largest store in Sweden, opened near the KTX Gwangmyeong Station, located at the heart of South Korea's Seoul Capital Area. A second store will open in Goyang, with a third one planned in Gangdong District, Seoul.[31] IKEA plans to have 5 stores in the country by 2020.[32] Store design[edit] IKEA Restaurant The Ikea Marketplace The Warehouse Layout[edit] Older IKEA stores are usually blue buildings with yellow accents (also Sweden's national colours) and few windows. They are often designed in a one-way layout, leading customers counter clockwise along what IKEA calls "the long natural way" designed to encourage the customer to see the store in its entirety (as opposed to a traditional retail store, which allows a customer to go directly to the section where the desired goods and services are displayed). There are often shortcuts to other parts of the showroom. Newer IKEA stores, like the one in Mönchengladbach, Germany, make more use of glass, both for aesthetics and functionality. Skylights are also now common in the self-serve warehouses; natural lighting reduces energy costs, improves worker morale and gives a better impression of the products. The sequence first involves going through furniture showrooms making note of selected items. The customer then collects a shopping cartand proceeds to an open-shelf "Market Hall" warehouse for smaller items, then visits 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 after purchase.
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